Michael Salter, PhD
Professor Michael Salter is the Director of Childlight UNSW, based in the School of Social Sciences at the University of New South Wales, Australia. Childlight UNSW is the Australasian hub of Childlight, the Global Child Safety Institute, dedicated to the study and prevention of child sexual abuse and exploitation. Professor Salter is an internationally recognised expert in the study of child abuse, violence against women and complex trauma. His published work includes the books Organised Sexual Abuse (2013, Routledge) and Crime, Justice and Social Media (2017, Routledge) and over fifty papers in international journals and edited collections. Dr Salter is a past president of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation (ISSTD) where he has served on the Board of Directors since 2018. He is the Chair of the Grace Tame Foundation, which is dedicated to the prevention of child sexual abuse. Dr Salter sits on the editorial boards of the journals Child Abuse Review and the Journal of Trauma and Dissociation. Dr Salter is a member of a number of advisory groups, including the Advisory Group of the National Plan To Prevent Violence Against Women and Their Children, the Expert Advisory Group of the eSafety Commissioner, and the Research Working Group of the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation. Current projects include a study of legal and practice responses to the intersections of domestic violence and child sexual abuse, the national survey of LGBTIQ+ experiences of sexual violence, and a study of the extent of distribution of child sexual abuse material of known Australian victims.

Heather Hall, MD
Dr. Heather Hall is a board-certified psychiatrist practicing privately in Northern California. She has been in practice for over 30 years, specializing in the treatment of childhood trauma survivors. Dr. Hall has a B.A. in biochemistry from Smith College and an M.D. from Drexel University. She completed her psychiatric training at Pennsylvania Hospital and the Institute of Pennsylvania Hospital. Dr. Hall was an associate clinical professor at UC, San Francisco, and UC, Davis, where she was an award-winning teacher and psychiatry resident supervisor. She served as a unit chief of several cultural focus units at San Francisco General Hospital. The cultural focus units specialize in care for the seriously mentally ill from severely disadvantaged communities in and around San Francisco. It was in San Francisco that she began to develop the theory that social defeat, in combination with disorganized attachment, led to dissociative coping skills that were often misdiagnosed as schizophrenia. Dr. Hall is an active member of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation, currently co-chair of the public health committee. In addition, she has served as chair of the annual conference committee and a member of the board of Directors. Dr. Hall has also received several honors and awards from the ISSTD, including the Pierre Janet Writing Award, the President’s Award of Distinction, and the Distinguished Achievement Award. Moreover, she has published several articles on trauma and dissociation in peer-reviewed journals, such as the Journal of Trauma & Dissociation and Trauma, Violence and Abuse. Dr. Hall is passionate about helping people heal from trauma and live fulfilling lives.