About the Conference

Child protection has traditionally been viewed as a policy issue. "Bridging the Sciences: New Approaches to Child Protection" seeks to reframe the conversation as a public health matter, highlighting that child protection concerns are much more profound than a singular corrective action. The International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children (ICMEC) in collaboration with Childlight has commissioned a new and timely conference to discuss solutions to address this public health emergency. For more information on ICMEC and Childlight please see https://www.icmec.org/ and https://childlight.org/

June 2nd, (2pm-5:15pm)

June 3rd, (8:30am-4:50pm)

Registration is completely free and includes CME credits for those who qualify*

Click Here to register for Bridging the Sciences 2025 as a virtual attendee.

-Up to 8 CME credits available

Invited Speakers:

Plenary Lectures from:

Debi Fry, University of Edinburgh- The Prevalence of Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse  Globally

Xinangming Fang, Georgia State University- “Hidden in Plain Sight”: Insight, Explanation, and Influence- Lancet Report on Violence Against Women and Children

Katelyn Gray- The importance of multidisciplinary teams and approaches to addressing CSEA in a U.S. context

Paul Stanfield, Childlight- Discussion Catalyzing Data 4 Change: case study and why public health interventions work

Missing and Exploited Children – a 10 year study

Stephen Kavanagh, ICMEC- Efforts to prevent and remove Child sexual abuse material from the internet



The conference will include 5 panel discussions.

-Topics includes:

-Why CSEA should be viewed as a pandemic

-Enduring effects of CSEA

-Role of government in prevention

-Solutions at Scale: How to implement good practice

-Turning the tech tables, how to prevent online CSEA

Panelists Include:

Bernadette Madrid, University of Phillipines

Debi Fry, University of Edinburgh

Katelyn Gray (Stanley), Washington University St. Louis, Missouri Social Service, Office of Violence Prevention

Emilio Puccio, Secretary General, European Parliament Intergroup on Children’s Rights

Michael Salter- Moderator, University of New South Wales

Emmanuela Gakidou is the co-founder of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. Global Burden of Disease estimates for CSA

Elena Martellozzo, Co-Chair Violence Against Children

Xiangming Fang, Georgia State University

Afrooz Kaviani Johnson- Unicef, child exploitation expert

Sabine Rakotomalala, World Health Organization

Shara Barken, Chair of Pediatrics Emory University

Carl Sharp, Accenture, AI Expert

James Stevenson, Tech Facilitated CSEA Data Specialist, Childlight

*Informed Horizons Education, Inc. is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians. and will award AMA PRA Category 1 CreditTM to physicians who complete this program. In the development and presentation of the program, Informed Horizons Education, Inc. will adhere to all rules, regulations and guidelines of the ACCME, AMA, AAMC, FDA and OIG that govern the conduct of accredited CME activities. All scientific materials presented will be objective and show fair balance as to the range of diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.

Estimated CME accreditation is eight credit hours. Subject to change with due to any program changes.