Eric Topol, MD
Scripps Research Translational Institute
Eric Topol is the Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, Professor, Molecular Medicine, and Executive Vice-President of Scripps Research. He has published over 1,200 peer-reviewed articles, with more than 300,000 citations, elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and is one of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine. His principal scientific focus has been on individualized medicine using genomic, digital and A.I. tools.
He authored three bestseller books on the future of medicine: The Creative Destruction of Medicine, The Patient Will See You Now, and Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again. Topol is the principal investigator to two large NIH grants, the All of Us Research Program that supports precision medicine and a Clinical and Translational Science (CTSA) Award that promotes innovation in medicine. He was the founder of a new medical school at Cleveland Clinic (Lerner College of Medicine), was commissioned by the UK to lead a review of their National Health Service, and is active clinically as a cardiologist.
Scripps Research Translational Institute
Eric Topol is the Founder and Director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, Professor, Molecular Medicine, and Executive Vice-President of Scripps Research. He has published over 1,200 peer-reviewed articles, with more than 300,000 citations, elected to the National Academy of Medicine, and is one of the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine. His principal scientific focus has been on individualized medicine using genomic, digital and A.I. tools.
He authored three bestseller books on the future of medicine: The Creative Destruction of Medicine, The Patient Will See You Now, and Deep Medicine: How Artificial Intelligence Can Make Healthcare Human Again. Topol is the principal investigator to two large NIH grants, the All of Us Research Program that supports precision medicine and a Clinical and Translational Science (CTSA) Award that promotes innovation in medicine. He was the founder of a new medical school at Cleveland Clinic (Lerner College of Medicine), was commissioned by the UK to lead a review of their National Health Service, and is active clinically as a cardiologist.
Alex Waldman, DPhil
APSA President
Alex Waldman is an MD/PhD student completing his training though the Emory University Medical Scientists Training Program and National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was awarded comprehensive honors degrees in both Neurobiology and Spanish, while simultaneously earning certificates in Global Health, European Studies, and Stem Cell Sciences. He recently completed his DPhil in Clinical Neurosciences during which he received funding from the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), United States Department of Defense (US DoD), European Charcot Foundation (ECF), Multiple Sclerosis Society United Kingdom (MS Society UK), and Multiple Sclerosis Treatment, Research, and Education (MSTRE). His thesis work deployed a novel approach that integrated quantitative neuropathology and big data techniques to uncover novel determinants of multiple sclerosis spinal cord pathology. Outside the research laboratory and clinic, Alex has held multiple local and national leadership positions for the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA). In these various roles, he has expanded the APSA membership reach, partnership dossier, fundraising capabilities, and professional development opportunities offered to members. Overall, as a future clinician-scientist, Alex hopes to continue conducting interdisciplinary collaborative research that can ultimately lead to breakthroughs that effect change clinically.
APSA President
Alex Waldman is an MD/PhD student completing his training though the Emory University Medical Scientists Training Program and National Institutes of Health Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison where he was awarded comprehensive honors degrees in both Neurobiology and Spanish, while simultaneously earning certificates in Global Health, European Studies, and Stem Cell Sciences. He recently completed his DPhil in Clinical Neurosciences during which he received funding from the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers (CMSC), Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), United States Department of Defense (US DoD), European Charcot Foundation (ECF), Multiple Sclerosis Society United Kingdom (MS Society UK), and Multiple Sclerosis Treatment, Research, and Education (MSTRE). His thesis work deployed a novel approach that integrated quantitative neuropathology and big data techniques to uncover novel determinants of multiple sclerosis spinal cord pathology. Outside the research laboratory and clinic, Alex has held multiple local and national leadership positions for the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA). In these various roles, he has expanded the APSA membership reach, partnership dossier, fundraising capabilities, and professional development opportunities offered to members. Overall, as a future clinician-scientist, Alex hopes to continue conducting interdisciplinary collaborative research that can ultimately lead to breakthroughs that effect change clinically.
Michael Ward, MD, PhD
NIH
Dr. Michael Ward received his B.S. from Kenyon College in 1999 and M.D./Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis. Following a neurology residency at UCSF, he sub-specialized in behavioral neurology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship studying mechanisms of frontotemporal dementia. In 2015 he joined the NIH as tenure track investigator, and became a Senior Investigator in 2022. Using iPSCs as a cellular model, his group studies the basic biology of neurodegeneration, with a goal of developing targeted, disease-modifying therapies. In addition, he co-directs the iPSC Neurodegenerative Research Initiative (iNDI), a large-scale effort to generate and phenotype iPSC models of neurodegeneration.
NIH
Dr. Michael Ward received his B.S. from Kenyon College in 1999 and M.D./Ph.D. degrees from Washington University in St. Louis. Following a neurology residency at UCSF, he sub-specialized in behavioral neurology and completed a postdoctoral fellowship studying mechanisms of frontotemporal dementia. In 2015 he joined the NIH as tenure track investigator, and became a Senior Investigator in 2022. Using iPSCs as a cellular model, his group studies the basic biology of neurodegeneration, with a goal of developing targeted, disease-modifying therapies. In addition, he co-directs the iPSC Neurodegenerative Research Initiative (iNDI), a large-scale effort to generate and phenotype iPSC models of neurodegeneration.
Renee Yuen-Jan Hsia, MD, MSc
University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Hsia is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Health Policy; Vice Chair of Health Services Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine; and a member of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the founder and director of the UCSF Policy Lab of Acute Care and Emergencies and attends at the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Dr. Hsia’s work using cutting-edge analytical tools at the intersection of economics, health policy, and clinical investigation has elucidated how market-driven imbalances in the supply and demand of emergency care produce preventable mortality and exacerbate underlying inequities. She investigates issues relating to access to emergency departments and trauma centers; the distribution of emergency care across income areas; factors associated with closure of emergency services; how these closures affect patient outcomes, specifically those with acute myocardial infarction, stroke, asthma/COPD, sepsis, and trauma; and the variation of costs and charges in the health care system.
University of California, San Francisco
Dr. Hsia is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Health Policy; Vice Chair of Health Services Research in the Department of Emergency Medicine; and a member of the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco. She is the founder and director of the UCSF Policy Lab of Acute Care and Emergencies and attends at the San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. Dr. Hsia’s work using cutting-edge analytical tools at the intersection of economics, health policy, and clinical investigation has elucidated how market-driven imbalances in the supply and demand of emergency care produce preventable mortality and exacerbate underlying inequities. She investigates issues relating to access to emergency departments and trauma centers; the distribution of emergency care across income areas; factors associated with closure of emergency services; how these closures affect patient outcomes, specifically those with acute myocardial infarction, stroke, asthma/COPD, sepsis, and trauma; and the variation of costs and charges in the health care system.
Yana Zavros, PhD
University of Arizona Tucson
After earning her B.Sc. with honors from the University of Melbourne (Australia), Yana Zavros completed her Ph.D. in 1998 in the Department of Surgery. She completed her Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. In 2007, Zavros joined Pharmacology and Systems Physiology at the University of Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor. There she pioneered organoid-based technologies aiming to generate patient-derived models to study underlying mechanisms driving initiation and progression of gastrointestinal cancers. In 2019, she moved to the University of Arizona as Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. She is Associate Head of Research and director of the Tissue Acquisition and Cellular/Molecular Analysis Shared Resource.
University of Arizona Tucson
After earning her B.Sc. with honors from the University of Melbourne (Australia), Yana Zavros completed her Ph.D. in 1998 in the Department of Surgery. She completed her Howard Hughes Medical Institute postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Michigan. In 2007, Zavros joined Pharmacology and Systems Physiology at the University of Cincinnati as an Assistant Professor. There she pioneered organoid-based technologies aiming to generate patient-derived models to study underlying mechanisms driving initiation and progression of gastrointestinal cancers. In 2019, she moved to the University of Arizona as Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine. She is Associate Head of Research and director of the Tissue Acquisition and Cellular/Molecular Analysis Shared Resource.