The Lemelson Foundation's Advisory Committee provides ongoing strategic advice on the development and implementation of its programs. The Advisory Committee possess a diversity of expertise across geographical regions and public, private and non-profit sectors. 

Emeritus committee members are Julia Marton-Lefevre (Director General of the World Conservation Union), Iqbal Quadir (Founder of GrameenPhone and lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology)Dr. Seti Sastrapradja (biodiversity expert and Chair of NATURINDO), and Prof. M.S. Swaminathan (geneticist and leader of the Green Revolution).

Valeria Budinich

Valeria Budinich is Vice President of the Full Economic Citizenship Initiative at Ashoka U.S.A., focusing on enabling commercial alliances between social entrepreneurs and private companies to deliver products and services to small producers and low-income families. Budinich has worked on the creation and expansion of business development programs in 22 countries for 20 years. Her primary area of interest is finding ways to harness the collective power of social and business entrepreneurs. From 1986-1996, Budinich was chief operating officer of EnterpriseWorks, a global nonprofit foundation providing technical and financial assistance to small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas. From 1997-1998 she was founding vice president for Latin America at Endeavor, a foundation linking entrepreneurs in emerging economies with venture capital investors in the U.S. From 1999-2001, Budinich was vice president for New Initiatives at BDA, a California-based consulting firm specializing in business process redesign and technology innovations for private sector clients worldwide. Budinich has also been an advisor to groups like Woman’s World Banking, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and UNIFEM since 1995. Budinich was raised in Chile and trained as an industrial engineer.

Lisa Danzig, MD

Dr. Danzig is Global Head, Clinical Affairs at Novartis Vaccines & Diagnostics, where she oversees the clinical development of innovative diagnostics in Emeryville, California. An expert in vaccines, she has contributed to the development of meningococcal vaccines and has worked in Siena, Italy, Cambridge, MA and Hangzhou, China. During her two years as an EIS officer with CDC, she investigated outbreaks of healthcare associated infections and taught epidemiology in Cote d’Ivoire to district health officers in West Africa. She received her medical degree from Oregon Health Sciences University and completed residency and fellowship training in Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases in San Francisco. She serves on the board of the Merola Opera Program, and is an advisor to iHealthUS. 

Michael Free

Dr. Michael J. Free is Vice President and Senior Advisor for Technologies Program Leader, Technology Solutions, for Program for Appropriate Technologies in Health (PATH). Dr. Free has been associated with PATH since the organization’s inception, and has led its technology-related activities for more than 20 years. Currently, he oversees PATH’s Technology Solutions Program in addition to providing advice, facilitation, and oversight of PATH’s other technology activities. Before joining PATH, Dr. Free spent seven years at Battelle Northwest, developing technologies to improve reproductive health. He is a British citizen and received his doctorate in physiology from Ohio State University (1968).

Ashok Gadgil

Dr. Gadgil is a senior staff scientist in the Environmental Energy Technologies Division of the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. Water-borne diseases are one of the most significant agents of death and disease in the developing world. Dr. Gadgil's invention, UV Waterworks, is a water disinfection system that employs ultraviolet light from a modified fluorescent lamp to eliminate 99.9999 percent of pathogenic bacteria and 99.99 percent of pathogenic viruses. The units can disinfect water at a rate of four gallons per minute and, perhaps most critically, are inexpensive and require nominal maintenance. Dr. Gadgil earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics in India, and his doctorate in physics at the University of California Berkeley.

Francisco Sagasti

Dr. Francisco Sagasti is President Emeritus of FORO Nacional/Internacional, an institution aimed at promoting dialogue, debate and consensus on critical development issues. He also chairs the board of a program on Science, Technology and Innovation at the Office of the Prime Minister in Peru, is Visiting Professor at the University for Peace in Costa Rica, and advises several international organizations. In 1999 Sagasti joined the Board of Governors of the Canadian International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Among other posts, he has been Chief of Strategic Planning and Senior Advisor at the World Bank, a visiting professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, chairman of the UN Advisory Committee on Science and Technology for Development, and member of UNESCO's Science Policy Advisory Council. Sagasti earned a PhD in operations research and social systems sciences at the University of Pennsylvania, an MSc in industrial engineering at Pennsylvania State University, and an industrial engineering degree at the National Engineering University in Lima, Peru.

Caryn Swobe

Caryn is president of Swobe Strategies and founding partner of the Sway Brand Network. Both companies work with non-profits and community-minded businesses to strengthen their communications efforts through well-planned, cost-efficient advertising and public relations tactics. For 15 years she served as a managing director for R&R Partners, a marketing and public affairs company based in Nevada with offices located throughout the Western United States. Caryn’s clients represent industries such as: education, energy, tourism, heath care, banking and telecommunications. Currently, she is board chair for the Nevada Discovery Museum, a volunteer start-up organization which recently completed a $20-million capital campaign to build what will be one of the top interactive children’s museums in the United States. The project will open in September 2011. Caryn has a bachelor of arts in journalism from the University of Southern California, a master’s in business administration from the University of Nevada, Reno and is accredited by the Public Relations Society of America. She lives with her daughter in Reno, NV.

Judi Wangalwa Wakhungu

Prof. Wakhungu is the Executive Director of the African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS) in Nairobi, Kenya, one of the world's leading centres on science, technology and sustainable development policies.   Prof. Wakhungu was previously Professor of Science, Technology, & Society at Penn State University where she also served as Director of the Women in the Sciences and Engineering (WISE) Institute. She received a B.S. in geology from St. Lawrence University in New York, an M.S. degree in petroleum geology from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada, and a Ph.D. in energy resources management from Penn State University. Prof. Wakhungu serves on several International Boards and Committees.