Hope Award Honorees
RESOLVE is proud to announce the following 2024 Hope Award Recipients:
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Dr. Elizabeth Grill is the Director of psychological services at the Ronald O. Perelman and Claudia Cohen Center for Reproductive Medicine and is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Reproductive Medicine, and Psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medicine. She is also an Assistant Attending Psychologist at New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
Dr. Grill is established as a nationally recognized expert and innovator in reproductive and sexual mental health. She is the current Chair of RESOLVE: The National Infertility Association, the Past Chair of the Mental Health Professional Group of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine and the Past President of the Society for Sex Therapy and Research.
Dr. Grill is experienced as a health psychologist and medical researcher with a special focus on the emotional aspects of infertility, IVF treatment, third party reproduction, oncofertility, fertility preservation, sexual dysfunction, and stress and infertility. She is also the co-owner of FertiCalm and FertiStrong, the first digital apps developed to reduce distress for those experiencing infertility, using research proven modalities.
Dr. Grill is an editorial reviewer for the top peer reviewed journals in the field, the author of numerous articles and book chapters, has lectured worldwide to patient and medical audiences and has participated in media interviews related to the emotional aspects of reproductive medicine.
Dr. Samuel Pang is a board certified OBGYN and subspecialty board certified reproductive endocrinologist at Boston IVF. He is the co-medical director of the Third Party Reproduction program at Boston IVF. He is on the Medical Advisory Board at Cofertility. Dr. Pang attended medical school at the University of British Columbia and completed his internship and residency in Obstetrics & Gynecology at the University of Toronto. He completed his fellowship in Reproductive Endocrinology at UCLA.
Dr. Pang joined IVF America Boston (later Reproductive Science Center of New England) in 1993 and was appointed Medical Director in 2007. He has been the medical director of the Third Party Reproduction program since 1997, serving patients who utilize IVF with donor eggs and/or gestational surrogacy to have children. In October 2014 he joined Boston IVF following a merger with RSCNE.
Dr. Pang is a pioneer in providing reproductive care to LGBTQ+ patients. In 1998, he was among the earliest physicians applying Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) to gay men who sought parenthood via donor eggs and gestational surrogacy. In 2007, he began providing IVF services to lesbian couples who had not previously attempted to conceive, coining the term “reciprocal IVF” for one person providing oocytes and the other gestating the pregnancy. In 2012, he began treating transgender men for fertility preservation and reciprocal IVF, and transgender men who choose to gestate themselves. He was recently selected by American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) for their Arnold P. Gold Foundation Humanism in Medicine Award in 2022.
Kristen Welker is an American television journalist working for NBC News. She serves as a White House correspondent based in Washington, D.C., and served as co-anchor of Weekend Today, the Saturday edition of Today, alongside Peter Alexander from 2020 to 2023. She took over hosting duties for the longest-running program in television history, Meet the Press, on September 17, 2023. Ms. Welker and her husband built their family via gestational carrier surrogacy and she uses her platform on the TODAY Show to share her story and help others understand the process and inspires others to learn more.
Stephanie Jones founded the grassroots, citizen-led Michigan Fertility Alliance (MFA) in 2019. After enduring an infertility battle that nearly took her life, required two medical abortions, and culminated in needing surrogacy to grow her family, MFA was born as Stephanie set out to build a coalition of motivated advocates devoted to changing Michigan's outdated surrogacy and parentage laws. MFA's mission is to advance and support pro-family policy that supports all Michigan citizens who need assisted reproduction or surrogacy to start or grow a family.
Under Stephanie's leadership, the Michigan Family Protection Act (MFPA) was signed into law on April 1, 2024. Until the passage of the MFPA, Michigan was the last remaining state to have a criminal and civil ban on surrogacy. The MFPA also includes crucial parentage policy reform to protect the parent-child rights of all children born through assisted reproduction. The MFPA is set to take effect in early 2025.
The Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys (AAAA) is an organization of nearly 500 highly vetted attorneys dedicated to the competent and ethical practice of adoption and assisted reproduction law. AAAA is dedicated to the competent and ethical practice of adoption and assisted reproduction law. It advocates for laws and policies to protect intended parents and gestational surrogates and donors, the best interests of children, and the legal status of families formed through adoption and assisted reproduction.
AAAA (Quad A) has been a longtime advisor and partner to RESOLVE’s advocacy efforts, most recently providing expert insights and counsel on state and federal legislation impacting third party reproduction, surrogacy, and personhood. Its Art Policy Directors have worked closely with Resolve’s policy experts, and AAAA and its members have contributed their legal skills to draft amicus briefs on behalf of RESOLVE on key legal cases.
Their engagement in state and federal advocacy has helped advance pro-family legislation, including the federal Adoption Tax Credit and numerous state parentage laws affecting children born of assisted reproductive technology and adoption.
100,000 Delta people lead the way in delivering a world-class customer experience on over 4,000 daily flights to more than 280 destinations on six continents, connecting people to places and to each other. To better support our people, Delta has significantly expanded its family building policies. Employees now have access to enhanced fertility benefits including ART coverage, surrogacy reimbursement and enhanced adoption assistance. Additionally, Delta has increased parental leave for both birthing and non-birthing parents, and expanded it’s backup care program to support working families with childcare and eldercare needs.
For over a decade, Julie Berman, a former RESOLVE Board Chair, has engaged in year-round advocacy efforts at the state and federal level to help the family-building community. Julie started the Minnesota Building Families Coalition, with strong support from RESOLVE, to expand access to care in Minnesota by mandating insurance coverage. Together, they set an attendance record for their state Advocacy Day in 2024. The Coalition has grown to more than 40 organizations and continues to add new members. Her long-time leadership in Minnesota, from facilitating support groups to co-chairing educational conferences, has driven one of the most active grassroots movements in the country. Her guidance has also produced dedicated advocates who benefit from Julie’s mentorship.
In addition to her work at the state level, Julie has served as the Minnesota State Captain for Federal Advocacy Day for many years. She has discussed RESOLVE’s legislative efforts on local television, on Minnesota Public Radio, and in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and has testified before Minnesota House and Senate Committees. Julie received the Hope Award for Service in 2015, and now, the RAL award, RESOLVE’s highest advocacy-related award, recognizes her extraordinary leadership and mentorship of others at the state and federal level. Julie and her husband, Hal Kaufman, built their family through open, domestic adoptions and enjoy life with their two teenaged sons.