About Us: Our Advisors

Cesar Castro
Cesar is currently Founder and CEO of DiscoveryCast, a company that has developed an online collaborative brainstorming platform. He founded DiscoveryCast based on his experience in innovation, crowdsourcing, and corporate social networking. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of San Francisco School of Business, where he lectures in the area of innovation and changing the corporate culture to embrace new innovation models. He is a former Research Director at the Institute For The Future (IFTF) where he led the Signtific Project, the Institute’s study of the future of science and technology. Before joining IFTF, Cesar served as Vice President of Business Development at InnoCentive from 2001 – 2006, one of the leading open innovation platforms. Cesar has conducted projects on the future of science and technology, open innovation, crowdsourcing strategies for corporations, and network-centric innovation. He has written forecasts and given speeches on open innovation in heath care, the future of science and technology, trends in global health, and using networks (and crowdsourcing) to enhance innovation practices.

Riva Greenberg
Riva is an author, speaker, health coach, columnist for the Huffington Post and blogs on her web site Diabetes Stories. Riva’s work is dedicated to: 1) helping others live a flourishing life, not despite diabetes but because of it – using diabetes as a catalyst to create a healthier, happier, more meaningful life, and 2) addressing the patient-provider relationship to create more successful outcomes. Riva has written two diabetes books, 50 Diabetes Myths That Can Ruin Your Life and the 50 Diabetes Truths That Can Save It and The ABCs Of Loving Yourself With Diabetes and donates profits from her ABC book to organizations improving life for people with diabetes. Riva serves as an advisor to pharmaceuticals and is a proud first prize winner of the Eli Lilly/International Diabetes Federation ‘Inspired by Diabetes’ competition. Riva has had type 1 diabetes 39 years, is a peer-mentor and a member of the American Association of Diabetes Educators.

Luis Luque
Luis Fernandez-Luque is a researcher at the Northern Research Institute (Tromso, Norway) where he is completing his doctoral dissertation since 2007. His research focus is on Telemedicine and eHealth and lately in Health Social Media. He finished his master degree in Computer Science in the University of Sevilla (Spain) in 2006. Before starting his PhD in Norway he had been working in several eHealth projects in the University of Sevilla (Robotics & Computer Technology for Rehabilitation Laboratory), Sadiel SA (Spain) and the TSB-Itaca Institute in Valencia (Spain). He has been exchange student and visiting researcher in the University of Applied Science Stralsund (Germany), University of Minnesota (USA) and Harvard University (USA). He has taken part in implementing Norwegian and Europeans eHealth and Telemedicine research projects. He has published papers about eHealth and lately in Health Social Media in leading conferences and journals. In addition, he is Secretary of the Heath Social Media Working Group of the International Medical Association. He has also been volunteer in several cancer childhood charities both in Spain and in the Palestinian Territories.

Kerri Morrone Sparling
One of the first diabetes bloggers and a leader in the diabetes advocacy field, Kerri has been living with type 1 for over 23 years. Her blog, Six Until Me, was started in May 2005 and paints an honest and real picture of life with diabetes. A freelancer for various diabetes publications and health websites, and an active member of the diabetes community, Kerri believes that “diabetes doesn’t define me, but it helps explain me.”

Jody Ranck Director of Thought Leadership, Policy and Advocacy at the mHealth Alliance. Jody has a career in health, development and innovation spanning nearly 20 years in his work with foundations, non-profits, the United Nations and governments. His current work has emphasized global health innovation and health technologies for the poor. A frequent speaker and strategist on the use of social media and mHealth tools in public health, he now consults with the mHealth Alliance, IntraHealth and a number of other organizations on innovation strategies. He has taught at the University of California at Berkeley in the Anthropology and International and Area Studies where he focused on human rights and humanitarian interventions and also teaches on innovation and creativity at University of San Francisco School of Business and Management where he is an adjunct faculty member. Dr. Ranck recently played a senior role in assisting to launch the new Global Health Innovation and Design program at Stanford University as well. He is also a consultant with the UN Economic Commission for Africa where he is developing an innovation platform for African scientists, technologists and policy-makers. He played a leadership role in the Rockefeller Foundation’s Global eHealth initiative that was launched in Bellagio, Italy in 2008. In addition he is a Principal Investigator at the Public Health Institute in Oakland, CA. His previous work has included work in post-genocide Rwanda, risk and new biotechnologies (Zambia), work at the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh, and leading the Global Health practice and Health Horizons at the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, CA. He has served on the board of the Sustainable Sciences Institute and currently serves on the boards of the Media Advisory Board of the Annenberg Center’s Health Journalism Fellows Program (USC) and the Diabetes Hands Foundation. He has a doctorate in Health Policy and Administration from UC Berkeley as well as an MA in International Relations and Economics (Johns Hopkins University, SAIS), and a BA in biology from Ithaca College. He is currently completing a certification in Islamic Finance and Business. Some of his honors have included a Fulbright Fellowship (Bangladesh) and serving as a Rotary Fellow in Tunisia (Arabic and Islamic History).

Juan Carlos Turriza
A professional engineer by trade, Juan Carlos is an entrepreneur by heart. He lives in Mexico City, Mexico with type 2 Diabetes since 2008, with the goal of better supporting his community, he worked towards his certification as a diabetes educator. Juan Carlos has been actively involved with the Diabetes Hands Foundation since his diagnosis. He serves as a senior administrator for EsTuDiabetes, our Spanish speaking community. With a sense of duty to the people that are going through the same challenges of managing diabetes, Juan is constantly looking for ways to better educate and improve the conditions that surround them.