Edward M. Barksdale, Jr. MD HMS ‘84 is the Robert J. Izant, Jr. MD Professor and Surgeon-in-Chief at Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital/University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve School of Medicine (CWRUSOM). An All-American Athlete and honors graduate of Yale University (1980), Dr. Barksdale received his medical degree from Harvard University (1984). He completed a residency in General Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston (1991) and fellowship training in Pediatric Surgery at Children’s Hospital Medical Center in Cincinnati (1994).

He began his academic surgical career at the Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh (1994-2007) and was recruited to Rainbow/UH to be the Division Chief of Pediatric Surgery in 2007. Dr. Barksdale has been widely recognized and awarded by local and national colleagues and communities for his service to his various missions. He has served numerous invited visiting professorships, received several major medical school awards and gained national recognition for his accomplishments as a medical/surgical educator. He was recently inducted into the prestigious American College of Surgeons Academy of Master Surgeon Educators (2022).

He is a frequent lecturer on his clinical areas of expertise in childhood cancer and chronic intestinal disease. In addition, he has delivered major keynote addresses at graduate and medical schools. A member of numerous national medical/surgical organizations, where he has also held leadership roles. Dr. Barksdale is the immediate Past-President the American Pediatric Surgery Association.

Dr. Barksdale currently works at the nexus of academia, clinical surgery, medical education, public health and social justice as a passionate advocate for child health and healthcare. He endeavors to invest his academic, clinical and service efforts to inspire individuals and transform communities at the precipice of hope. In Cleveland, he has been devoted to building programs to address access, health disparities, particularly in fragile populations of children. He is the Co-Founder of the Antifragility Initiative, a novel holistic, person-centered, pediatric violence intervention funded by the Victims of Crime Act (VOCA). He was recognized by former Mayor Frank Jackson and The City of Cleveland for his contributions to the community (2021). He currently advises the new Mayor of Cleveland, Justin Bibb and City Council on public health around gun violence. His endeavors help make Cleveland and America more safe vibrant and prosperous, especially for children and young people.

He is the proud husband of one and father of four adult children. His life and career have been profoundly guided by strong values he learned from family and community growing up in Lynchburg, Virginia during the dynamic 1960s.

Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School

Senior Associate in Psychiatry, Boston Children’s Hospital

Myron is Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry, Children’s Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, and Senior Associate in Psychiatry at the Children’s Hospital of Boston. Dr. Belfer is a child and adolescent psychiatrist. He is on the Affiliated Faculty of the Harvard Center for the Developing Child.

He received an MPA from the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. He served as Special Assistant to the Administrator of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, US Department of Health and Welfare. Dr. Belfer is former Senior Adviser in the Department of Mental Disorders and Substance Abuse at the World Health Organization in Geneva where he led the child mental health program from 2000 to 2005. In that capacity he was instrumental in supporting a number of global child mental health initiatives.

He is past-President of the International Association for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Allied Professions (IACAPAP). He co-directs the Children’s Hospital Boston Global Child Mental Health Observership Program and directed for the Harvard Center on the Developing Child a comprehensive child mental health needs assessment in schools in Shanghai with Chinese colleagues. He was a consultant to the Temasek Foundation (Singapore) project on child mental health capacity building for disaster response in Indonesia.

His current interests are in global child mental health policy and building school mental health capacity. As a clinician he worked closely with plastic and reconstructive surgeons on understanding the development of body image in children.

Scott is one of the advisors of The Shine Hope Company.  Previously, he founded and was the CEO of Enjoy Life Foods (enjoylifefoods.com) (2001-2016), a company dedicated to developing, manufacturing, and marketing great tasting gluten free and allergy friendly food products. I

In addition to starting Enjoy Life, Scott effectively created an entire category, which is now known as “Free From” through thought leadership, education, and certification standards. Scott advised in the creation of the gluten free certification organization (GFCO), the largest gluten free certification program in the world. Enjoy Life became the first company to have its facility and products certified by the GFCO.  In 2015, Enjoy Life Foods was acquired by Mondelēz International, Inc.,

In 2013, Scott and his brother (Steve) established Mandell Ventures (mandellventuresllc.com), a family office partnership primarily focused on investing and advising founder led early-stage food & beverage and CPG businesses.

Scott currently sits on the advisory board of four privately held businesses. He has been a member of the Young Presidents Organization (currently YPO-Gold) since 2009, a mentor to many upstart entrepreneurs, and has been an active alumnus at the Kellogg School of Management.

In 2016, Scott was named by Food Processing magazine as one of five company leaders who are “revolutionizing Big Food”. In 2015, he was named as an EY Entrepreneur of The Year® Award Winner, was the Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) Chicago Gala Honoree in 2014, was named to the Crain’s Chicago Business “40 Under 40” list in 2008 and was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2006.

Scott earned an MBA degree from the Kellogg School of Management (Northwestern University) in 2001 with concentrations in the areas of Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Finance, and Management & Strategy. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University (Bloomington) in 1993 with a major in History and a minor in Business.

Scott is an avid sports fan and enjoys golfing, skiing, paddle tennis, and poker.