Dr Gillespie is the Director of the Secretariat of the Secretary General’s Study on Violence Against Children. The Study was commissioned by the United Nations Secretary General to investigate the situation of children globally and to make recommendations on prevention, intervention and recovery strategies. Dr Gillespie is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and works under the guidance of the Independent Expert, Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro, who was appointed by the Secretary General to lead the Study. The Report of the Study will be submitted to the Secretary General and the United Nations General Assembly in 2006. Prior to this appointment Amaya was based at UNICEF in New York. During that time she managed the global HIV/AIDS programme at UNICEF Headquarters, and also worked in the area of young people’s health promotion, and specifically on HIV/AIDS and education. Before moving to New York, Amaya worked across the East Asia and Pacific Region focusing on HIV/AIDS education, drug education, bullying and violence prevention, and health promotion programmes for young people. Amaya has a PhD in school and community health promotion and counselling psychology from University of Oregon, and an MSc. in health promotion. She also has a degree in education. She has been involved in extensive applied research into adolescent health promotion, especially when she was the Director of Health Promotion at the Cancer Prevention and Health Promotion Research Centre, at the University of Queensland, Medical School, Australia until 1995. She has worked with Ministries of Education and Health, and has been a teacher in schools and at University level in Australia and USA. Amaya is Australian and has lived overseas for more than 10 years.