Gopalan Balagopal

Gopalan Balagopal is the UNICEF Representative to the DPR Korea and has been based in Pyongyang since 2006. He leads UNICEF’s team of 10 international professionals and 25 national staff who promote critical interventions that help women and children. Their programs reach out to women before they become mothers in order to strengthen their nutritional status and thereby prevent malnourishment of children; provide nutritional supplements, medicines and appropriate messages to families and communities to help the large numbers of children who are already malnourished and sick; protect children from disease by ensuring that effective and large scale immunization coverage and Vitamin A supplementation is maintained throughout the country; develop appropriate water and sanitation systems and promoting hygiene among children; and improve teaching throughout the country.

Gopalan Balagopal's other positions have included Senior Advisor, Child Protection, UNICEF Headquarters, New York (2000–2006) where he was responsible for supporting UNICEF’s work to protect children from violence, abuse and exploitation. He also led UNICEF initiatives into promoting registration of births, working with global partners including PLAN International and others organizations, and was UNICEF’s focal point for the Second World Congress Against Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children at Yokohama (2001) and the Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children (2005-2006). He also served as the Chief of Child Protection, UNICEF Bangladesh, Dhaka (1996–2000) where he established and led the Child Protection Unit; worked with the government and NGO partners in identifying a program that protects children from all forms of exploitation, violence and abuse; helped establish an Acid Survivors Forum for victims of acid throwing on women and started action focusing on young males to stop violence against women and girls; and raised awareness on the importance of registration of births and evolved means (including mass registration campaigns and strengthening of infrastructure and training) to support and sustain birth registration. Other positions have included Project Officer Child Rights, UNICEF India, New Delhi (1994–1996), Member of the Indian Administrative Service (1974–1994), and an executive position at Travancore Ltd in India (1969–1974).

Gopalan Balagopal holds a Master of Public Administration from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (1988-1989) and has published articles on development issues.

Kelley McCreery Bunkers

Kelley McCreery Bunkers has worked as a consultant to international NGOs and UN agencies for over a decade. Most recently she has consulted with Save the Children US, Family Health International in Ethiopia, UNICEF Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office, and UNICEF Guatemala on issues addressing orphan and vulnerable children. From 2005 to 2008 she consulted with UNICEF in Guatemala on foster care issues and led efforts to ensure ratification of The Hague Convention and passage of the Adoption Law for Guatemala. Between 1999 and 2005, Ms. Bunkers worked with several NGOs, UNICEF, USAID, The World Bank in Honduras, and private foundations in Romania. From 1994 to 1998 she worked for Holt International Children’s Services in Romania, where she also served as Country Director.

Ms. Bunkers holds a BA in Psychology with a minor in Women’s Studies from the University of Oregon and will complete a Masters in Child Rights at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, in 2010. She has published four articles on adoption in Guatemala and is fluent in Spanish and Romanian.

Dr. Virginia Feldman

Dr. Virginia Feldman is a Locums pediatrician at Kaiser Permanente in Portland, Oregon, where she was a Staff Pediatrician (1975-2004). During this period she served as Chief of Pediatrics (1989-1997), Director of the Adolescent Health Program (1986-2004), Director of the Child Abuse Assessment Center (1976-1997), and the founding member of the Kaiser Bioethics Committee (1985-2004). She is an Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics at the Oregon Health and Science University. Dr. Feldman received her undergraduate and medical degrees at the University of Michigan and is Board Certified in Pediatrics.

She volunteers as a pediatrician at the Essential Health Clinic and the Wallace Medical Concern in Oregon and for the Amigos De Las Americas National Health and Safety Committee. Dr. Feldman has worked in Liberia, El Salvador, and Ecuador and throughout India, including Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala, and has led medical teams providing care at a NGO in Andhra Pradesh, India.

Dr. Feldman’s clinical research includes studies on smoking and pregnancy (Kaiser Research Center, 1985); domestic violence prevention in HMOs (Kaiser Research Center, 1998-2000); medical and mental health of sex workers and their children (Andhra Pradesh, India, 2006); social issues of temple prostitutes (Nandyal, India, 2006); cardiovascular health and diabetes (Muthyalapadu, Andhra Pradesh, India, 2008); training foreign community health workers in the US (Portland, OR, 2008); and prostitution rescue rates after modified microfinance loans (Andhra Pradesh, India, 2009).