Guardians of the Past & Present: Conservation in Action

Dr. Abed Haddad is the Assistant Conservation Scientist in the David Booth Conservation Department at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York, where he collaborates with staff and allied professionals on research, treatment, storage, and environmental quality and monitoring. He is interested in the characterization and technical study of modern and contemporary artists and materials and expanding access to collections through scientific analysis, public programming, peer-reviewed publications, and data-driven decision-making. He also serves as an adjunct lecturer at the Conservation Center of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University, where he teaches advanced technical studies of cultural heritage and mentors students on projects. He was an International Research Experience Fellow with Northwestern University-Art Institute of Chicago Center for Scientific Studies in the Arts (IRES NU-ACCESS) at the Rijksmuseum and University of Amsterdam (UvA) in 2016 and the David Booth Fellow in Conservation Science at MoMA (2019-2022).

He holds a bachelor's degree in chemistry from Millsaps College and a doctoral degree in Chemistry from the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY), both in chemistry. He served as part of the leadership team of the American Institute for Conservation (AIC) Research and Technical Studies (RATS) group (2022-2025), during which he established the annual AIC-RATS Drag Reception and inaugurated the Big Cheese Best Poster Award to recognize student and early career research. He was awarded the Emerging Leader Award from the AIC at the 2024 Annual Meeting in Salt Lake City, UT.

Alexandra Alevizatos Kirtley is the Montgomery Garvan Curator of American Decorative Arts at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMA), where she has been a curator since 2001. A native of Baltimore, she earned her B.A. with honors from Hamilton College and an M.A. from the University of Delaware’s Winterthur Program, with additional postgraduate study in the history of art in Italy, France, and Great Britain. At the PMA, she has led significant acquisitions and curated numerous exhibitions, including "Colonial Philadelphia Porcelain: The Art of Bonnin & Morris" (2008) and "Classical Splendor: Painted Furniture for a Grand Philadelphia House" (2016, with conservator Peggy Olley). She was co-curator of the reinstalled and reinterpreted galleries of early American art that opened in 2021 and is currently co-curating the museum’s new American art galleries (1850–1960) and the accompanying exhibition “A Nation of Artists,” opening April 12, 2026.

A frequent lecturer and author, Kirtley is “known for her innovative art historical approach” to decorative arts. Her publications include American Furniture 1650–1840: Highlights from the Philadelphia Museum of Art (2020; 2nd printing 2021), major essays published in 2025, and forthcoming work in 2026 including the guide for “A Nation of Artists” and The Wonder of Wood: Decorative Inlay and Marquetry in Europe and America, 1600–1900 (with Brock Jobe and Stephen Latta). She has served as an appointee of the United States Senate’s Commission on Art since 2003 and currently serves on the boards of the Decorative Arts Trust (officer), The Andalusia Foundation, and the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.

Rosa Lowinger is the founder of RLA Conservation, LLC, a sculpture, decorative arts, and architectural conservation firm with offices in LA and Miami.