Mr. Jones served as President of the Illinois Senate from 2003 to 2009, serving with then State Senator Barack Obama, a position that culminated more than three decades of service in the Illinois legislature. Recognized as one of the most effective political leaders in Illinois state history, Mr. Jones left an unparalleled legacy of achievement, making lasting contributions throughout the state, particularly in the areas of education, healthcare and criminal justice.

Mr. Jones began his elected career in 1973, when he was elected to the Illinois House of Representatives. He served in that capacity from 1973 to 1983. During that time he served as the Chairman of the Insurance Committee and as an Assistant Democratic Leader. He was elected to the Senate in 1982. In addition to being the President of the Senate, he also served as a member of the Executive Committee. Mr. Jones was the first Senate President in recent history to establish a bipartisan select committee on Education Funding Reform. In the tax arena, in 1998, Mr. Jones was the first legislative leader to call for the doubling of the personal exemption on Illinois income tax, which had not been increased since 1969. His legislation expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit in 2000, creating a tax reduction for the state’s poorest citizens. He also twice led the effort to increase the state’s minimum wage from 2003 to 2010.

As Senate Democratic Leader, he called for a moratorium on the death penalty, and in 2003, he introduced a reform package for the Illinois Criminal Justice System requiring videotaping of interrogations in capital murder cases. Working across the aisle, Mr. Jones also led the passage of a $25 billion capital plan that secured federal dollars to build and rebuild Illinois’ schools, roads, bridges and highways, and secured more than $130 million in funding for needed projects throughout Illinois. In 2007, he secured an additional $600 million in public education funding, the largest increase in the state’s history, increasing funding for every public school student by $400. Mr. Jones also led efforts to reduce the number of uninsured citizens by spearheading the Governor’s “All Kids” initiative to offer healthcare to all children. In 2008, he passed legislation allowing the elderly and disabled throughout Illinois to travel on the state’s mass transit system for free. And he established a prescription drug discount program that reduced prescription drug prices for the elderly and disabled by up to 40 percent.

Mr. Jones served with then State Senator Barack Obama. He also had a big hand in Barack Obama’s 2004 U.S. Senate victory by introducing the then little known liberal State Senator to the right people and letting him handle some important legislation to help raise his political profile. In 2008, Mr. Jones at first refused to call the Senate into session to vote on ethics legislation that had passed the House, saying that the 15-day limit for the Senate to look at the legislation didn’t come into effect until the Senate came back into session. After Senator Obama urged Senator Jones to change his mind, the Senate President released a statement saying he would call the Senate into session, adding that:

Mr. Jones served as a member of the Illinois General Assembly for 36 years, from 1973-2009, including 16 consecutive years as leader of the Caucus, with 10 years as Democratic Leader and six years as Senate President. He was elected to the Senate in 1982 after previously serving in the Illinois House of Representatives for 10 years, where he was both Assistant Democratic Leader and Chairman of the Insurance Committee.

Mr. Jones graduated from Chicago’s Tilden Technical High School in 1953 followed by Loop Junior College. He attended Roosevelt University and graduated from Chicago State University, and he has received Doctorate in Human Letters Honoris Causa degrees from both institutions. A lifelong resident of Chicago’s South Side, Mr. Jones serves on the board of directors of the State Legislative Leaders Foundation, is a former Boy Scout Master, a member of Holy Name of Mary Church, the Knights of St. Peter Claver, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators, the National Conference of State Legislators and the Shriners. He is a 33rd Degree Mason. Mr. Jones has four children and is married to Dr. Lorrie Jones.

Dr. Nielsen is a consultant to the Director of Infection Prevention and Control for the North West London NHS Trust in Harrow, United Kingdom, which is responsible for overseeing the operations of St. Marks Hospital, Central Middlesex Hospital, and Northwick Park Hospital. He received his MD from the University of Copenhagen in Denmark in 1974. In 1983, Dr. Nielsen studied at Academie de Lyon, Universite Claude Bernard, Lyon, France, where he received his Etudes Superieures de Biologie Humaine de Pathologie et Immunologie Parasitaires [Advanced studies on parasitic pathology and immunology], and Etudes Speciales de Diagnostic Biologique Parasitaire [Advanced studies on diagnostic parasitology].

He later received his Certificate in Hospital Infection Control from the Nordic School of Public Health in Gothenburg, Sweden in 1985. He continued his studies in Denmark where he became a Specialist of Medical Microbiology in 1986, and completed his Fellowship at Academie de Lyon, University Claude Bernard, Lyon, France. From 1988 until 1990, he was a consultant to the World Health Organization for the Global Program on AIDS, and has also held various clinical and microbiology posts in Denmark. From 1996 to 2004, Dr. Nielsen studied at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine where he received his Masters in Science degree in Communicable Disease Epidemiology, and his Diploma in Hospital Infection Control.

Dr. Nielsen’s research has primarily focused on Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which was also his topic for his MSc Dissertation. His first success was in the MRSA program at Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust where he introduced a new concept for isolation – to isolate the wound instead of the patient.

Dr. Nielsen worked as a consultant to the head of Peterborough Hospitals NHS Trust, Consultant and Director to the Peterborough PHL, and as a consultant in Saudi Arabia. His program for the prudent use of broad spectrum antibiotics has - over the years - saved the NHS Trust about £1.3 million. The antibiotic expenditures in 2002 were down to the same level as they were in 1996. Over the years his research and development programs have attracted significant external funds, including receiving the PHLS Small Scientific Initiatives Fund twice.

At Northwick Park Hospital, Dr. Nielsen’s priority is to standardize microbiological surveillance of patients and their environment, in order to use routine laboratory results for evidence-based intervention.

Dr. Lindsey Shaw is an Assistant Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Cell Biology, Microbiology, and Molecular Biology at the University of South Florida. His research has focused for more than a decade on the primary human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus, and its drug-resistant variants – MRSA and VRSA.

The two major arms of Dr. Shaw’s research program are firstly to understand the molecular mechanisms of disease causation by MRSA; and secondly, in a collaborative approach with numerous synthetic/medicinal chemists, to identify urgently needed novel antimicrobials to treat MRSA infections. Thus far, Dr. Shaw has received almost $2.0 million dollars in support of these projects from the Federal government via the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases (NIAID, NIH).