Michelle Albert, MD, MPH
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
Dr. Michelle A. Albert, MD MPH is the Walter A. Haas-Lucie Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology and Professor in Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), Admissions Dean for UCSF Medical School and Director of the CeNter for the StUdy of AdveRsiTy and CardiovascUlaR DiseasE (NURTURE Center).
As a physician-scientist-epidemiologist, Dr. Albert has had a longstanding commitment to health equity and is engaged in cutting-edge research that innovatively seeks to incorporate “biology” with social determinants of health.
Dr. Albert is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of University Cardiologists and the American Society of Clinical Investigation.
She is the current and 86th President of the American Heart Association, Immediate-Past President of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc, the Past 60th President of the Association of University Cardiologists.
Dr. Albert is named on the 2022 Forbes 50 over 50 list for her Impact.
University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine
Dr. Michelle A. Albert, MD MPH is the Walter A. Haas-Lucie Stern Endowed Chair in Cardiology and Professor in Medicine at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), Admissions Dean for UCSF Medical School and Director of the CeNter for the StUdy of AdveRsiTy and CardiovascUlaR DiseasE (NURTURE Center).
As a physician-scientist-epidemiologist, Dr. Albert has had a longstanding commitment to health equity and is engaged in cutting-edge research that innovatively seeks to incorporate “biology” with social determinants of health.
Dr. Albert is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the Association of University Cardiologists and the American Society of Clinical Investigation.
She is the current and 86th President of the American Heart Association, Immediate-Past President of the Association of Black Cardiologists, Inc, the Past 60th President of the Association of University Cardiologists.
Dr. Albert is named on the 2022 Forbes 50 over 50 list for her Impact.
Maria-Luisa Alegre, MD, PhD
University of Chicago
Dr. Alegre, MD, PhD is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago. She received her MD from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, where she specialized in Internal Medicine and Intensive Care, and her PhD in Immunology from the University of Chicago.
Her laboratory is interested in T cell responses in settings of transplantation, autoimmunity and cancer, with an emphasis on mouse models and emerging extensions onto clinical translation. A main focus of her laboratory is on T cell tolerance in transplantation and how infections and inflammatory events can affect induction or maintenance of tolerance. Her lab has found that transplantation tolerance can exist at different levels of robustness based on the number of mechanisms of T cell tolerance that are engaged, and that infections or inflammation can erode such tolerance. The impact of bacterial infections on transplant outcomes led more recent work demonstrating that the microbiota also influences immune responses to transplanted organs and can be manipulated to prolong graft survival.
Dr. Alegre has served as a Board member of the American Society of Transplantation. She has been elected to the Henry Kunkel Society, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was named 2023 Distinguished Fellow of the American Association of Immunologists. She is a member of the NIH CMI-B study section, an editorial board member for the Journal of Clinical Investigation, and is principal investigator on several NIH grants on transplantation immunology.
University of Chicago
Dr. Alegre, MD, PhD is a Professor of Medicine at the University of Chicago. She received her MD from the Universite Libre de Bruxelles, where she specialized in Internal Medicine and Intensive Care, and her PhD in Immunology from the University of Chicago.
Her laboratory is interested in T cell responses in settings of transplantation, autoimmunity and cancer, with an emphasis on mouse models and emerging extensions onto clinical translation. A main focus of her laboratory is on T cell tolerance in transplantation and how infections and inflammatory events can affect induction or maintenance of tolerance. Her lab has found that transplantation tolerance can exist at different levels of robustness based on the number of mechanisms of T cell tolerance that are engaged, and that infections or inflammation can erode such tolerance. The impact of bacterial infections on transplant outcomes led more recent work demonstrating that the microbiota also influences immune responses to transplanted organs and can be manipulated to prolong graft survival.
Dr. Alegre has served as a Board member of the American Society of Transplantation. She has been elected to the Henry Kunkel Society, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She was named 2023 Distinguished Fellow of the American Association of Immunologists. She is a member of the NIH CMI-B study section, an editorial board member for the Journal of Clinical Investigation, and is principal investigator on several NIH grants on transplantation immunology.
Jean Bennett, MD, PhD
The tenth annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been jointly awarded to Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology and Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Albert M. Maguire, MD, the F.M. Kirby Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The award recognizes this team’s groundbreaking translational research to restore sight in inherited genetic diseases.
The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, established in 2014 by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), honors physician-scientists who have moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.
Dr. Jean Bennett and Dr. Albert Maguire are pioneers in retinal gene therapies, conducting their early work at a time when there were few guideposts. Working collaboratively for the past 30 years, they are widely recognized for persistence and dedication that has led to a first fully approved breakthrough treatment for blindness.
Drs. Bennet and Maguire’s striking results in a dog model of Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), a rare genetic cause of blindness, provided support for human clinical trials, which reversed blindness in children and resulted in FDA approval of gene therapy to the eye.
Building on their work in LCA, the Bennett-Maguire team initiated a clinical trial for a second inherited retinal degeneration, Choroideremia, a disease leading to complete blindness in affected men by middle age. In doing so, they opened a path from laboratory to clinic in additional blinding diseases.
“The path from proof-of-concept to delivering a safe and effective treatment to patients is one that few physician-scientists are able to experience. Drs. Bennett and Maguire have achieved many ‘firsts’ through their groundbreaking work and have opened the gates for many new treatments to follow,” said Sohail F. Tavazoie, MD, PhD, Leon Hess Professor, The Rockefeller University and 2022-2023 President of the ASCI.
“The translational work of Drs. Bennett and Maguire has impacted the standard of care for patients living with congenital blindness and offered new hope where none existed. Their extraordinary achievements are precisely what the Harrington Prize seeks to recognize,” said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President, Harrington Discovery Institute, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation and Professor of Medicine and of Biochemistry at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.
The tenth annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been jointly awarded to Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology and Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Albert M. Maguire, MD, the F.M. Kirby Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The award recognizes this team’s groundbreaking translational research to restore sight in inherited genetic diseases.
The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, established in 2014 by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), honors physician-scientists who have moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.
Dr. Jean Bennett and Dr. Albert Maguire are pioneers in retinal gene therapies, conducting their early work at a time when there were few guideposts. Working collaboratively for the past 30 years, they are widely recognized for persistence and dedication that has led to a first fully approved breakthrough treatment for blindness.
Drs. Bennet and Maguire’s striking results in a dog model of Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), a rare genetic cause of blindness, provided support for human clinical trials, which reversed blindness in children and resulted in FDA approval of gene therapy to the eye.
Building on their work in LCA, the Bennett-Maguire team initiated a clinical trial for a second inherited retinal degeneration, Choroideremia, a disease leading to complete blindness in affected men by middle age. In doing so, they opened a path from laboratory to clinic in additional blinding diseases.
“The path from proof-of-concept to delivering a safe and effective treatment to patients is one that few physician-scientists are able to experience. Drs. Bennett and Maguire have achieved many ‘firsts’ through their groundbreaking work and have opened the gates for many new treatments to follow,” said Sohail F. Tavazoie, MD, PhD, Leon Hess Professor, The Rockefeller University and 2022-2023 President of the ASCI.
“The translational work of Drs. Bennett and Maguire has impacted the standard of care for patients living with congenital blindness and offered new hope where none existed. Their extraordinary achievements are precisely what the Harrington Prize seeks to recognize,” said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President, Harrington Discovery Institute, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation and Professor of Medicine and of Biochemistry at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.
Diana W. Bianchi, MD
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Diana W. Bianchi is the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Dr. Bianchi oversees an annual budget of approximately $1.7 billion in support of NICHD’s mission to lead research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all. Dr. Bianchi received her M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine and her postgraduate training in Pediatrics, Medical Genetics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bianchi’s research focuses on prenatal genomics with the goal of advancing noninvasive prenatal DNA screening and diagnosis to develop new therapies for genetic disorders that can be administered prenatally.
Prior to NICHD, she spent 23 years at Tufts University School of Medicine, where she was the founding Executive Director of the Mother Infant Research Institute and the Natalie V. Zucker Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology. She is a Past President of the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis and the Perinatal Research Society. She is a former Director of the American Society for Human Genetics and Council Member of the Society for Pediatric Research (SPR) and American Pediatric Society. She was elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians in 2010 and the National Academy of Medicine in 2013.
Dr. Bianchi received the 2015 Neonatal Landmark Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the 2016 Maureen Andrew Award for Mentorship from SPR, and the 2017 Colonel Harland Sanders Award for lifetime achievement in Medical Genetics from the March of Dimes. In 2020, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam and the Health Public Service Visionary Award from the Society for Women’s Health Research. Dr. Bianchi was a finalist for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals in 2022.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD)
Diana W. Bianchi is the Director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD). Dr. Bianchi oversees an annual budget of approximately $1.7 billion in support of NICHD’s mission to lead research and training to understand human development, improve reproductive health, enhance the lives of children and adolescents, and optimize abilities for all. Dr. Bianchi received her M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine and her postgraduate training in Pediatrics, Medical Genetics and Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Bianchi’s research focuses on prenatal genomics with the goal of advancing noninvasive prenatal DNA screening and diagnosis to develop new therapies for genetic disorders that can be administered prenatally.
Prior to NICHD, she spent 23 years at Tufts University School of Medicine, where she was the founding Executive Director of the Mother Infant Research Institute and the Natalie V. Zucker Professor of Pediatrics, Obstetrics, and Gynecology. She is a Past President of the International Society for Prenatal Diagnosis and the Perinatal Research Society. She is a former Director of the American Society for Human Genetics and Council Member of the Society for Pediatric Research (SPR) and American Pediatric Society. She was elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians in 2010 and the National Academy of Medicine in 2013.
Dr. Bianchi received the 2015 Neonatal Landmark Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics, the 2016 Maureen Andrew Award for Mentorship from SPR, and the 2017 Colonel Harland Sanders Award for lifetime achievement in Medical Genetics from the March of Dimes. In 2020, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Amsterdam and the Health Public Service Visionary Award from the Society for Women’s Health Research. Dr. Bianchi was a finalist for the Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals in 2022.
Selim Boukabara
Selim Boukabara joined Dr. Lorenzo Leggio’s Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology laboratory in July 2022. He graduated cum laude from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. As an undergraduate, he performed immunohistochemistry techniques with the goal of characterizing and distinguishing GABAergic sub-populations that project to the basal forebrain. He has also assisted patients by facilitating the integration of accountable care organization electronic health record systems in small clinics, distributing PPE to under supported groups at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and scribing at his local hospital. He hopes to investigate and prevent the progression of alcohol use disorder.
Selim Boukabara joined Dr. Lorenzo Leggio’s Clinical Psychoneuroendocrinology and Neuropsychopharmacology laboratory in July 2022. He graduated cum laude from the University of Maryland with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. As an undergraduate, he performed immunohistochemistry techniques with the goal of characterizing and distinguishing GABAergic sub-populations that project to the basal forebrain. He has also assisted patients by facilitating the integration of accountable care organization electronic health record systems in small clinics, distributing PPE to under supported groups at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and scribing at his local hospital. He hopes to investigate and prevent the progression of alcohol use disorder.
Lawrence F. Brass, MD PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Lawrence (Skip) Brass, MD PhD is a graduate of Harvard College and the MD/PhD program at Case Western Reserve University. After a residency in internal medicine, he became a fellow in Hematology-Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania where he served as Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine from 2004 to 2007, and is currently Professor of Medicine and Professor of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics. He has led the NHLBI-funded Hematology Research Training Program since 1994 and became Associate Dean for Combined Degree and Physician Scholars Programs and Director of Penn’s MSTP in 1998. He has been active at the national level in the development of training programs for physician-scientists, has served as President of the National Association of MD-PhD Programs, Chair of the AAMC GREAT section on MD-PhD training and was a member of the NIH Physician-Scientist Workforce advisory group in 2013-2014. He is also a practicing hematologist whose research and clinical interests are in hemostasis and thrombosis. He has been continuously funded by the NIH HLBI since the mid-1980’s, has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, was an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association and has received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania (2001), the Distinguished Career Award from the International Society of Hemostasis and Thrombosis (2013), the inaugural Bert Shapiro Award for Leadership, Dedication and Service to the Physician-Scientist Community from the National Association of MD/PhD Programs (2015), the Distinguished Educator Award from the Association of Clinical and Translational Science (2018), and numerous teaching awards from students at the Perelman School of Medicine.
University of Pennsylvania
Lawrence (Skip) Brass, MD PhD is a graduate of Harvard College and the MD/PhD program at Case Western Reserve University. After a residency in internal medicine, he became a fellow in Hematology-Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania where he served as Vice Chair for Research in the Department of Medicine from 2004 to 2007, and is currently Professor of Medicine and Professor of Systems Pharmacology and Translational Therapeutics. He has led the NHLBI-funded Hematology Research Training Program since 1994 and became Associate Dean for Combined Degree and Physician Scholars Programs and Director of Penn’s MSTP in 1998. He has been active at the national level in the development of training programs for physician-scientists, has served as President of the National Association of MD-PhD Programs, Chair of the AAMC GREAT section on MD-PhD training and was a member of the NIH Physician-Scientist Workforce advisory group in 2013-2014. He is also a practicing hematologist whose research and clinical interests are in hemostasis and thrombosis. He has been continuously funded by the NIH HLBI since the mid-1980’s, has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and the Association of American Physicians, was an Established Investigator of the American Heart Association and has received the Christian R. and Mary F. Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching from the University of Pennsylvania (2001), the Distinguished Career Award from the International Society of Hemostasis and Thrombosis (2013), the inaugural Bert Shapiro Award for Leadership, Dedication and Service to the Physician-Scientist Community from the National Association of MD/PhD Programs (2015), the Distinguished Educator Award from the Association of Clinical and Translational Science (2018), and numerous teaching awards from students at the Perelman School of Medicine.
Myles Brown, MD
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Myles Brown, MD, is Director, Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Emil Frei III Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brown’s research is focused on providing a detailed understanding of the factors underlying the hormone dependence of breast and prostate cancers with the goal of developing new therapies and improving outcomes for patients. His lab identified the role of co-activators in steroid receptor action; elucidated the dynamic nature of co-regulator function; and defined steroid receptor cistromes. In 2010, together with Shirley Liu he founded the Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics at the Dana-Farber with the goal of identifying epigenomic alterations in cancer including those that influence response to endocrine therapy and perturb the tumor immune microenvironment.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Myles Brown, MD, is Director, Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Emil Frei III Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School. Dr. Brown’s research is focused on providing a detailed understanding of the factors underlying the hormone dependence of breast and prostate cancers with the goal of developing new therapies and improving outcomes for patients. His lab identified the role of co-activators in steroid receptor action; elucidated the dynamic nature of co-regulator function; and defined steroid receptor cistromes. In 2010, together with Shirley Liu he founded the Center for Functional Cancer Epigenetics at the Dana-Farber with the goal of identifying epigenomic alterations in cancer including those that influence response to endocrine therapy and perturb the tumor immune microenvironment.
Nicole Calakos, MD, PhD
Duke University School of Medicine
Dr. Calakos is the recipient of the 2023 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for her contributions to understanding basal ganglia physiology and its involvement in diseases such as compulsive behavior and movement disorders. She is the Lincoln Financial Group Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology and Chief of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder division of Neurology at Duke University Medical Center. She co-directs the Duke Scholars in Molecular Medicine Neurosciences track, and has served on the executive committees for Duke’s Medical Scientist Training program, Strong Start program for physician- scientists, Third Year research program for medical students and the NIH/NINDS K12 career development program for pediatric neurology physician-scientists.
Duke University School of Medicine
Dr. Calakos is the recipient of the 2023 Stanley J. Korsmeyer Award from the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) for her contributions to understanding basal ganglia physiology and its involvement in diseases such as compulsive behavior and movement disorders. She is the Lincoln Financial Group Distinguished Professor of Neurobiology and Chief of the Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorder division of Neurology at Duke University Medical Center. She co-directs the Duke Scholars in Molecular Medicine Neurosciences track, and has served on the executive committees for Duke’s Medical Scientist Training program, Strong Start program for physician- scientists, Third Year research program for medical students and the NIH/NINDS K12 career development program for pediatric neurology physician-scientists.
Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD
W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and Chair of the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He obtained his B.A. in Chemistry at Queens College of the City University of New York. Previously, he served as Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Einstein, from 2000‐2006 and as Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology from 2006‐2014.
Dr. Casadevall received both his M.D. and Ph.D. (biochemistry) degrees from New York University. Subsequently, he completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital in New York. He then completed subspecialty training in infectious diseases at Montefiore and Einstein. The author of over 900 scientific papers, numerous books and book chapters, Dr. Casadevall’s major research interests are in fungal pathogenesis and the mechanisms of antibody action. In the area of biodefense, he has an active research program to understand the mechanisms of antibody‐mediated neutralization of Bacillus anthracis toxins.
In recent years, Dr. Casadevall has become interested in problems with the scientific enterprise and with his collaborators shown that misconduct accounts for the majority of retracted publications. He has suggested a variety of reforms to the way science is done. Dr. Casadevall is the editor‐in‐chief of mBio, the first open access general journal of the American Society of Microbiology and is on the editorial board of several journals including the Journal of Infectious Diseases and the Cell Surface.
He has also served in numerous NIH committees including those that drafted the NIAID Strategic Plan and the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Biodefense Research. He served on the National Academy of Sciences panel that reviewed the science on the FBI investigation of the anthrax terror attacks of 2001 and has served on the NAS Committee of Federal Regulations and Reporting requirements. He has also served as a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity from 2005‐2014. In 2008, he was recognized by the American Society of Microbiology with the William Hinton Award for mentoring scientists from underrepresented groups. In 2015, Dr. Casadevall was appointed a Commissioner to the National Commission on Forensic Science, the United States Department of Justice. He has served as President of the Medical Mycology Society of America, Chair of American Society for Microbiology Division F, Chair of the American Society for Microbiology Career Development Committee, Co‐Chair of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Board of Scientific Counselors, and currently serves on the Scientific Council/Advisory Board for the Pasteur Institut and VIB Research Institute in Belgium. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, American College of Physicians and the Association of American Physicians and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology. In 2014, he became an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, in 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2022 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and also received the Lucille George Award 2022 in Basic Science from the International Society of Human and Animal Mycoses.
W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
Arturo Casadevall, MD, PhD is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor and Chair of the W. Harry Feinstone Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. He obtained his B.A. in Chemistry at Queens College of the City University of New York. Previously, he served as Director of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Montefiore Medical Center, the University Hospital and Academic Medical Center for Einstein, from 2000‐2006 and as Chair of the Department of Microbiology and Immunology from 2006‐2014.
Dr. Casadevall received both his M.D. and Ph.D. (biochemistry) degrees from New York University. Subsequently, he completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at Bellevue Hospital in New York. He then completed subspecialty training in infectious diseases at Montefiore and Einstein. The author of over 900 scientific papers, numerous books and book chapters, Dr. Casadevall’s major research interests are in fungal pathogenesis and the mechanisms of antibody action. In the area of biodefense, he has an active research program to understand the mechanisms of antibody‐mediated neutralization of Bacillus anthracis toxins.
In recent years, Dr. Casadevall has become interested in problems with the scientific enterprise and with his collaborators shown that misconduct accounts for the majority of retracted publications. He has suggested a variety of reforms to the way science is done. Dr. Casadevall is the editor‐in‐chief of mBio, the first open access general journal of the American Society of Microbiology and is on the editorial board of several journals including the Journal of Infectious Diseases and the Cell Surface.
He has also served in numerous NIH committees including those that drafted the NIAID Strategic Plan and the Blue-Ribbon Panel on Biodefense Research. He served on the National Academy of Sciences panel that reviewed the science on the FBI investigation of the anthrax terror attacks of 2001 and has served on the NAS Committee of Federal Regulations and Reporting requirements. He has also served as a member of the National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity from 2005‐2014. In 2008, he was recognized by the American Society of Microbiology with the William Hinton Award for mentoring scientists from underrepresented groups. In 2015, Dr. Casadevall was appointed a Commissioner to the National Commission on Forensic Science, the United States Department of Justice. He has served as President of the Medical Mycology Society of America, Chair of American Society for Microbiology Division F, Chair of the American Society for Microbiology Career Development Committee, Co‐Chair of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Board of Scientific Counselors, and currently serves on the Scientific Council/Advisory Board for the Pasteur Institut and VIB Research Institute in Belgium. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, American College of Physicians and the Association of American Physicians and was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the American Academy of Microbiology. In 2014, he became an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, in 2017 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and in 2022 he was elected to the National Academy of Sciences and also received the Lucille George Award 2022 in Basic Science from the International Society of Human and Animal Mycoses.
Nathan Cortez, JD
Southern Methodist University
Nathan Cortez is the Co-Director of the Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation, the inaugural Adelfa Botello Callejo Endowed Professor of Law in Leadership and Latino Studies, a former Associate Dean of Research, and a Gerald J. Ford Research Fellow. He teaches and writes in the areas of health law, administrative law, and FDA law. His varied research focuses on emerging markets in health care and biotechnology, regulatory theory, government uses of information, and First Amendment regulation of corporate and commercial speech. Professor Cortez has also become one of the world’s leading legal scholars on medical device regulation, particularly devices that rely on artificial intelligence (A.I.) or machine learning. He has published two recent books: Food and Drug Law (5th edition, 2022) (with Peter Barton Hutt, Lewis Grossman, Erika Lietzan, and Patti Zettler); and Readings in Comparative Health Law and Bioethics (3rd edition, 2019) (with Glenn Cohen and Tim Jost).
Professor Cortez presents his research around the world, to governments, regulators, professional societies, industry, and fellow academics. He has presented work at the law schools of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, among others, and at the medical schools of Harvard, Stanford, and Vanderbilt, among others. His work is recognized internationally and has been translated into Chinese. Professor Cortez is part of several grant-funded projects sponsored by the U.S. and Canadian governments. He also provides frequent commentary to the media, including the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, NPR, Science, WIRED, and the Washington Post.
Professor Cortez co-founded the Texas Legal Scholars Workshop and the SMU Food Law Forum. He has been a peer reviewer for top legal and medical publications, including Health Affairs, The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, and the Yale Law Journal. He has been a consultant for the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS).
Before joining the SMU faculty, Professor Cortez practiced with the Washington D.C. law firm Arnold & Porter, as part of its pharmaceutical, health care, and biotech practice. He represented clients in health care regulatory matters, with a special emphasis on health care fraud and abuse, FDA enforcement, privacy, and the Medicare and Medicaid programs. He represented clients during litigation, in corporate transactions, during agency enforcement actions, and during congressional investigations and hearings. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Stanford.
Southern Methodist University
Nathan Cortez is the Co-Director of the Tsai Center for Law, Science and Innovation, the inaugural Adelfa Botello Callejo Endowed Professor of Law in Leadership and Latino Studies, a former Associate Dean of Research, and a Gerald J. Ford Research Fellow. He teaches and writes in the areas of health law, administrative law, and FDA law. His varied research focuses on emerging markets in health care and biotechnology, regulatory theory, government uses of information, and First Amendment regulation of corporate and commercial speech. Professor Cortez has also become one of the world’s leading legal scholars on medical device regulation, particularly devices that rely on artificial intelligence (A.I.) or machine learning. He has published two recent books: Food and Drug Law (5th edition, 2022) (with Peter Barton Hutt, Lewis Grossman, Erika Lietzan, and Patti Zettler); and Readings in Comparative Health Law and Bioethics (3rd edition, 2019) (with Glenn Cohen and Tim Jost).
Professor Cortez presents his research around the world, to governments, regulators, professional societies, industry, and fellow academics. He has presented work at the law schools of Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, among others, and at the medical schools of Harvard, Stanford, and Vanderbilt, among others. His work is recognized internationally and has been translated into Chinese. Professor Cortez is part of several grant-funded projects sponsored by the U.S. and Canadian governments. He also provides frequent commentary to the media, including the Associated Press, Chicago Tribune, CNN, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times, NPR, Science, WIRED, and the Washington Post.
Professor Cortez co-founded the Texas Legal Scholars Workshop and the SMU Food Law Forum. He has been a peer reviewer for top legal and medical publications, including Health Affairs, The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, the Oxford and Cambridge University Presses, and the Yale Law Journal. He has been a consultant for the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS).
Before joining the SMU faculty, Professor Cortez practiced with the Washington D.C. law firm Arnold & Porter, as part of its pharmaceutical, health care, and biotech practice. He represented clients in health care regulatory matters, with a special emphasis on health care fraud and abuse, FDA enforcement, privacy, and the Medicare and Medicaid programs. He represented clients during litigation, in corporate transactions, during agency enforcement actions, and during congressional investigations and hearings. He received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his J.D. from Stanford.
Gary Désir, MD
Yale University School of Medicine
Gary Désir M.D. is the Beeson Professor of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine (YSM) and serves as chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at YSM, and chair of the board of Yale Medicine.
He is a physician-scientist whose work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, American Heart Association, and the Robert Wood Johnson foundation. His major contributions to science include the discovery a specific voltage-gated potassium channel that regulates body weight and insulin sensitivity, and the identification of a new growth factor, which he named renalase. He elucidated the pathway through which renalase affects cellular signaling and discovered that the protein can function abnormally and facilitate the development of certain cancers. Hi laboratory is currently focused on developing drugs that can treat cancer by blocking the action of renalase in cancer cells. Dr. Désir is a named inventor on several patents related to the discovery and therapeutic use of renalase, and the development of drugs that modulate renalase signaling in cancer. He is the scientific founder of 2 biotechnology companies focused on developing renalase-based therapies.
Dr. Désir, the first person of African descent to be appointed as chair of a department at YSM, has a strong interest in issues of diversity and social justice. He is the co-founder of the minority organization for retention and expansion (MORE), a faculty group at YSM focused on increasing faculty diversity through mentoring programs and developing resilient social networks. In collaboration with Gordon Geballe, Associate Dean for Alumni and External Affairs at school of Forestry and Environmental Studies, he has worked with L’Hospital Albert Schweitzer in the Artibonite valley in Haiti on integrated projects designed to improve the standard of living in the valley.
He was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. After high school, he immigrated to the US to attend New York University, from which he graduated magna cum laude, with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and also received New York University’s Founders Day award. Following graduation from Yale University School of Medicine (Cum Laude, Alpha Omega Alpha honor society), he trained in internal medicine and nephrology at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Dr. Désir is married to Dr. Deborah Dyett Désir who practices rheumatology at Yale. They have four children, Carl, Matthew, Christopher and Alexandra, a granddaughter Elodie and a grandson Amari.
Yale University School of Medicine
Gary Désir M.D. is the Beeson Professor of Medicine at the Yale University School of Medicine (YSM) and serves as chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at YSM, and chair of the board of Yale Medicine.
He is a physician-scientist whose work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Health, Department of Veterans Affairs, American Heart Association, and the Robert Wood Johnson foundation. His major contributions to science include the discovery a specific voltage-gated potassium channel that regulates body weight and insulin sensitivity, and the identification of a new growth factor, which he named renalase. He elucidated the pathway through which renalase affects cellular signaling and discovered that the protein can function abnormally and facilitate the development of certain cancers. Hi laboratory is currently focused on developing drugs that can treat cancer by blocking the action of renalase in cancer cells. Dr. Désir is a named inventor on several patents related to the discovery and therapeutic use of renalase, and the development of drugs that modulate renalase signaling in cancer. He is the scientific founder of 2 biotechnology companies focused on developing renalase-based therapies.
Dr. Désir, the first person of African descent to be appointed as chair of a department at YSM, has a strong interest in issues of diversity and social justice. He is the co-founder of the minority organization for retention and expansion (MORE), a faculty group at YSM focused on increasing faculty diversity through mentoring programs and developing resilient social networks. In collaboration with Gordon Geballe, Associate Dean for Alumni and External Affairs at school of Forestry and Environmental Studies, he has worked with L’Hospital Albert Schweitzer in the Artibonite valley in Haiti on integrated projects designed to improve the standard of living in the valley.
He was born in Port-Au-Prince, Haiti. After high school, he immigrated to the US to attend New York University, from which he graduated magna cum laude, with a bachelor’s degree in biology. He was elected to the Phi Beta Kappa Society, and also received New York University’s Founders Day award. Following graduation from Yale University School of Medicine (Cum Laude, Alpha Omega Alpha honor society), he trained in internal medicine and nephrology at Yale New Haven Hospital.
Dr. Désir is married to Dr. Deborah Dyett Désir who practices rheumatology at Yale. They have four children, Carl, Matthew, Christopher and Alexandra, a granddaughter Elodie and a grandson Amari.
Daniel Drucker, MD, FRCPC
Division of Endocrinology at University of Toronto
Dr. Drucker is an Endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology at University of Toronto. He holds the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre-Novo Nordisk Chair in Incretin Biology. His laboratory is based in the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and studies the molecular biology and physiology of the glucagon-like peptides. Dr. Drucker received training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology from the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the University of Toronto, followed by a fellowship in molecular endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital. His discoveries have enabled development of several new therapies for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and intestinal failure. Drucker has received numerous international awards for his translational science and has been elected to Fellowship in the Royal Society (London) and the National Academy of Sciences (USA).
Division of Endocrinology at University of Toronto
Dr. Drucker is an Endocrinologist and Professor of Medicine in the Division of Endocrinology at University of Toronto. He holds the Banting and Best Diabetes Centre-Novo Nordisk Chair in Incretin Biology. His laboratory is based in the Lunenfeld Tanenbaum Research Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto and studies the molecular biology and physiology of the glucagon-like peptides. Dr. Drucker received training in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology from the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and the University of Toronto, followed by a fellowship in molecular endocrinology at Massachusetts General Hospital. His discoveries have enabled development of several new therapies for the treatment of diabetes, obesity and intestinal failure. Drucker has received numerous international awards for his translational science and has been elected to Fellowship in the Royal Society (London) and the National Academy of Sciences (USA).
Jonathan A. Epstein, MD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Epstein graduated from Harvard College in 1983, Harvard Medical School in 1988 and completed his Residency and Fellowship in Medicine and Cardiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he also completed an HHMI Postdoctoral Fellowship in Genetics. In 1996 he accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2006-2015, he served as Chairman of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and Scientific Director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute. He is currently the William Wikoff Smith Professor, Executive Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Dr. Epstein has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Sir William Osler Young Investigator Award from the Interurban Clinical Club (2001), the Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Federation for Medical Research (2006) and the Harriet P. Dustan Award for Science as Related to Medicine from the American College of Physicians (2020). He is a member of them Philadelphia College of Physicians, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association of Physicians, Past President of the Interurban Clinical Club, Past President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a member of the National Academy of Medicine (previously the Institute of Medicine). He serves on several editorial boards, and is a past Deputy Editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Dr. Epstein was a founding co-director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine in 2007.
Dr. Epstein’s research has focused on the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular development and implications for understanding and treating human disease. His group has been at the forefront of utilizing animal models of congenital heart disease to determine genetic and molecular pathways required for cardiac morphogenesis, with implications for pediatric and adult cardiovascular disease. Stem cell, angiogenesis and epigenetic studies have had direct implications for the development of new therapeutic agents for heart failure and myocardial infarction.
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Epstein graduated from Harvard College in 1983, Harvard Medical School in 1988 and completed his Residency and Fellowship in Medicine and Cardiology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he also completed an HHMI Postdoctoral Fellowship in Genetics. In 1996 he accepted a position as Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Pennsylvania. From 2006-2015, he served as Chairman of the Department of Cell and Developmental Biology and Scientific Director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute. He is currently the William Wikoff Smith Professor, Executive Vice Dean and Chief Scientific Officer at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at the University of Pennsylvania Health System.
Dr. Epstein has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Sir William Osler Young Investigator Award from the Interurban Clinical Club (2001), the Outstanding Investigator Award from the American Federation for Medical Research (2006) and the Harriet P. Dustan Award for Science as Related to Medicine from the American College of Physicians (2020). He is a member of them Philadelphia College of Physicians, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, American Association of Physicians, Past President of the Interurban Clinical Club, Past President of the American Society for Clinical Investigation and a member of the National Academy of Medicine (previously the Institute of Medicine). He serves on several editorial boards, and is a past Deputy Editor of the Journal of Clinical Investigation. Dr. Epstein was a founding co-director of the Penn Institute for Regenerative Medicine in 2007.
Dr. Epstein’s research has focused on the molecular mechanisms of cardiovascular development and implications for understanding and treating human disease. His group has been at the forefront of utilizing animal models of congenital heart disease to determine genetic and molecular pathways required for cardiac morphogenesis, with implications for pediatric and adult cardiovascular disease. Stem cell, angiogenesis and epigenetic studies have had direct implications for the development of new therapeutic agents for heart failure and myocardial infarction.
Lauren Gardner, PhD
Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering
Lauren Gardner is the Alton and Sandra Cleveland Professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, holds a joint appointment In the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is Director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering. She is the creator of the interactive web-based dashboard being used by public health authorities, researchers, and the general public around the globe to track the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Because of her expertise and leadership, Gardner was one of six Johns Hopkins experts who briefed congressional staff about the outbreak during a Capitol Hill event in early March 2020. She was awarded the 2022 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award, America’s top medical research prize, for creating the COVID-19 dashboard that became the world’s most trusted source for reliable, real-time data about the pandemic, as well as named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020; was included on BBC’s 100 Women List 2020: Women who led change; was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business for 2020. Her research expertise is in integrated transport and epidemiological modeling. Gardner has previously led related interdisciplinary research projects which utilize network optimization and mathematical modeling to progress the state of the art in global epidemiological risk assessment. Beyond mobility, her work focuses more holistically on virus diffusion as a function of climate, land use, mobility, and other contributing risk factors. On these topics Gardner has received research funding from organizations including NIH, NSF, NASA, and the CDC. Outcomes from her research projects have led to publications in leading interdisciplinary and infectious disease journals, presentations at international academic conferences, as well invited seminars and keynote talks at Universities and various events. Gardner is also an invited member of multiple international professional committees, reviewer for top-tier journals and grant funding organizations, and invited participant of various Scientific Advisory Committees. She has also supervised more than 30 graduate students and post-docs, and teaches courses on network science and systems engineering. For more information please see the CSSE website: https://systems.jhu.edu/lauren_gardner/
Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering
Lauren Gardner is the Alton and Sandra Cleveland Professor in the Department of Civil and Systems Engineering at Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, holds a joint appointment In the Bloomberg School of Public Health, and is Director of the Center for Systems Science and Engineering. She is the creator of the interactive web-based dashboard being used by public health authorities, researchers, and the general public around the globe to track the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. Because of her expertise and leadership, Gardner was one of six Johns Hopkins experts who briefed congressional staff about the outbreak during a Capitol Hill event in early March 2020. She was awarded the 2022 Lasker~Bloomberg Public Service Award, America’s top medical research prize, for creating the COVID-19 dashboard that became the world’s most trusted source for reliable, real-time data about the pandemic, as well as named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020; was included on BBC’s 100 Women List 2020: Women who led change; was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business for 2020. Her research expertise is in integrated transport and epidemiological modeling. Gardner has previously led related interdisciplinary research projects which utilize network optimization and mathematical modeling to progress the state of the art in global epidemiological risk assessment. Beyond mobility, her work focuses more holistically on virus diffusion as a function of climate, land use, mobility, and other contributing risk factors. On these topics Gardner has received research funding from organizations including NIH, NSF, NASA, and the CDC. Outcomes from her research projects have led to publications in leading interdisciplinary and infectious disease journals, presentations at international academic conferences, as well invited seminars and keynote talks at Universities and various events. Gardner is also an invited member of multiple international professional committees, reviewer for top-tier journals and grant funding organizations, and invited participant of various Scientific Advisory Committees. She has also supervised more than 30 graduate students and post-docs, and teaches courses on network science and systems engineering. For more information please see the CSSE website: https://systems.jhu.edu/lauren_gardner/
Lorenzo Antonio Gonzalez, MD, MPL
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Lorenzo Antonio Gonzalez, MD, MPL, is the chief resident for Harbor UCLA’s family medicine residency, and also serves as the Southern California vice president for the Committee of Interns and Residents, the largest labor union representing training physicians and fellows throughout the country. He acts as the interim vice director of DOCs4POC, a multi-discipline organization of health care professionals dedicated to social justice for communities of color. His interests are in the impact of the built environment on chronic diseases, equitable affordable housing and economic development. Dr. Gonzalez’s family originates from Michoacan y Jalisco Mexico, and he was born and raised in Anaheim, Calif. Lorenzo obtained his Doctor of Medicine from UC San Diego and is a graduate of the PRIME Health Equity program. While in medical school, he obtained a master’s degree in urban planning from USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. Most recently, he was awarded the AFMRD Family Medicine Resident Award for Advocacy for his contributions to physician organized labor. Dr. Gonzalez will be dedicating his chief resident position to advancing environmental justice and street medicine at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. He will continue to empower interns, residents, and fellows to utilize organized labor as a mechanism for social justice by bargaining for the common good. Dr. Gonzalez strongly believes disease is the manifestation of oppression and seeks to enhance his advocacy skills to better serve his patients and communities. Lastly, health and wellness is a right for all.
Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Lorenzo Antonio Gonzalez, MD, MPL, is the chief resident for Harbor UCLA’s family medicine residency, and also serves as the Southern California vice president for the Committee of Interns and Residents, the largest labor union representing training physicians and fellows throughout the country. He acts as the interim vice director of DOCs4POC, a multi-discipline organization of health care professionals dedicated to social justice for communities of color. His interests are in the impact of the built environment on chronic diseases, equitable affordable housing and economic development. Dr. Gonzalez’s family originates from Michoacan y Jalisco Mexico, and he was born and raised in Anaheim, Calif. Lorenzo obtained his Doctor of Medicine from UC San Diego and is a graduate of the PRIME Health Equity program. While in medical school, he obtained a master’s degree in urban planning from USC’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. Most recently, he was awarded the AFMRD Family Medicine Resident Award for Advocacy for his contributions to physician organized labor. Dr. Gonzalez will be dedicating his chief resident position to advancing environmental justice and street medicine at Harbor UCLA Medical Center. He will continue to empower interns, residents, and fellows to utilize organized labor as a mechanism for social justice by bargaining for the common good. Dr. Gonzalez strongly believes disease is the manifestation of oppression and seeks to enhance his advocacy skills to better serve his patients and communities. Lastly, health and wellness is a right for all.
Katie Hogan, BS
Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University Department of Bioengineering
Katie Hogan is a 7th year MD-PhD student at Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University Department of Bioengineering. She earned a degree in Biological Engineering from Louisiana State University, and is currently completing her thesis in the lab of Dr. Antonios Mikos at Rice University. Her work focuses on the development of tissue-derived biomaterials for musculoskeletal tissue engineering and their adaptation to fabrication methods such as 3D-printing. She is the co-chair of the American Physician Scientists Association Technology Committee.
Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University Department of Bioengineering
Katie Hogan is a 7th year MD-PhD student at Baylor College of Medicine/Rice University Department of Bioengineering. She earned a degree in Biological Engineering from Louisiana State University, and is currently completing her thesis in the lab of Dr. Antonios Mikos at Rice University. Her work focuses on the development of tissue-derived biomaterials for musculoskeletal tissue engineering and their adaptation to fabrication methods such as 3D-printing. She is the co-chair of the American Physician Scientists Association Technology Committee.
Peter J. Hotez, MD, PhD
Baylor College of Medicine
Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. He is also University Professor at Baylor University, Fellow in Disease and Poverty at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, Faculty Fellow with the Hagler Institute for Advanced Studies at Texas A&M University, and Health Policy Scholar in the Baylor Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.
Dr. Hotez is an internationally-recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. As co-director of the Texas Children’s CVD, he leads a team and product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and SARS/MERS/SARS-2 coronavirus, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, while championing access to vaccines globally and in the United States.
In December 2021, Dr. Hotez led efforts at the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development to develop a low-cost recombinant protein COVID vaccine for global health, resulting in emergency use authorization in India.
He obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University in 1980 (phi beta kappa), followed by a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Rockefeller University in 1986, and an M.D. from Weil Cornell Medical College in 1987. Dr. Hotez has authored more than 600 original papers and is the author of five single-author books, including Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases (ASM Press); Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor amid Wealth (Johns Hopkins University Press); Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism (Johns Hopkins University Press); and Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science (Johns Hopkins University Press).
Dr. Hotez served previously as President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and he is founding Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. In 2006 at the Clinton Global Initiative he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for hundreds of millions of people. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (Public Health Section) and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (Public Policy Section). In 2014-16, he served in the Obama Administration as US Envoy, focusing on vaccine diplomacy initiatives between the US Government and countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2018, he was appointed by the US State Department to serve on the Board of Governors for the US Israel Binational Science Foundation, and is frequently called upon frequently to testify before US Congress. He has served on infectious disease task forces for two consecutive Texas Governors. For these efforts in 2017 he was named by FORTUNE Magazine as one of the 34 most influential people in health care, while in 2018 he received the Sustained Leadership Award from Research!America. In 2022 Hotez and his colleague Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for “their work to develop and distribute a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine to people of the world without patent limitation.”
Most recently as both a vaccine scientist and autism parent, he has led national efforts to defend vaccines and to serve as an ardent champion of vaccines going up against a growing national “antivax” threat. In 2019, he received the Award for Leadership in Advocacy for Vaccines from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. In 2021 he was recognized by scientific leadership awards from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) and the AMA (American Medical Association), in addition to being recognized by the Anti-Defamation League with its annual Popkin Award for combating antisemitism. Dr. Hotez appears frequently on television (including BBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC), radio, and in newspaper interviews (including the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal).
Baylor College of Medicine
Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics. He is also University Professor at Baylor University, Fellow in Disease and Poverty at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, Faculty Fellow with the Hagler Institute for Advanced Studies at Texas A&M University, and Health Policy Scholar in the Baylor Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.
Dr. Hotez is an internationally-recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. As co-director of the Texas Children’s CVD, he leads a team and product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis, Chagas disease, and SARS/MERS/SARS-2 coronavirus, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, while championing access to vaccines globally and in the United States.
In December 2021, Dr. Hotez led efforts at the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development to develop a low-cost recombinant protein COVID vaccine for global health, resulting in emergency use authorization in India.
He obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University in 1980 (phi beta kappa), followed by a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Rockefeller University in 1986, and an M.D. from Weil Cornell Medical College in 1987. Dr. Hotez has authored more than 600 original papers and is the author of five single-author books, including Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases (ASM Press); Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor amid Wealth (Johns Hopkins University Press); Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism (Johns Hopkins University Press); and Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science (Johns Hopkins University Press).
Dr. Hotez served previously as President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and he is founding Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. In 2006 at the Clinton Global Initiative he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for hundreds of millions of people. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (Public Health Section) and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (Public Policy Section). In 2014-16, he served in the Obama Administration as US Envoy, focusing on vaccine diplomacy initiatives between the US Government and countries in the Middle East and North Africa. In 2018, he was appointed by the US State Department to serve on the Board of Governors for the US Israel Binational Science Foundation, and is frequently called upon frequently to testify before US Congress. He has served on infectious disease task forces for two consecutive Texas Governors. For these efforts in 2017 he was named by FORTUNE Magazine as one of the 34 most influential people in health care, while in 2018 he received the Sustained Leadership Award from Research!America. In 2022 Hotez and his colleague Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for “their work to develop and distribute a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine to people of the world without patent limitation.”
Most recently as both a vaccine scientist and autism parent, he has led national efforts to defend vaccines and to serve as an ardent champion of vaccines going up against a growing national “antivax” threat. In 2019, he received the Award for Leadership in Advocacy for Vaccines from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. In 2021 he was recognized by scientific leadership awards from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) and the AMA (American Medical Association), in addition to being recognized by the Anti-Defamation League with its annual Popkin Award for combating antisemitism. Dr. Hotez appears frequently on television (including BBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC), radio, and in newspaper interviews (including the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal).
Ashish K. Jha, MD
White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator
A practicing physician, Ashish K. Jha, M.D. was appointed as Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response by President Biden. In his former role, he served as dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University. He is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as on domestic and global health policy. Jha has led groundbreaking research around Ebola and has been a trusted voice on the COVID-19 response, leading national and international analysis of key issues and advising state and federal policy makers.
He joined Brown in 2020 after leading the Harvard Global Health Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.
Jha has published more than 250 original research publications in leading medical and health policy journals and is a frequent contributor to a range of public media. His research has focused primarily on the impact of public health policy on health outcomes and healthcare spending both domestically and globally.
He has practiced for nearly two decades at Veterans Affairs hospitals, providing direct clinical care to Veterans.
Born in Pursaulia, Bihar, India, Jha moved to Toronto, Canada, in 1979 and to the United States in 1983. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a B.A. in economics, and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He has been a member of the National Academy of Medicine since 2013.
White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator
A practicing physician, Ashish K. Jha, M.D. was appointed as Coordinator of the COVID-19 Response by President Biden. In his former role, he served as dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University. He is recognized globally as an expert on pandemic preparedness and response as well as on domestic and global health policy. Jha has led groundbreaking research around Ebola and has been a trusted voice on the COVID-19 response, leading national and international analysis of key issues and advising state and federal policy makers.
He joined Brown in 2020 after leading the Harvard Global Health Institute and teaching at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Harvard Medical School.
Jha has published more than 250 original research publications in leading medical and health policy journals and is a frequent contributor to a range of public media. His research has focused primarily on the impact of public health policy on health outcomes and healthcare spending both domestically and globally.
He has practiced for nearly two decades at Veterans Affairs hospitals, providing direct clinical care to Veterans.
Born in Pursaulia, Bihar, India, Jha moved to Toronto, Canada, in 1979 and to the United States in 1983. He graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University with a B.A. in economics, and received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and a Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health. He has been a member of the National Academy of Medicine since 2013.
William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD
Harvard Medical School Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
William Kaelin is the Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Senior Physician in Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He obtained his undergraduate and M.D. degrees from Duke University and completed his training in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he served as chief medical resident. He was a clinical fellow in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and later a postdoctoral fellow in David Livingston’s laboratory, during which time he was a McDonnell Scholar.
A Nobel Laureate, Dr. Kaelin received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American College of Physicians. He previously served on the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisors, the AACR Board of Trustees, and the Institute of Medicine National Cancer Policy Board. He is a recipient of the Paul Marks Prize for cancer research from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Prize from the AACR; the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist award; the 2010 Canada International Gairdner Award; ASCI’s Stanley
J. Korsmeyer Award; the Scientific Grand Prix of the Foundation Lefoulon-Delalande; the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences; the Steven C. Beering Award; the AACR Princess Takamatsu Award; the ASCO Science of Oncology Award; the Helis Award; the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Prize; the Massry Prize; the Harriet P. Dustan Award for Science as Related to Medicine from the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Kaelin’s research seeks to understand how, mechanistically, mutations affecting tumor-suppressor genes cause cancer. His laboratory is currently focused on studies of the VHL, RB-1, and p53 tumor suppressor genes. His long-term goal is to lay the foundation for new anticancer therapies based on the biochemical functions of such proteins. His work on the VHL protein helped to motivate the eventual successful clinical testing of VEGF inhibitors for the treatment of kidney cancer. Moreover, this line of investigation led to new insights into how cells sense and respond to changes in oxygen, and thus has implications for diseases beyond cancer, such as anemia, myocardial infarction, and stroke. His group also showed that leukemic transformation by mutant IDH was reversible, setting the stage for the development and approval of mutant IDH inhibitors, and discovered how thalidomide-like drugs kill myeloma cells by degrading two otherwise undruggable transcription factors.
Harvard Medical School Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
William Kaelin is the Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Senior Physician in Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He obtained his undergraduate and M.D. degrees from Duke University and completed his training in Internal Medicine at the Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he served as chief medical resident. He was a clinical fellow in Medical Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and later a postdoctoral fellow in David Livingston’s laboratory, during which time he was a McDonnell Scholar.
A Nobel Laureate, Dr. Kaelin received the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and the American College of Physicians. He previously served on the National Cancer Institute Board of Scientific Advisors, the AACR Board of Trustees, and the Institute of Medicine National Cancer Policy Board. He is a recipient of the Paul Marks Prize for cancer research from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center; the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Prize from the AACR; the Doris Duke Distinguished Clinical Scientist award; the 2010 Canada International Gairdner Award; ASCI’s Stanley
J. Korsmeyer Award; the Scientific Grand Prix of the Foundation Lefoulon-Delalande; the Wiley Prize in Biomedical Sciences; the Steven C. Beering Award; the AACR Princess Takamatsu Award; the ASCO Science of Oncology Award; the Helis Award; the Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Prize; the Massry Prize; the Harriet P. Dustan Award for Science as Related to Medicine from the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Kaelin’s research seeks to understand how, mechanistically, mutations affecting tumor-suppressor genes cause cancer. His laboratory is currently focused on studies of the VHL, RB-1, and p53 tumor suppressor genes. His long-term goal is to lay the foundation for new anticancer therapies based on the biochemical functions of such proteins. His work on the VHL protein helped to motivate the eventual successful clinical testing of VEGF inhibitors for the treatment of kidney cancer. Moreover, this line of investigation led to new insights into how cells sense and respond to changes in oxygen, and thus has implications for diseases beyond cancer, such as anemia, myocardial infarction, and stroke. His group also showed that leukemic transformation by mutant IDH was reversible, setting the stage for the development and approval of mutant IDH inhibitors, and discovered how thalidomide-like drugs kill myeloma cells by degrading two otherwise undruggable transcription factors.
Daniel P. Kelly, MD
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Dan Kelly is the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He trained in Medicine and Cardiology at Barnes Hospital, then joined the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine where he served as Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Chief of the Cardiovascular Division, and the founding Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research. In 2008, Dr. Kelly assumed the role of founding Scientific Director for the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in Florida followed by his recruitment to serve as Director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute.
Dr. Kelly’s research interests stem from an early fascination with rare inborn errors in energy metabolism that cause childhood sudden death and heart failure. He defined the genetic basis for a common inborn error in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation, work that led to the development of practical newborn screening tests. Thereafter, he became interested in how similar derangements in cardiac fuel and energy metabolism contribute to acquired forms of heart failure in adults. The Kelly laboratory has recently identified several candidate therapeutic targets to re-balance mitochondrial metabolism in heart failure.
Dr. Kelly served as an Associate Editor for The Journal of Clinical Investigation and is currently on many Editorial Boards. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (Council, 2002-05), the American Association of Physicians as current president, and is a recipient of the AHA Distinguished Achievement Award and Basic Research Prize.
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Dan Kelly is the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He trained in Medicine and Cardiology at Barnes Hospital, then joined the faculty of Washington University School of Medicine where he served as Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, Chief of the Cardiovascular Division, and the founding Director of the Center for Cardiovascular Research. In 2008, Dr. Kelly assumed the role of founding Scientific Director for the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in Florida followed by his recruitment to serve as Director of the Penn Cardiovascular Institute.
Dr. Kelly’s research interests stem from an early fascination with rare inborn errors in energy metabolism that cause childhood sudden death and heart failure. He defined the genetic basis for a common inborn error in mitochondrial fatty acid oxidation, work that led to the development of practical newborn screening tests. Thereafter, he became interested in how similar derangements in cardiac fuel and energy metabolism contribute to acquired forms of heart failure in adults. The Kelly laboratory has recently identified several candidate therapeutic targets to re-balance mitochondrial metabolism in heart failure.
Dr. Kelly served as an Associate Editor for The Journal of Clinical Investigation and is currently on many Editorial Boards. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (Council, 2002-05), the American Association of Physicians as current president, and is a recipient of the AHA Distinguished Achievement Award and Basic Research Prize.
Mary E. Klotman, MD
Duke University School of Medicine
A nationally recognized leader in academic medicine, Mary E. Klotman, MD, was named dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, chief academic officer for the Duke University Health System, and vice chancellor for health affairs at Duke University in 2017 and was reappointed to a second five-year term in 2022. Prior to her appointment as dean, Dr. Klotman served with distinction as chair of the Department of Medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine for seven years.
Dr. Klotman earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from Duke University. She completed her internal medicine residency and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at Duke before joining the faculty as assistant professor of medicine. She joined the National Institutes of Health in 1991, where she was a member of the Public Health Service and trained and worked in the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology under the direction of Robert C. Gallo, MD.
Before returning to Duke in 2010, Dr. Klotman joined Mount Sinai School of Medicine where she was the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine and served as chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases for 13 years. She was also co-director of Mount Sinai’s Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute, a program designed to translate basic science discoveries into clinical therapeutics for newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
A pioneering physician-scientist, Dr. Klotman’s research interests are focused on the molecular pathogenesis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV-1) infection. Among many important contributions to this field, Dr. Klotman and her team demonstrated that HIV resides in and evolves separately in kidney cells, a critical step in HIV-associated kidney disease. Most recently, her group has been defining the role of integrase-defective lentiviral vectors for the delivery of an HIV vaccine.
Dr. Klotman is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is past president of both the Association of American Physicians and the Association of Professors of Medicine, and she serves as editor of the Annual Review of Medicine. Dr. Klotman is a former president of the Duke Medical Alumni Association and received a Duke University School of Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.
Duke University School of Medicine
A nationally recognized leader in academic medicine, Mary E. Klotman, MD, was named dean of the Duke University School of Medicine, chief academic officer for the Duke University Health System, and vice chancellor for health affairs at Duke University in 2017 and was reappointed to a second five-year term in 2022. Prior to her appointment as dean, Dr. Klotman served with distinction as chair of the Department of Medicine in the Duke University School of Medicine for seven years.
Dr. Klotman earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from Duke University. She completed her internal medicine residency and a fellowship in Infectious Diseases in the Department of Medicine at Duke before joining the faculty as assistant professor of medicine. She joined the National Institutes of Health in 1991, where she was a member of the Public Health Service and trained and worked in the Laboratory of Tumor Cell Biology under the direction of Robert C. Gallo, MD.
Before returning to Duke in 2010, Dr. Klotman joined Mount Sinai School of Medicine where she was the Irene and Dr. Arthur M. Fishberg Professor of Medicine and served as chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases for 13 years. She was also co-director of Mount Sinai’s Global Health and Emerging Pathogens Institute, a program designed to translate basic science discoveries into clinical therapeutics for newly emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.
A pioneering physician-scientist, Dr. Klotman’s research interests are focused on the molecular pathogenesis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV-1) infection. Among many important contributions to this field, Dr. Klotman and her team demonstrated that HIV resides in and evolves separately in kidney cells, a critical step in HIV-associated kidney disease. Most recently, her group has been defining the role of integrase-defective lentiviral vectors for the delivery of an HIV vaccine.
Dr. Klotman is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and a fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is past president of both the Association of American Physicians and the Association of Professors of Medicine, and she serves as editor of the Annual Review of Medicine. Dr. Klotman is a former president of the Duke Medical Alumni Association and received a Duke University School of Medicine Distinguished Alumni Award in 2015.
Rafael Kramann, MD, PhD, FASN
University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany
Dr. Kramann is Professor of Medicine, Director of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology and Associate Senior Attending Renal Physician at the Department of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology at RWTH Aachen, Germany. He further directs the Laboratory of Translational Kidney and Cardiovascular Research at the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, NL. He received his MD in cardiology at RWTH Aachen University in 2007, a PhD in internal medicine at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam and postdoctoral training at Brigham and Women´s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA. His basic and translational research focuses on understanding chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases and organ fibrosis (www.kramannlab.com). He integrates state of the art genetic fate tracing, gene editing, single cell, multi-omics and systems biology technologies together with clinical datasets to unravel mechanisms, identify novel therapeutic targets and develop targeted therapeutics for patients with chronic kidney disease, heart failure and organ fibrosis. Dr. Kramann is recipient of various prestigious awards including the Grand Prize in the Harvard Innovation Lab Dean´s Health and Lifescience Challenge 2013 the Stanley Shaldon Award of the European Renal Association (ERA-EDTA) 2014, a European Research Council Starting Grant 2015, the Nils Alwall, Carl Ludwig and Franz Volhard Awards 2014, 2015 and 2019 of the German Society of Nephrology, the Bernd Tersteegen Award 2015 of the German Dialysis Association, the Desiderius Award of the Erasmus University in 2018, the Theodor Frerichs Award of the German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM) and the Wilhelm Vaillant Award in 2021. He is further NWO-VIDI Laureate 2021 and ERC Consolidator Grant Recipient 2022. He is coordinator of the ERA-CVD NET MEND-AGE and the BMBF CureFib consortia and PI at the British Heart Foundation Center of Excellence at the University of Edinburgh, UK where he holds an honorary Professorship.
University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Germany
Dr. Kramann is Professor of Medicine, Director of the Institute of Experimental Medicine and Systems Biology and Associate Senior Attending Renal Physician at the Department of Nephrology and Clinical Immunology at RWTH Aachen, Germany. He further directs the Laboratory of Translational Kidney and Cardiovascular Research at the Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam, NL. He received his MD in cardiology at RWTH Aachen University in 2007, a PhD in internal medicine at Erasmus MC, Rotterdam and postdoctoral training at Brigham and Women´s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston MA. His basic and translational research focuses on understanding chronic kidney disease, cardiovascular diseases and organ fibrosis (www.kramannlab.com). He integrates state of the art genetic fate tracing, gene editing, single cell, multi-omics and systems biology technologies together with clinical datasets to unravel mechanisms, identify novel therapeutic targets and develop targeted therapeutics for patients with chronic kidney disease, heart failure and organ fibrosis. Dr. Kramann is recipient of various prestigious awards including the Grand Prize in the Harvard Innovation Lab Dean´s Health and Lifescience Challenge 2013 the Stanley Shaldon Award of the European Renal Association (ERA-EDTA) 2014, a European Research Council Starting Grant 2015, the Nils Alwall, Carl Ludwig and Franz Volhard Awards 2014, 2015 and 2019 of the German Society of Nephrology, the Bernd Tersteegen Award 2015 of the German Dialysis Association, the Desiderius Award of the Erasmus University in 2018, the Theodor Frerichs Award of the German Society of Internal Medicine (DGIM) and the Wilhelm Vaillant Award in 2021. He is further NWO-VIDI Laureate 2021 and ERC Consolidator Grant Recipient 2022. He is coordinator of the ERA-CVD NET MEND-AGE and the BMBF CureFib consortia and PI at the British Heart Foundation Center of Excellence at the University of Edinburgh, UK where he holds an honorary Professorship.
Jennifer M Kwan, MD, PhD
Yale School of Medicine
Dr. Kwan, MD, PhD is an assistant professor of medicine in the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, working on cardio-oncology related translational research to evaluate mechanisms of cardiotoxicities associated with oncologic therapies and the role/effect of clonal hematopoiesis/somatic variants in heart failure and cardio-oncology patients. She obtained her MD and PhD degrees from the Medical Scientist Training Program at UI Chicago where she won several research and leadership awards. She previously graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley with a BA in Molecular Cell Biology, where she was both a Cal Alumni Scholar and recipient of the Berkeley Academic Scholarship. She also serves on the board of directors for the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) and has spearheaded advocacy efforts and initiatives to support the career success of physician scientist trainees and early career physician scientists, including successful advocacy for increased NIH funding
Yale School of Medicine
Dr. Kwan, MD, PhD is an assistant professor of medicine in the Section of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, working on cardio-oncology related translational research to evaluate mechanisms of cardiotoxicities associated with oncologic therapies and the role/effect of clonal hematopoiesis/somatic variants in heart failure and cardio-oncology patients. She obtained her MD and PhD degrees from the Medical Scientist Training Program at UI Chicago where she won several research and leadership awards. She previously graduated with honors from the University of California, Berkeley with a BA in Molecular Cell Biology, where she was both a Cal Alumni Scholar and recipient of the Berkeley Academic Scholarship. She also serves on the board of directors for the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA) and has spearheaded advocacy efforts and initiatives to support the career success of physician scientist trainees and early career physician scientists, including successful advocacy for increased NIH funding
Cato T. Laurencin, MD, PhD, BSE
University of Connecticut
Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. earned his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton, his M.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Harvard Medical School, and his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from M.I.T.
He is the pioneer of the field of Regenerative Engineering.
In receiving the Spingarn Medal, he was named the world’s foremost engineer-physician-scientist. Dr. Laurencin pioneered the novel use of polymeric biomaterials for treating musculoskeletal conditions. In recognition of his breakthrough achievements, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers created the Cato T. Laurencin Regenerative Engineering Founder’s Award.
Dr. Laurencin is the first surgeon in history elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences. He is the first person to receive both one of the oldest/highest awards of the National Academy of Medicine (the Walsh McDermott Medal) and the oldest/highest award of the National Academy of Engineering (the Simon Ramo Founder’s Award). The American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded him the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize given ‘for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States’.
Dr. Laurencin is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America’s highest honor for technological achievement, awarded by President Barack Obama in ceremonies at the White House.
University of Connecticut
Cato T. Laurencin, M.D., Ph.D. earned his B.S.E. in Chemical Engineering from Princeton, his M.D., Magna Cum Laude, from the Harvard Medical School, and his Ph.D. in Biochemical Engineering/Biotechnology from M.I.T.
He is the pioneer of the field of Regenerative Engineering.
In receiving the Spingarn Medal, he was named the world’s foremost engineer-physician-scientist. Dr. Laurencin pioneered the novel use of polymeric biomaterials for treating musculoskeletal conditions. In recognition of his breakthrough achievements, the American Institute of Chemical Engineers created the Cato T. Laurencin Regenerative Engineering Founder’s Award.
Dr. Laurencin is the first surgeon in history elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences. He is the first person to receive both one of the oldest/highest awards of the National Academy of Medicine (the Walsh McDermott Medal) and the oldest/highest award of the National Academy of Engineering (the Simon Ramo Founder’s Award). The American Association for the Advancement of Science awarded him the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize given ‘for signal contributions to the advancement of science in the United States’.
Dr. Laurencin is the recipient of the National Medal of Technology and Innovation, America’s highest honor for technological achievement, awarded by President Barack Obama in ceremonies at the White House.
Mitchell A. Lazar, MD, PhD
Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania
Mitchell A. Lazar, MD, PhD is the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Diabetes & Metabolic Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He was an undergraduate at MIT, received his MD and PhD from Stanford University, and trained in internal medicine and endocrinology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital before joining the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 1989. He served as Chief of the Penn Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism from 1996-2020, and is the current and Founding Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. Dr. Lazar has made fundamental contributions to the fields of endocrinology, nuclear receptors, and the transcriptional regulation of metabolism. His groundbreaking research has uncovered mechanisms by which the environment interacts with the genome to regulate circadian rhythms and metabolism and how these impact the epidemics of obesity and diabetes. He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and its Council, and to the Association of American Physicians and its council, which he served as president in 2020-2021. Dr. Lazar is also an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Science. He has received numerous awards from international societies and universities, including the Transatlantic Medal from the UK Endocrine Society, the Luft Medal from the Karolinska Institute, and the Harrison Medal from the Endocrine Society of Australia. Dr. Lazar is also the recipient of the 2023 Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award of the Endocrine Society.
Perelman School of Medicine University of Pennsylvania
Mitchell A. Lazar, MD, PhD is the Willard and Rhoda Ware Professor of Diabetes & Metabolic Diseases at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine. He was an undergraduate at MIT, received his MD and PhD from Stanford University, and trained in internal medicine and endocrinology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital before joining the University of Pennsylvania faculty in 1989. He served as Chief of the Penn Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, and Metabolism from 1996-2020, and is the current and Founding Director of the Institute for Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism. Dr. Lazar has made fundamental contributions to the fields of endocrinology, nuclear receptors, and the transcriptional regulation of metabolism. His groundbreaking research has uncovered mechanisms by which the environment interacts with the genome to regulate circadian rhythms and metabolism and how these impact the epidemics of obesity and diabetes. He has been elected to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and its Council, and to the Association of American Physicians and its council, which he served as president in 2020-2021. Dr. Lazar is also an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Science. He has received numerous awards from international societies and universities, including the Transatlantic Medal from the UK Endocrine Society, the Luft Medal from the Karolinska Institute, and the Harrison Medal from the Endocrine Society of Australia. Dr. Lazar is also the recipient of the 2023 Fred Conrad Koch Lifetime Achievement Award of the Endocrine Society.
Emma Levine, PhD
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Emma Levine is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Science and the Charles E. Merrill Faculty Scholar at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Levine's research seeks to understand how individuals make trade-offs between different values, and how this influences decision-making and social perception. Her main stream of research investigates the tension between honesty and benevolence - a tension she has studied both inside and outside of the domain of medicine. Levine earned both a BA (philosophy, politics, and economics) and a BS (economics) from the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, she holds a PhD from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to her PhD studies at Wharton, Levine worked for Procter and Gamble. She has taught a course on Negotiations for the past 6 years at Booth.
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Emma Levine is an Associate Professor of Behavioral Science and the Charles E. Merrill Faculty Scholar at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Levine's research seeks to understand how individuals make trade-offs between different values, and how this influences decision-making and social perception. Her main stream of research investigates the tension between honesty and benevolence - a tension she has studied both inside and outside of the domain of medicine. Levine earned both a BA (philosophy, politics, and economics) and a BS (economics) from the University of Pennsylvania. Additionally, she holds a PhD from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to her PhD studies at Wharton, Levine worked for Procter and Gamble. She has taught a course on Negotiations for the past 6 years at Booth.
Richard P. Lifton, MD, PhD
The Rockefeller University
Richard Lifton has served as President and Head of the Laboratory of Human Genetics and Genomics of The Rockefeller University since 2016. His laboratory pioneered the study of rare forms of common disease to understand mechanisms of diseases such as hypertension, for which he showed that mutations that cause extremely high or low blood pressure repectively cause increased or decreased reabsorption of salt by the kidney. These findings have informed public health efforts to prevent and treat hypertension, preventing heart attacks and strokes. He also developed and implemented exome sequencing for clinical diagnosis and disease gene discovery, leading one of the NIH Centers for Mendelian Genomics, which has resulted in discovery of more than 1,500 new disease genes, and demonstrated the frequent occurrence of de novo mutations in many congenital disorders including autism and congenital heart disease. Lifton graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University and completed training in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Prior to Rockefeller, he was Sterling Professor, chair of Genetics, and founder of the Yale Center for Genome Analysis at Yale University. He is a member and had served on the council fo the Association of American Physicians. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, and has served on the governing councils of both. He has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Whitehead Institute, the Broad Institute, the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Brotman Baty Institute for Genomics, the Simons Foundation for Autism Research, and the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco. He is a Director of Roche and its subsidiary Genentech, and served on the Advisory Council to the NIH Director. He served as co-chair of the NAS/Royal Society International Commission on the Clinical Use of Germline Genome Editing, and was co-chair of the White House/NIH Precision Medicine Planning Group. He received the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the 2008 Wiley Prize, and the highest scientific awards of the American Heart Association, the American Society of Nephrology, the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, the International Society for Nephrology and the International Society for Hypertension. He has received honorary doctorates from Northwestern University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Yale University.
The Rockefeller University
Richard Lifton has served as President and Head of the Laboratory of Human Genetics and Genomics of The Rockefeller University since 2016. His laboratory pioneered the study of rare forms of common disease to understand mechanisms of diseases such as hypertension, for which he showed that mutations that cause extremely high or low blood pressure repectively cause increased or decreased reabsorption of salt by the kidney. These findings have informed public health efforts to prevent and treat hypertension, preventing heart attacks and strokes. He also developed and implemented exome sequencing for clinical diagnosis and disease gene discovery, leading one of the NIH Centers for Mendelian Genomics, which has resulted in discovery of more than 1,500 new disease genes, and demonstrated the frequent occurrence of de novo mutations in many congenital disorders including autism and congenital heart disease. Lifton graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College, obtained his M.D. and Ph.D. in biochemistry from Stanford University and completed training in Internal Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Prior to Rockefeller, he was Sterling Professor, chair of Genetics, and founder of the Yale Center for Genome Analysis at Yale University. He is a member and had served on the council fo the Association of American Physicians. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine, and has served on the governing councils of both. He has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the Whitehead Institute, the Broad Institute, the Massachusetts General Hospital, the Brotman Baty Institute for Genomics, the Simons Foundation for Autism Research, and the Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub San Francisco. He is a Director of Roche and its subsidiary Genentech, and served on the Advisory Council to the NIH Director. He served as co-chair of the NAS/Royal Society International Commission on the Clinical Use of Germline Genome Editing, and was co-chair of the White House/NIH Precision Medicine Planning Group. He received the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the 2008 Wiley Prize, and the highest scientific awards of the American Heart Association, the American Society of Nephrology, the Council for High Blood Pressure Research, the International Society for Nephrology and the International Society for Hypertension. He has received honorary doctorates from Northwestern University, Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Yale University.
Piro Lito, MD, PhD
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Dr. Lito is the recipient of the ASCI’s 2022 Donald Seldin~Holly Smith Award for Pioneering Research. He is a physician-scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College. He studies the properties of proteins that drive cancer cell growth, focusing on lung cancer and other solid tumors. His research aims to provide insight into the fundamental processes that govern tumor biology and to identify therapeutic interventions that prolong survival and improve the quality of life in patients. In particular, he has made key advances in the effort to understand and target tumors driven by KRAS, the most frequently activated cancer-causing protein. His group showed that mutated KRAS oncoproteins are not locked in an active state, but rather cycle between an active and inactive state; a property that renders them susceptible to drugs that trap the mutant protein in its inactive conformation. In addition to describing the mechanism of action of novel KRAS inhibitors, his team helped translate these drugs into clinical trials, determined how cancer cells bypass the effect of treatment and identified several combination strategies promising to improve the clinical benefits of this first-in-class therapy. Dr. Lito’s work has been recognized by other awards including the Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research Award and the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award.
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Dr. Lito is the recipient of the ASCI’s 2022 Donald Seldin~Holly Smith Award for Pioneering Research. He is a physician-scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and Weill Cornell Medical College. He studies the properties of proteins that drive cancer cell growth, focusing on lung cancer and other solid tumors. His research aims to provide insight into the fundamental processes that govern tumor biology and to identify therapeutic interventions that prolong survival and improve the quality of life in patients. In particular, he has made key advances in the effort to understand and target tumors driven by KRAS, the most frequently activated cancer-causing protein. His group showed that mutated KRAS oncoproteins are not locked in an active state, but rather cycle between an active and inactive state; a property that renders them susceptible to drugs that trap the mutant protein in its inactive conformation. In addition to describing the mechanism of action of novel KRAS inhibitors, his team helped translate these drugs into clinical trials, determined how cancer cells bypass the effect of treatment and identified several combination strategies promising to improve the clinical benefits of this first-in-class therapy. Dr. Lito’s work has been recognized by other awards including the Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research Award and the Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award.
Albert M. Maguire, MD
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
The tenth annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been jointly awarded to Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology and Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Albert M. Maguire, MD, the F.M. Kirby Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The award recognizes this team’s groundbreaking translational research to restore sight in inherited genetic diseases.
The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, established in 2014 by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), honors physician-scientists who have moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.
Dr. Jean Bennett and Dr. Albert Maguire are pioneers in retinal gene therapies, conducting their early work at a time when there were few guideposts. Working collaboratively for the past 30 years, they are widely recognized for persistence and dedication that has led to a first fully approved breakthrough treatment for blindness.
Drs. Bennet and Maguire’s striking results in a dog model of Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), a rare genetic cause of blindness, provided support for human clinical trials, which reversed blindness in children and resulted in FDA approval of gene therapy to the eye.
Building on their work in LCA, the Bennett-Maguire team initiated a clinical trial for a second inherited retinal degeneration, Choroideremia, a disease leading to complete blindness in affected men by middle age. In doing so, they opened a path from laboratory to clinic in additional blinding diseases.
“The path from proof-of-concept to delivering a safe and effective treatment to patients is one that few physician-scientists are able to experience. Drs. Bennett and Maguire have achieved many ‘firsts’ through their groundbreaking work and have opened the gates for many new treatments to follow,” said Sohail F. Tavazoie, MD, PhD, Leon Hess Professor, The Rockefeller University and 2022-2023 President of the ASCI.
“The translational work of Drs. Bennett and Maguire has impacted the standard of care for patients living with congenital blindness and offered new hope where none existed. Their extraordinary achievements are precisely what the Harrington Prize seeks to recognize,” said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President, Harrington Discovery Institute, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation and Professor of Medicine and of Biochemistry at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.
Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
The tenth annual Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine has been jointly awarded to Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, the F.M. Kirby Emeritus Professor of Ophthalmology and Cell and Developmental Biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, and Albert M. Maguire, MD, the F.M. Kirby Professor of Molecular Ophthalmology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. The award recognizes this team’s groundbreaking translational research to restore sight in inherited genetic diseases.
The Harrington Prize for Innovation in Medicine, established in 2014 by the Harrington Discovery Institute at University Hospitals and the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI), honors physician-scientists who have moved science forward with achievements notable for innovation, creativity and potential for clinical application.
Dr. Jean Bennett and Dr. Albert Maguire are pioneers in retinal gene therapies, conducting their early work at a time when there were few guideposts. Working collaboratively for the past 30 years, they are widely recognized for persistence and dedication that has led to a first fully approved breakthrough treatment for blindness.
Drs. Bennet and Maguire’s striking results in a dog model of Leber’s congenital amaurosis (LCA), a rare genetic cause of blindness, provided support for human clinical trials, which reversed blindness in children and resulted in FDA approval of gene therapy to the eye.
Building on their work in LCA, the Bennett-Maguire team initiated a clinical trial for a second inherited retinal degeneration, Choroideremia, a disease leading to complete blindness in affected men by middle age. In doing so, they opened a path from laboratory to clinic in additional blinding diseases.
“The path from proof-of-concept to delivering a safe and effective treatment to patients is one that few physician-scientists are able to experience. Drs. Bennett and Maguire have achieved many ‘firsts’ through their groundbreaking work and have opened the gates for many new treatments to follow,” said Sohail F. Tavazoie, MD, PhD, Leon Hess Professor, The Rockefeller University and 2022-2023 President of the ASCI.
“The translational work of Drs. Bennett and Maguire has impacted the standard of care for patients living with congenital blindness and offered new hope where none existed. Their extraordinary achievements are precisely what the Harrington Prize seeks to recognize,” said Jonathan S. Stamler, MD, President, Harrington Discovery Institute, Robert S. and Sylvia K. Reitman Family Foundation Distinguished Professor of Cardiovascular Innovation and Professor of Medicine and of Biochemistry at University Hospitals and Case Western Reserve University.
Kyle McGregor, PhD
Spartan Innovations
Dr. McGregor is a dynamic leader dedicated to bringing innovative technology and cutting-edge ideas to underserved communities. As the Director of Health Innovations at Spartan Innovations, a venture studio and venture capital group affiliated with Michigan State University Research Foundation, he leverages his passion for bridging academia, industry, and healthcare to develop impactful projects that address pressing needs. With a focus on machine learning, natural language processing, and medical devices, Dr. McGregor has helped more than 50 companies develop and implement high-impact products.
Before joining Spartan Innovations, Dr. McGregor held leadership positions at Thomas Jefferson University and NYU Langone Health, where he championed industry-community partnerships to deliver technological innovations to marginalized populations. With a PhD from Indiana University and postdoctoral fellowships in medical informatics and computational social sciences from Yale and Columbia, respectively, Dr. McGregor brings a unique blend of expertise to his work. He also holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School focused on innovation, tech, and venture capital.
Throughout his career, Dr. McGregor has maintained a commitment to the ethical advancement, rigorous testing, and effective implementation of technology for the betterment of marginalized populations. His unwavering dedication to this mission reflects his recognition of the profound responsibility that comes with working in this field. As such, Dr. McGregor endeavors to continue cultivating his skills and knowledge to better serve those in need, recognizing the ever-evolving nature of the challenges facing vulnerable communities.
Spartan Innovations
Dr. McGregor is a dynamic leader dedicated to bringing innovative technology and cutting-edge ideas to underserved communities. As the Director of Health Innovations at Spartan Innovations, a venture studio and venture capital group affiliated with Michigan State University Research Foundation, he leverages his passion for bridging academia, industry, and healthcare to develop impactful projects that address pressing needs. With a focus on machine learning, natural language processing, and medical devices, Dr. McGregor has helped more than 50 companies develop and implement high-impact products.
Before joining Spartan Innovations, Dr. McGregor held leadership positions at Thomas Jefferson University and NYU Langone Health, where he championed industry-community partnerships to deliver technological innovations to marginalized populations. With a PhD from Indiana University and postdoctoral fellowships in medical informatics and computational social sciences from Yale and Columbia, respectively, Dr. McGregor brings a unique blend of expertise to his work. He also holds an MBA from the University of Cambridge Judge Business School focused on innovation, tech, and venture capital.
Throughout his career, Dr. McGregor has maintained a commitment to the ethical advancement, rigorous testing, and effective implementation of technology for the betterment of marginalized populations. His unwavering dedication to this mission reflects his recognition of the profound responsibility that comes with working in this field. As such, Dr. McGregor endeavors to continue cultivating his skills and knowledge to better serve those in need, recognizing the ever-evolving nature of the challenges facing vulnerable communities.
Evan Noch, MD, PhD
Weill Cornell Medicine
Dr. Noch’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of endogenous tumor-associated necrosis in glioblastoma as well as the regulation of glucose metabolism using targeted therapies and dietary strategies to treat glioblastoma. Within this research program, he uses patient-derived models of glioblastoma to better recapitulate the human disease state and employs a wide variety of available technologies and core facilities within the tri-institutional community. He hopes to improve not only patient outcomes and survival but also overall well-being during treatment, particularly with respect to tumor necrosis that can be a devastating aspect of this tumor type and a major adverse effect of current treatment.
Weill Cornell Medicine
Dr. Noch’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms of endogenous tumor-associated necrosis in glioblastoma as well as the regulation of glucose metabolism using targeted therapies and dietary strategies to treat glioblastoma. Within this research program, he uses patient-derived models of glioblastoma to better recapitulate the human disease state and employs a wide variety of available technologies and core facilities within the tri-institutional community. He hopes to improve not only patient outcomes and survival but also overall well-being during treatment, particularly with respect to tumor necrosis that can be a devastating aspect of this tumor type and a major adverse effect of current treatment.
Luigi Notarangelo, MD
NIAID/NIH
Luigi D. Notarangelo is the Chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology at NIAID, NIH. After completing residency in Pediatrics and fellowships in Allergy/Immunology and Human Genetics in Italy, in 1996 he was appointed as Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Brescia (Italy). In 2006, he was recruited at Boston Children’s Hospital as Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology at Harvard Medical School. In 2016, he moved to the NIH. He has authored more than 500 original articles, mostly on the molecular and cellular bases and treatment of inborn errors of immunity. He has identified several gene defects responsible for severe forms of congenital immunodeficiency. In 2019, he has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
NIAID/NIH
Luigi D. Notarangelo is the Chief of the Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology at NIAID, NIH. After completing residency in Pediatrics and fellowships in Allergy/Immunology and Human Genetics in Italy, in 1996 he was appointed as Professor in Pediatrics at the University of Brescia (Italy). In 2006, he was recruited at Boston Children’s Hospital as Professor of Pediatrics and Pathology at Harvard Medical School. In 2016, he moved to the NIH. He has authored more than 500 original articles, mostly on the molecular and cellular bases and treatment of inborn errors of immunity. He has identified several gene defects responsible for severe forms of congenital immunodeficiency. In 2019, he has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.
Aimee Payne, MD, PhD
University of Pennsylvania
Aimee Payne, MD, PhD is a Professor of Dermatology and Director of the Clinical Autoimmunity Center of Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her BS in Biology from Stanford University and her MD/PhD from Washington University School of Medicine, followed by dermatology residency at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research has investigated how autoimmunity occurs in order to develop better targeted therapies for disease, which has led to novel precision cellular immunotherapies for antigen-specific subtypes of pemphigus and myasthenia gravis that are currently being evaluated in phase 1 clinical trials. Dr. Payne also serves as Associate Director of the Penn Medical Scientist Training Program, chair of the NIAMS Board of Scientific Counselors, and co-founder of Cabaletta Bio, focused on engineering targeted cellular immunotherapies for B cell-mediated diseases.
University of Pennsylvania
Aimee Payne, MD, PhD is a Professor of Dermatology and Director of the Clinical Autoimmunity Center of Excellence at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her BS in Biology from Stanford University and her MD/PhD from Washington University School of Medicine, followed by dermatology residency at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research has investigated how autoimmunity occurs in order to develop better targeted therapies for disease, which has led to novel precision cellular immunotherapies for antigen-specific subtypes of pemphigus and myasthenia gravis that are currently being evaluated in phase 1 clinical trials. Dr. Payne also serves as Associate Director of the Penn Medical Scientist Training Program, chair of the NIAMS Board of Scientific Counselors, and co-founder of Cabaletta Bio, focused on engineering targeted cellular immunotherapies for B cell-mediated diseases.
Sallie R. Permar, MD, PhD
New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Dr. Sallie Permar is the Nancy C. Paduano Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and Pediatrician-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She is also Professor of Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.
As a physician-scientist focusing on the prevention and treatment of neonatal viral infections, Dr. Permar leads a research laboratory investigating immune protection against vertical transmission of neonatal viral pathogens, namely HIV and cytomegalovirus (CMV). She has made important contributions to the development of vaccines for prevention of vertical HIV transmission, defining both innate and adaptive immune responses that are associated with protection against infant HIV acquisition. Moreover, Dr. Permar is leading the development of HIV vaccine strategies in preclinical maternal/infant nonhuman primate models and translation of this work for clinical vaccine trials in infants. Dr. Permar has also defined determinants of congenital and perinatal CMV transmission, developing the first nonhuman primate model of congenital CMV infection and leading human cohort studies that have defined immune correlates of protection necessary to guide vaccine development.
Dr. Permar has a Ph.D. in Microbiology/Immunology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed her clinical training in pediatric infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital in Boston. She has received several prestigious investigator awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE), and the E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society of Pediatric Research. She has been inducted into the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) and the American Association of Advancement of Science. In 2020, she received the Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and in 2022, Dr. Permar received the Excellence in Science Mid-Career Investigator Award from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). She serves on the board of the National CMV Foundation and is an institutional and national leader in physician-scientist training, serving as the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) Pediatric Scientist Development Program.
New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center
Dr. Sallie Permar is the Nancy C. Paduano Professor and Chair of the Department of Pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medicine and Pediatrician-in-Chief at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center. She is also Professor of Immunology and Microbial Pathogenesis at the Weill Cornell Graduate School of Medical Sciences.
As a physician-scientist focusing on the prevention and treatment of neonatal viral infections, Dr. Permar leads a research laboratory investigating immune protection against vertical transmission of neonatal viral pathogens, namely HIV and cytomegalovirus (CMV). She has made important contributions to the development of vaccines for prevention of vertical HIV transmission, defining both innate and adaptive immune responses that are associated with protection against infant HIV acquisition. Moreover, Dr. Permar is leading the development of HIV vaccine strategies in preclinical maternal/infant nonhuman primate models and translation of this work for clinical vaccine trials in infants. Dr. Permar has also defined determinants of congenital and perinatal CMV transmission, developing the first nonhuman primate model of congenital CMV infection and leading human cohort studies that have defined immune correlates of protection necessary to guide vaccine development.
Dr. Permar has a Ph.D. in Microbiology/Immunology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and completed her clinical training in pediatric infectious diseases at Children’s Hospital in Boston. She has received several prestigious investigator awards, including the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE), and the E. Mead Johnson Award from the Society of Pediatric Research. She has been inducted into the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology (AAM) and the American Association of Advancement of Science. In 2020, she received the Oswald Avery Award for Early Achievement from the Infectious Diseases Society of America and in 2022, Dr. Permar received the Excellence in Science Mid-Career Investigator Award from the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). She serves on the board of the National CMV Foundation and is an institutional and national leader in physician-scientist training, serving as the Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Development (NICHD) Pediatric Scientist Development Program.
Max C. Petersen, MD, PhD
Washington University School of Medicine
Max Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., is an endocrinology fellow in the Physician-Scientist Training Program at Washington University in St. Louis. He is an aspiring clinical investigator interested in mechanisms of insulin resistance and obesity-associated metabolic diseases. His Ph.D. training, in the laboratory of Gerald Shulman, M.D., Ph.D. at Yale, was focused on mechanisms of lipid-induced hepatic insulin resistance in preclinical model systems. As a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Samuel Klein, M.D. at Washington University, he is performing clinical-translational research examining the metabolic response to human obesity.
Washington University School of Medicine
Max Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., is an endocrinology fellow in the Physician-Scientist Training Program at Washington University in St. Louis. He is an aspiring clinical investigator interested in mechanisms of insulin resistance and obesity-associated metabolic diseases. His Ph.D. training, in the laboratory of Gerald Shulman, M.D., Ph.D. at Yale, was focused on mechanisms of lipid-induced hepatic insulin resistance in preclinical model systems. As a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Samuel Klein, M.D. at Washington University, he is performing clinical-translational research examining the metabolic response to human obesity.
Carol Prives, PhD
Columbia University
Carol Prives is the DaCosta Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. She and her group have elucidated aspects of the structure and function of the p53 protein especially as it relates to its roles as a transcriptional activator. In parallel, her group has examined how cancer related mutant forms of p53 regulate tumorigenesis. Work from her laboratory has also illuminated the functions of the key p53 negative regulators, Mdm2 and MdmX. Dr Prives has received several honors including being named an American Cancer Society Research Professor, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, the AACR Academy and the Royal Society. She has presented numerous named lectures and has received awards including the NCI Rosalind E Franklin Award for Women in Science, the Paul Jansen Prize in Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship Award, the Ernst W Bertner Award from MD Anderson and the AACR GHA-Clowes Award. Dr Prives has also received an honorary doctorate from McGill University, her alma mater.
Columbia University
Carol Prives is the DaCosta Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. She and her group have elucidated aspects of the structure and function of the p53 protein especially as it relates to its roles as a transcriptional activator. In parallel, her group has examined how cancer related mutant forms of p53 regulate tumorigenesis. Work from her laboratory has also illuminated the functions of the key p53 negative regulators, Mdm2 and MdmX. Dr Prives has received several honors including being named an American Cancer Society Research Professor, election to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, the AACR Academy and the Royal Society. She has presented numerous named lectures and has received awards including the NCI Rosalind E Franklin Award for Women in Science, the Paul Jansen Prize in Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine, the AACR-Women in Cancer Research Charlotte Friend Memorial Lectureship Award, the Ernst W Bertner Award from MD Anderson and the AACR GHA-Clowes Award. Dr Prives has also received an honorary doctorate from McGill University, her alma mater.
Griffin Rodgers, MD, MACP
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers was named Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)--one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)--on April 1, 2007. He had served as NIDDK’s Acting Director since March 2006 and had been the Institute’s Deputy Director since January 2001. As the Director of NIDDK, Dr. Rodgers provides scientific leadership and manages a staff of over 600 employees and a budget of ~$2.3 billion. Dr. Rodgers received his undergraduate, graduate and medical degrees from Brown University in Providence, R.I. He performed his residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital and the John Cochran VA, respectively, at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. His fellowship training in hematology was in a joint program of the NIH with George Washington University. In addition to his medical and research training, he earned an MBA, with a focus on the business of medicine/science, from Johns Hopkins University in 2005, and a Masters in Legal Studies in 2017. As a research investigator, Dr. Rodgers is widely recognized for his contributions to the development of the first effective — and FDA approved — therapy for sickle cell anemia. In addition, he and his collaborators have reported on a modified blood stem-cell transplant regimen that is highly effective in reversing sickle cell disease in adults and is associated with relatively low toxicity. He has been honored for his research with numerous awards including the 1998 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award, the 2000 Arthur S. Flemming Award, the Legacy of Leadership Award in 2002, a Mastership from the American College of Physicians in 2005, the Herbert C. Nickens Award 2018 and a Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians (London) in 2018, among others. Dr. Rodgers is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Medicine, among others.
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Dr. Griffin P. Rodgers was named Director of the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)--one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)--on April 1, 2007. He had served as NIDDK’s Acting Director since March 2006 and had been the Institute’s Deputy Director since January 2001. As the Director of NIDDK, Dr. Rodgers provides scientific leadership and manages a staff of over 600 employees and a budget of ~$2.3 billion. Dr. Rodgers received his undergraduate, graduate and medical degrees from Brown University in Providence, R.I. He performed his residency and chief residency in internal medicine at Barnes Hospital and the John Cochran VA, respectively, at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. His fellowship training in hematology was in a joint program of the NIH with George Washington University. In addition to his medical and research training, he earned an MBA, with a focus on the business of medicine/science, from Johns Hopkins University in 2005, and a Masters in Legal Studies in 2017. As a research investigator, Dr. Rodgers is widely recognized for his contributions to the development of the first effective — and FDA approved — therapy for sickle cell anemia. In addition, he and his collaborators have reported on a modified blood stem-cell transplant regimen that is highly effective in reversing sickle cell disease in adults and is associated with relatively low toxicity. He has been honored for his research with numerous awards including the 1998 Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation Award, the 2000 Arthur S. Flemming Award, the Legacy of Leadership Award in 2002, a Mastership from the American College of Physicians in 2005, the Herbert C. Nickens Award 2018 and a Fellowship in the Royal College of Physicians (London) in 2018, among others. Dr. Rodgers is a member of the American Society of Hematology, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the National Academy of Medicine, among others.
M. Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD
Weill Cornell Medicine
M. Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD, is the Nathan Cummings Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan. She heads the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Development in the Brain and Mind Research Institute and directs the Center for Neurogenetics (CNG) at WCM. Her Laboratory and translational Center study human genomics and genetically driven biological mechanisms leading to developmental disorders of the nervous system including NTDs.
Weill Cornell Medicine
M. Elizabeth Ross, MD, PhD, is the Nathan Cummings Professor of Neurology and Neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medicine in Manhattan. She heads the Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Development in the Brain and Mind Research Institute and directs the Center for Neurogenetics (CNG) at WCM. Her Laboratory and translational Center study human genomics and genetically driven biological mechanisms leading to developmental disorders of the nervous system including NTDs.
Edward Schaeffer, MD, PhD
Northwestern University
Dr. Schaeffer is Chair of the Department of Urology at Feinberg School of Medicine and Program Director of the Genitourinary Oncology Program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. He is a clinically active urologist with a specialized practice in prostate cancer. His globally recognized prostate cancer research focuses on at-risk populations, diagnosis, treatment outcomes, and the molecular biology of lethal prostate cancer.
Dr. Schaeffer is Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Prostate Cancer Guidelines Committee, member of the National Cancer Institute Genitourinary Cancers Steering Committee, and board member for the Society of Urologic Oncology Clinical Trials Consortium. He also sits on the Journal of Urology editorial board, is an associate editor for Urology Case Reports, and a reviewer for numerous academic journals. In 2009 Dr. Schaeffer was the recipient of the American Urological Association/Astellas Rising Star in Urology Award; he was awarded the American Society for Clinical Oncology Clinical Cancer Advance of the year in 2013.
Northwestern University
Dr. Schaeffer is Chair of the Department of Urology at Feinberg School of Medicine and Program Director of the Genitourinary Oncology Program at the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. He is a clinically active urologist with a specialized practice in prostate cancer. His globally recognized prostate cancer research focuses on at-risk populations, diagnosis, treatment outcomes, and the molecular biology of lethal prostate cancer.
Dr. Schaeffer is Chair of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Prostate Cancer Guidelines Committee, member of the National Cancer Institute Genitourinary Cancers Steering Committee, and board member for the Society of Urologic Oncology Clinical Trials Consortium. He also sits on the Journal of Urology editorial board, is an associate editor for Urology Case Reports, and a reviewer for numerous academic journals. In 2009 Dr. Schaeffer was the recipient of the American Urological Association/Astellas Rising Star in Urology Award; he was awarded the American Society for Clinical Oncology Clinical Cancer Advance of the year in 2013.
Christine Seidman, MD
Harvard Medical School
Christine Seidman is the Thomas W. Smith Professor of Medicine and Genetics at Harvard Medical School, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She was an undergraduate at Harvard College and received a M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Seidman served as an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at John Hopkins Hospital and received subspecialty training in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Seidman has pioneered the discovery of the genetic basis for heart muscle disorders, including hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies and congenital heart disease. By engineering human mutations into iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and mouse models she has identified molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets. Her work has enabled development of clinical gene-based diagnostics, early and accurate identification of at-risk individuals, and pre-emptive interventions to limit the progression and devastating outcomes associated with these disorders.
Dr. Seidman is the recipient of the American Heart Association Basic Science Prize and Joseph A. Vita Award, the American Society for Clinical Investigation Award, the Pasarow Foundation Award in Cardiovascular Research, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cardiovascular Research, the Institut de France Fondation Lefoulon-Delalande Grand Prix for Science Award and the European Society of Cardiology Gold Medal. She is a member of U.S. National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Science.
Harvard Medical School
Christine Seidman is the Thomas W. Smith Professor of Medicine and Genetics at Harvard Medical School, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Director of the Cardiovascular Genetics Service at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She was an undergraduate at Harvard College and received a M.D. from George Washington University School of Medicine. Dr. Seidman served as an intern and resident in Internal Medicine at John Hopkins Hospital and received subspecialty training in cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.
Dr. Seidman has pioneered the discovery of the genetic basis for heart muscle disorders, including hypertrophic and dilated cardiomyopathies and congenital heart disease. By engineering human mutations into iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes and mouse models she has identified molecular mechanisms and therapeutic targets. Her work has enabled development of clinical gene-based diagnostics, early and accurate identification of at-risk individuals, and pre-emptive interventions to limit the progression and devastating outcomes associated with these disorders.
Dr. Seidman is the recipient of the American Heart Association Basic Science Prize and Joseph A. Vita Award, the American Society for Clinical Investigation Award, the Pasarow Foundation Award in Cardiovascular Research, the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Cardiovascular Research, the Institut de France Fondation Lefoulon-Delalande Grand Prix for Science Award and the European Society of Cardiology Gold Medal. She is a member of U.S. National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Science.
Neil H. Shubin, PhD
The University of Chicago
Trained at Columbia University, Harvard University, and The University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Shubin is currently Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Anatomy at The University of Chicago and Senior Advisor to the Provost of the University on the affiliation with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. He both leads fossil expeditions around the world and a molecular biology laboratory studying the great transitions in the history of life. His team is widely known for the discovery of Tiktaalik roseae, an ancient fish right at the cusp of the transition to land 375 million years ago. He is the author of three books, “Your Inner Fish” (Vintage 2009), “The Universe Within” (Vintage, 2011), and most recently “Some Assembly Required” (Pantheon, 2020). He served as presenter and scientific advisor for the Emmy Award-winning three-part PBS miniseries “Your Inner Fish,” derived from his book of the same title. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the California Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the American Philosophical Society, and Member of the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected in 2011.
The University of Chicago
Trained at Columbia University, Harvard University, and The University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Shubin is currently Robert R. Bensley Distinguished Service Professor of Anatomy at The University of Chicago and Senior Advisor to the Provost of the University on the affiliation with the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole. He both leads fossil expeditions around the world and a molecular biology laboratory studying the great transitions in the history of life. His team is widely known for the discovery of Tiktaalik roseae, an ancient fish right at the cusp of the transition to land 375 million years ago. He is the author of three books, “Your Inner Fish” (Vintage 2009), “The Universe Within” (Vintage, 2011), and most recently “Some Assembly Required” (Pantheon, 2020). He served as presenter and scientific advisor for the Emmy Award-winning three-part PBS miniseries “Your Inner Fish,” derived from his book of the same title. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the California Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Fellow of the American Philosophical Society, and Member of the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected in 2011.
Yentli Soto Albrecht
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Yentli Soto Albrecht is a 5th year MD-PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine (Penn). She earned a degree in Molecular Biology at Princeton University, and worked at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard before coming to Penn. She is undertaking her thesis in the Douglas Wallace lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she studies the role of mitochondria in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Specifically, she studies aspects of mitochondrial function that serve to limit SARS-CoV-2 replication and how mitochondrial background may contribute to COVID-19 severity. She is president of the American Physician Scientists Association, where she enjoys working with a driven team to support other trainees and increase the diversity of the physician-scientist workforce. She hopes to fight emerging viral infections globally with science and medicine throughout her physician-scientist career.
University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Yentli Soto Albrecht is a 5th year MD-PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine (Penn). She earned a degree in Molecular Biology at Princeton University, and worked at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard before coming to Penn. She is undertaking her thesis in the Douglas Wallace lab at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where she studies the role of mitochondria in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. Specifically, she studies aspects of mitochondrial function that serve to limit SARS-CoV-2 replication and how mitochondrial background may contribute to COVID-19 severity. She is president of the American Physician Scientists Association, where she enjoys working with a driven team to support other trainees and increase the diversity of the physician-scientist workforce. She hopes to fight emerging viral infections globally with science and medicine throughout her physician-scientist career.
Pearl A. Sutter
University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Pearl Sutter is a 5th year MD-PhD student at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine with research interests in neuroimmunology. She is currently completing her graduate thesis research in the Crocker neuroscience lab, where she has been investigating the role of T-cells in Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy, a rare pediatric neurological disease. Pearl has received multiple awards including a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) F30 fellowship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in July 2022.
In addition to her thesis work, Pearl co-founded and is the current Chief Research Scientist for the Orphan Mimics of Multiple Sclerosis (ORMS) Clinic at UConn Health. This clinic specializes in evaluating and treating adult patients with rare neurological white matter diseases and providing education to other providers on recognizing these disorders.
Pearl is passionate about advocating for underrepresented populations in medical education. She currently serves as the National Delegate for Medical Education for the AAMC Organization of Student Representatives as well as the MD/PhD representative for UConn’s local American Medical Women’s Association chapter.
Pearl plans to pursue a career as a physician-scientist specializing in the research, patient care, and advocacy for patients with neuro-immunological and neurological white matter diseases.
University of Connecticut School of Medicine
Pearl Sutter is a 5th year MD-PhD student at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine with research interests in neuroimmunology. She is currently completing her graduate thesis research in the Crocker neuroscience lab, where she has been investigating the role of T-cells in Globoid Cell Leukodystrophy, a rare pediatric neurological disease. Pearl has received multiple awards including a prestigious National Institutes of Health (NIH) F30 fellowship from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) in July 2022.
In addition to her thesis work, Pearl co-founded and is the current Chief Research Scientist for the Orphan Mimics of Multiple Sclerosis (ORMS) Clinic at UConn Health. This clinic specializes in evaluating and treating adult patients with rare neurological white matter diseases and providing education to other providers on recognizing these disorders.
Pearl is passionate about advocating for underrepresented populations in medical education. She currently serves as the National Delegate for Medical Education for the AAMC Organization of Student Representatives as well as the MD/PhD representative for UConn’s local American Medical Women’s Association chapter.
Pearl plans to pursue a career as a physician-scientist specializing in the research, patient care, and advocacy for patients with neuro-immunological and neurological white matter diseases.
Sohail F. Tavazoie, MD, PhD
The Rockefeller University
Dr. Tavazoie is the ASCI’s 2022-2023 President. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and completed an MD-PhD program at Harvard-MIT, followed by residency training in Internal Medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital and medical oncology and fellowship training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In 2009, he was recruited to The Rockefeller University as Head of the Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology and is currently Leon Hess Professor and Senior Attending Physician.
The Tavazoie lab employs molecular, genetic, and biochemical methods to understand the mechanisms underlying metastasis formation. Early in his career, he showed that specific non-coding RNAs (microRNAs) act as endogenous suppressors of metastasis formation. Subsequently, the Tavazoie lab showed that cancer cells arising from distinct tissues such as breast, melanoma, and colorectal cancer modulate tissue-specific sets of microRNAs that control metastatic potential. By using these microRNAs as molecular probes, downstream effector genes and pathways were discovered and cellular phenotypes underlying metastatic colonization were uncovered. These discoveries have led to a new understanding of metastasis biology and challenged the dogma that metastasis is solely driven by postulated somatic metastasis-driver mutations. For example, the lab’s work revealed that metastatic potential can pre-date tumor formation and be genetically inherited. These insights formed the basis of ongoing multi-center clinical trials, which validated "metastasis biology targeting therapy" as an approach, with proof-of-concept metastasis regression responses observed in subsets of advanced-stage, treatment-refractory patients. These studies of metastatic disease have also uncovered unexpected basic insights and demonstrated new roles for transfer RNAs (tRNAs) in gene regulation. The overarching goal of the Tavazoie lab is to understand the biology of cancer metastasis as a means of informing the development of future therapies aimed at curbing cancer mortality.
Dr. Tavazoie, who was elected to the ASCI in 2015, is recipient, among other honors, of the Rita Allen Scholar Award and the Pershing Square Sohn Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (elected in 2022).
The Rockefeller University
Dr. Tavazoie is the ASCI’s 2022-2023 President. He graduated from the University of California at Berkeley and completed an MD-PhD program at Harvard-MIT, followed by residency training in Internal Medicine at Brigham & Women's Hospital and medical oncology and fellowship training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In 2009, he was recruited to The Rockefeller University as Head of the Laboratory of Systems Cancer Biology and is currently Leon Hess Professor and Senior Attending Physician.
The Tavazoie lab employs molecular, genetic, and biochemical methods to understand the mechanisms underlying metastasis formation. Early in his career, he showed that specific non-coding RNAs (microRNAs) act as endogenous suppressors of metastasis formation. Subsequently, the Tavazoie lab showed that cancer cells arising from distinct tissues such as breast, melanoma, and colorectal cancer modulate tissue-specific sets of microRNAs that control metastatic potential. By using these microRNAs as molecular probes, downstream effector genes and pathways were discovered and cellular phenotypes underlying metastatic colonization were uncovered. These discoveries have led to a new understanding of metastasis biology and challenged the dogma that metastasis is solely driven by postulated somatic metastasis-driver mutations. For example, the lab’s work revealed that metastatic potential can pre-date tumor formation and be genetically inherited. These insights formed the basis of ongoing multi-center clinical trials, which validated "metastasis biology targeting therapy" as an approach, with proof-of-concept metastasis regression responses observed in subsets of advanced-stage, treatment-refractory patients. These studies of metastatic disease have also uncovered unexpected basic insights and demonstrated new roles for transfer RNAs (tRNAs) in gene regulation. The overarching goal of the Tavazoie lab is to understand the biology of cancer metastasis as a means of informing the development of future therapies aimed at curbing cancer mortality.
Dr. Tavazoie, who was elected to the ASCI in 2015, is recipient, among other honors, of the Rita Allen Scholar Award and the Pershing Square Sohn Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (elected in 2022).
Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, is the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. She is an influential scholar whose pioneering research has helped advance the national and global response to HIV/AIDS. Dr. Walensky is also a well-respected expert on the value of testing and treatment of deadly viruses.
Dr. Walensky served as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital from 2017-2020 and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School from 2012-2020. She served on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted research on vaccine delivery and strategies to reach underserved communities.
Dr. Walensky is recognized internationally for her work to improve HIV screening and care in South Africa and nationally recognized for motivating health policy and informing clinical trial design and evaluation in a variety of settings.
She is a past Chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health, Chair-elect of the HIV Medical Association, and previously served as an advisor to both the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
Originally from Maryland, Dr. Walensky received her Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, her Doctor of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and her Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Rochelle P. Walensky, MD, MPH, is the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. She is an influential scholar whose pioneering research has helped advance the national and global response to HIV/AIDS. Dr. Walensky is also a well-respected expert on the value of testing and treatment of deadly viruses.
Dr. Walensky served as Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital from 2017-2020 and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School from 2012-2020. She served on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic and conducted research on vaccine delivery and strategies to reach underserved communities.
Dr. Walensky is recognized internationally for her work to improve HIV screening and care in South Africa and nationally recognized for motivating health policy and informing clinical trial design and evaluation in a variety of settings.
She is a past Chair of the Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council at the National Institutes of Health, Chair-elect of the HIV Medical Association, and previously served as an advisor to both the World Health Organization and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS.
Originally from Maryland, Dr. Walensky received her Bachelor of Arts from Washington University in St. Louis, her Doctor of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, and her Masters in Public Health from the Harvard School of Public Health.