Julie Morita, MD is President & CEO of The Joyce Foundation, where she oversees the charitable distribution of $65 million annually to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation across the Great Lakes region. Before joining Joyce in 2024, Julie served as executive vice president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, where she oversaw all programs and grantmaking aimed at making health a right, not a privilege. Born and raised in Chicago, Julie spent nearly two decades at the Chicago Department of Public Health, serving as medical director and chief medical officer before being appointed Commissioner in 2015—overseeing the health needs of 2.7 million residents.  She began her career as a pediatrician before moving into public health. Her leadership is deeply rooted in a commitment to justice and equity, shaped by her family’s experience during the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans.  She has advised the White House, CDC, and HHS, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Rummana Hussain is a columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times, where she also leads the paper’s opinion coverage. A Chicago native, she has held multiple roles at the Sun-Times, including assistant metro editor, criminal courts reporter, and assistant to columnist Michael Sneed. Her journalism career spans the Chicago Tribune and City News Bureau of Chicago. A 2006 Jefferson Fellow with the East-West Center, Rummana has served on the boards of the Chicago Headline Club and the Asian American Journalists Association’s local chapter. She currently serves on the boards of Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Chicago and Silk Road Cultural Center, an arts organization centering Asian, Middle Eastern, and Muslim narratives.