Board Member, Medical Advisor
Ruchi Gupta
* Professor of Pediatrics and Medicine, Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine
* Clinical Attending, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
* Director, Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research
Ruchi Gupta, MD, MPH, has 17 years of experience as a board-certified pediatrician and health researcher and serves as the founding director of the Center for Food Allergy & Asthma Research (CFAAR) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago.
She completed her undergraduate and medical education at the University of Louisville and completed her medical residency at Children’s Hospital & Regional Medical Center, University of Washington in Seattle. She completed her pediatric health services research fellowship at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and went on to receive her Master of Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Gupta is world-renowned for her groundbreaking research in food allergy and asthma epidemiology, most notably for her research on the prevalence of pediatric and adult food allergy in the United States. She has also significantly contributed to academic research in the areas of food allergy prevention, socioeconomic disparities in care, and the daily management of these conditions. To reduce the burden of these conditions and improve health equity, she and her team develop, evaluate and disseminate interventions for families and conduct work to inform local, national, and international health policy.
Dr. Gupta is the author of the Food Allergy Experience and Food Without Fear, has written and co-authored more than 150 peer-reviewed research manuscripts, and has had her work featured on major TV networks and in print media. She speaks to a global audience to share her research with experts and families, and as a physician, food allergy researcher, and food allergy mom, her driving passion is to improve the lives of children and their families through discovery, clinical care, outreach, and education.
Board Member, Medical Advisor
Dr. Kenneth L. Fox, Jr.
Dr. Fox does community pediatrics. He was appointed Chief Health Officer of Chicago Public Schools in December 2016. A Chicago native, Dr. Fox has worked in primary care for over 25 years in Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia – in university and community clinics, hospitals, mission teams, an orphanage, a psychiatric ward and in private practice.
He’s a graduate of the University of Chicago, trained at Boston Children’s Hospital and was an RWJ Clinical Scholar at the University of Pennsylvania. Bridging the disciplines of pediatric primary care and medical anthropology, Dr. Fox has served on medical school faculties—Harvard, Penn, Boston University, Northwestern and the University of Chicago—and held appointments at BU and Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr. Fox has worked on a range of editorial and non-profit boards and received grants and fellowships from the Ford, Fulbright, Robert Wood Johnson (RWJ) and Kellogg Foundations, The Open Society Institute on Medicine as a Profession, and the Institute for Health and Social Justice. He’s currently an RWJ Foundation Clinical Scholar. He’s written and lectured widely on cultural and social justice issues in health and care and collaborated with Partners in Health and Physicians for Human Rights. His longstanding interests in global health have led him to work in Panama, Haiti, the Dominican Republic and South Africa.
Board Member, Education Advisor
Melissa Y. Vulopas
Melissa Vulopas has more than 30-years experience as an elementary classroom teacher, learning facilitator, and elementary school principal, where she continues to use her vast skills to create learning environments where young people, families, and their teachers can thrive.
Throughout her career, she has been a lifelong learner, continuing to use best practice to give students, parents, and educators the skills and resources to become the best versions of themselves.
In her spare time, Melissa enjoys spending time with her family, playing her flute, going for long walks, and reading endlessly!
