Speaker Biographies

Priya Bathija
Priya Bathija is the founder and CEO of Nyoo Health, a company supporting startups, investors, and providers as they create new ways to deliver health and health care to women. She is also an adjunct professor at Loyola University School of Law. Previously, she was at the American Hospital Association where she led policy efforts and strategic initiatives on value, health equity and maternal health. She started her career as a health care attorney at Buckingham Doolittle and Burroughs and was later in-house counsel at Promedica and MedStar Health. In addition to serving on the Policy Center board, she is a member of the board of Chicago Volunteer Legal Services, which provides legal aid to low-income residents. She regularly mentors and sponsors future leaders in health care and law and is on the board of the South Asian Bar Association of North America. She also founded and facilitates the SABA Leadership Institute, a development program that has allowed mid-career South Asian attorneys to grow and thrive.

Brittni Frederiksen
Brittni Frederiksen is an Associate Director for Women’s Health Policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation - now referred to as KFF.  She focuses on contraceptive access and Title X policy issues and is involved in many of the surveys and data analyses conducted by KFF’s Women’s Health Policy team. Prior to joining KFF she was a health scientist at the Office of Population Affairs in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services where she focused on developing and maintaining the NQF-endorsed measures of contraceptive provision.

Dr. Kelli Stidham Hall
Kelli Stidham Hall is an Associate Professor in the Heilbrunn Department of Population & Family Health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. She completed her PhD from Columbia and a postdoctoral fellowship at Princeton University. Trained as a social and reproductive epidemiologist and advanced practice nurse, Dr. Hall's research program applies health equity, biosocial, and implementation science frameworks and interdisciplinary methods to study the social and structural determinants of maternal health disparities in the U.S. and globally. Her studies evaluate the effects of policies, racism, integrated healthcare delivery models, and socioenvironmental factors, including toxic stress, on women’s reproductive and mental health, maternal morbidity, and mortality. Dr. Hall partners with local, national, and international community-based organizations, hospital systems, and governmental agencies to advance evidence-based, community-centered solutions for maternal health and reproductive justice. She serves on Columbia Medical Center’s Anti-Racism Task Force, Mailman’s Office of Community Health Equity Collaboratives, and is a Diversity Officer. Nationally, leadership roles have included the Society for Family Planning Board of Directors; Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s National Medical Committee; and APHA’s Population, Sexual and Reproductive Health Section governing body. Among career awards, in 2020 she was elected as a National Academy of Medicine Emerging Leader in Health and Medicine.

Dr. Jason Lindo
Dr. Jason Lindo is a Full Professor in the Department of Department at Texas A&M University and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has won awards as the Outstanding Graduate Instructor of the Year, Best Graduate Advisor, and Best Supporter of Graduate Students. Dr. Lindo's research focuses primarily on healthcare policy, health behaviors, and health outcomes, including how they are affected by economic incentives and constraints. This research includes studies documenting the effects of the Colorado Family Planning Initiative, studies quantifying the effects laws increasing the amount of travel needed to obtain abortions, and studies examining the effects of changing economic circumstances on fertility and infant health. Many of his studies have been discussed in major news outlets, ranging from New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Newsweek to NPR’s Morning Edition, Cosmopolitan, and Ms.

L.R. Fox
L.R. Fox is the Chief Executive Officer of NEXT Life Sciences, Inc., a medical device company striving to transform lives through the development of its lead program, Plan A™, a safe, effective, and reversible contraceptive solution for men. Prior to founding NEXT, Fox founded WhiteFox Defense Technologies, a leading drone airspace security company. Fox was named to Forbes list of 30 under 30 in 2019. As a serial entrepreneur, Fox is interested not just in scientific innovation, but in how we solve society’s most systemic problems – including preventing unplanned pregnancy. Fox attributes his commitment to pioneering a male birth control product to growing up in the foster care system and seeing firsthand the devastating consequences of what can happen when people aren’t able to choose if and when to have a child. Fox’s goal for Plan A™ is to become a game-changer in family planning and men’s first choice in birth control. By giving men a better way to participate in family planning, Fox aims to help set up more people, more couples, and more communities for success. And yes, most people call him Fox.

Lisa Peterson
Lisa Peterson, LMHC/LCDP/LCDS/MAC is the Chief Operating Officer at VICTA, an organization providing integrated substance use, mental health, and ambulatory medical services in Providence, RI. Over the past 25 years, Ms. Peterson has provided direct clinical services and leadership in a variety of treatment settings, with a long-term focus on integrating all aspects of care to support whole-person wellness. She has presented to multiple audiences on issues related to pregnancy, medication for opioid use disorder, and neonatal abstinence syndrome. She is currently the President of the RI Association for Addiction Professionals, a state Affiliate of NAADAC. Ms. Peterson is also the co-founder and co-chair of the Substance Use Policy, Education, and Recovery PAC, where she has had extensive experience working for and speaking about state-level policy and legislation that aligns with current knowledge and best practices in addressing substance use and substance use disorders.