About Us

Mary has been involved in the vaccine choice and health freedom movement for more than two decades. “Once I learned about the extreme liability protection that industry and healthcare providers enjoy and the suppression of accurate science and information about vaccine risk and injury, I understood the need for immediate, radical systemic change. I’ve been devoted to that change ever since.”

Before joining CHD’s staff in fall 2019, Mary directed the Graduate Lawyering Program at the NYU School of Law for 15 years and lectured at the Columbia Law School on international human rights advocacy. She frequently testified in state legislatures around the country to retain or expand religious, medical and philosophical exemptions to vaccine mandates.

Mary has co-authored two books on vaccines, “Vaccine Epidemic” and “The HPV Vaccine on Trial: Seeking Justice for a Generation Betrayed.” She has written or co-written numerous articles about vaccine law and policy, particularly the seminal Unanswered Questions from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program: A Review of Compensated Cases of Vaccine-Induced Brain Injury. She also coedited and wrote the foreword for the English edition of “Turtles All The Way Down: Vaccine Science and Myth.”

Media Appearances

Kraig Makohus serves as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) at Children’s Health Defense. In this role, he is responsible for the development and execution of internal operational strategies necessary to achieve CHD’s goals and maintain organizational compliance.

Kraig possesses over 20 years of nonprofit leadership experience and has served in various roles, including VP of Development & Strategic Initiatives and as President & CEO for state and national organizations. Kraig brings his experience in strategic planning, process improvement, financial management, human resources, community & board relations, program development, marketing and fundraising. Throughout his career, Kraig assessed organizational performance and developed and implemented strategic initiatives to better position the organization for long-term success.

Like so many who work and volunteer for CHD, Kraig comes to the mission as a result of a loved one whose life was negatively impacted by a vaccine reaction. The opportunity to combine many years of nonprofit experience with his personal journey is what motivated him to join the CHD team.

Kraig holds a B.A. in Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh and an M.B.A. from Waynesburg University. He lives in southwestern Pennsylvania with his wife and they have three children.

As CAO, Giorgio oversees CHD’s Development, Marketing, Public Relations and Digital Services efforts. He brings over 25 of experience in the non-profit sector to CHD, in the areas of Development, leadership, and organizational planning.

Giorgio joined CHD in May of 2022, after more than two decades of involvement in both philanthropy and the vaccine choice movement. “I joined CHD at a time when matters of health freedom and personal choice became the justification for draconian governmental measures. The opportunity to serve the premiere health freedom organization at a time when it was needed most, has been one of the greatest privileges of my life.”

Giorgio holds a M.A. in Comparative Literature and B.A. in English Literature, from New York University, and a Certificate in Conservation Biology from Columbia University.

Doug Kissell serves as the Chief Financial and Administrative Officer at Children’s Health Defense, where he leads financial operations, human resources, and information technology initiatives. With over 28 years of experience in financial management and strategic leadership, Doug brings a wealth of expertise to his role.

A retired U.S. Army Colonel, Doug spent 25 years in military service, leading major defense budgets, including the $9 billion Afghanistan Security Forces Fund and the U.S. Army Reserve Command’s $4B budget.

Doug’s journey into health advocacy began in 2012 following personal and family experiences with adverse vaccine reactions. These events deeply impacted him and ignited a commitment to promoting greater transparency, informed consent, and accountability within the healthcare system. Since then, Doug has been dedicated to raising awareness about medical freedom, supporting individuals navigating complex health decisions, and advocating for policies that prioritize patient safety and choice.

Doug holds a B.A. in Finance from Walsh University, dual Master’s degrees in Business and Public Administration from Syracuse University, and a Master’s in Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College.
He lives in North Carolina with his wife, Melissa, and they have three children. He enjoys cycling, golfing, and hunting. He also serves as a deacon in his local church.

Brian S. Hooker, Ph.D., is the Senior Director of Science and Research at Children’s Health Defense. He is also a Professor Emeritus of Biology at Simpson University in Redding, California, where he specialized in microbiology and biotechnology. Dr. Hooker coauthored, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the New York Times best-selling book “Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak”. In 1985, Dr. Hooker earned his Bachelor of Science degree in chemical engineering from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, California.

He earned his Master of Science degree in 1988 and his doctorate in 1990, both in biochemical engineering, from Washington State University in Pullman, Washington. Brian Hooker has many accomplishments to his credit, including co-inventor for five patents, recipient of the Battelle Entrepreneurial Award in 2001, and a Federal Laboratory Consortium Recognition Award in 1999 for his work on “Reactive Transport in 3-Dimensions.” The breadth of Hooker’s over 75 science and engineering papers have been published in internationally recognized, peer-reviewed journals.

Dr. Hooker has been active in vaccine safety since 2001 and has a 27-year-old son with autism. In 2013 and 2014, Dr. Hooker worked with the CDC whistleblower, Dr. William Thompson, to expose fraud and corruption within vaccine safety research in the CDC, which led to the release of over 10,000 pages of documents.

Media Appearances

Kim Mack Rosenberg is CHD’s General Counsel. She is an attorney in private practice located in New Jersey and representing clients nationwide on medical freedom issues as well as healthcare practice management and disputes and insurance coverage issues, focusing primarily on services provided to individuals diagnosed with the autism spectrum disorder. She has been involved in the vaccine choice and health freedom movement for almost twenty years.

“Once you delve into these issues, and look at accurate (and usually suppressed) science and information about vaccine risks and other risks to our children (and to us), you cannot unsee what you see. Moreover, when you learn that vaccine manufacturers and healthcare providers enjoy extraordinary protection from liability with respect to vaccines manufactured and administered, you have to ask why they need that protection. I simply could not stand on the sidelines, and I have worked as an attorney and advocate to bring about change ever since.”

Kim has testified in state legislatures around the country to retain, restore, or expand religious, medical, and philosophical exemptions to vaccine mandates and speaks to groups around the country on issues related to medical freedom. Kim has co-authored two books on vaccines, “Vaccine Epidemic” and “The HPV Vaccine on Trial: Seeking Justice for a Generation Betrayed” and a book about autism, “The Parent’s Autism Sourcebook.”

Katherine Paul is editor-in-chief and senior director of publishing. She has a B.A. in French and education from Kent State University and an M.A. in French from the University of Minnesota. She has worked as a newspaper reporter/editor and a public relations professional, specializing in marketing communications.

For the past 20 years, she has worked in the nonprofit space as associate director of Common Dreams, an online news site, and associate director of the Organic Consumers Association, where she managed communications, online fundraising, and grant writing. Katherine joined The Defender when it launched in October 2020. She lives in Freeport, Maine.

At the helm of CHDTV’s programming, Polly vigorously advocates against censorship and corruption, striving to empower people with a platform to voice their experiences.

Polly is a devoted mother of three remarkable children, including Billy, who is vaccine injured. Recognized for her role as a producer in impactful documentaries like “Who Killed Alex Spourdalakis” and “VAXXED,” her executive influence also shines through in “VAXXED II and Vaxxed III: Authorized to Kill.”

Before coming to CHD, Polly was Director and Founder of The Autism Trust USA and UK and the visionary founder of Autism File magazine. Polly believes it is imperative to address the question: What will happen to the vaccine injured as adults when their parents are no longer around?

Polly’s speaking topics include: giving the vaccine injured and their families a voice, CHD’s media publishing and citizen journalism.

Media Appearances

Michael Kane is the Director of Advocacy for Children’s Health Defense. He was an NYC special education teacher for over 14 years until he was fired for declining the COVID shot. In 2020 Kane founded the group Teachers for Choice representing educators who are 100% opposed to any medical mandates to access society. Michael is currently a plaintiff in two lawsuits backed by CHD seeking justice over the illegal COVID shot mandates in NYC, and he is the regular host of Good Morning CHD every Tuesday morning on CHD TV.