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Speakers
The 11th annual meeting of the Individualizing Medicine Conference, or #CIMCON2022, focuses on exploring the exposome, the next frontier in individualized medicine. A cosmopolitan panel of experts will discuss the exposome-uncovering the range of multiple omic exposures over a person's lifetime and its impact on health and disease pathogenesis.
Check back soon for more information on speakers for #CIMCON2022 as we make updates leading up to the conference.
Professor
Departments of Biological Sciences and Computing Science
Dr. David Wishart is a Distinguished University Professor in the Departments of Biological Sciences
and Computing Science at the University of Alberta. He also holds adjunct appointments with the
Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and with the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine.
Dr. Wishart has been studying protein folding and misfolding for more than 30 years using a
combination of computational and experimental approaches. These experimental approaches include NMR
spectroscopy, circular dichroism, fluorescence spectroscopy, electron microscopy, protein
engineering and molecular biology. The computational methods include molecular dynamics, agent-
based modeling, bioinformatics and machine learning. Over the course of his career, Dr. Wishart has
published more than 430 scientific papers covering many areas of protein science including
structural biology, protein metabolism and computational biochemistry.
Dr. Wishart received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University and
currently co-directs The Metabolomics Innovation Centre (TMIC), Canada's national metabolomics
laboratory. Dr. Wishart has been identified as one of the world’s most highly cited scientists for
each of the past 7 years.
University of Alberta
Faculty
Wishart Lab
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Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
Executive Director in the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center
Dr. Cheryl Willman, executive director of Mayo Clinic Cancer Programs (nationally and globally) and
Director of the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, is an internationally renowned physician
scientist and a pioneer in the field of cancer individualized medicine with a track record of
innovation and successful translation of discoveries to clinical trials.
Dr. Willman has co-led several key NCI initiatives that are improving the lives of patients with
cancer and addressing disparities in cancer care as well as cancer incidence and mortality among
diverse and underserved populations. Dr. Willman has served in many leadership roles including NCI's
Board of Scientific Advisors and the Scientific Advisory Board of the NCI Frederick National
Laboratory for Cancer Research. Dr. Willman also has held and currently holds national leadership
positions in AACR, ASH, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. She was a founder of the field of
Molecular Diagnostic Pathology, President of the Association of Molecular Pathologists, and is an
elected fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Prior to joining Mayo Clinic, Dr. Willman
served as the Director and CEO of the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Dr. Willman received her M.D. from Mayo Medical School and completed her residency and postdoctoral
training in pathology and cancer research at Mayo Clinic, University of New Mexico, and University
of Washington.
Assistant Professor
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Institute of Risk Assessment sciences at Utrech University
Dr. Douglas Walker is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Medicine at the
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, a member of the Mount Sinai Institute for Exposomics
Research, and an adjunct Assistant Professor in the Institute of Risk Assessment Sciences at Utrecht
University. He leads the High Resolution Exposomics Laboratory, which uses multi-faceted analytical
approaches based on untargeted high-resolution mass spectrometry for deep characterization of the
human exposome. These methods are high-throughput and low cost, and routinely detect >100,000
chemical signals in human samples, spanning endogenous metabolites, diet, microbiome-derived
metabolites, environmental chemicals, commercial products, and pharmaceuticals, as well as many
unidentified compounds.
Dr. Walker's research is focused on applying these methods to understand exposomic risk factors of
multiple disease outcomes, including cancer, metabolic, and immunological diseases, and developing
new methods for measuring exposure to contaminants of emerging concern. His research on health
effects of micro- and nano-plastics is now developing one of the first biomonitoring strategies for
measuring early life exposure to plastic particles and related chemicals.
Dr. Walker received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University and BS from the
University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth. Prior to starting his research program at Mount Sinai, he
was a member of the Clinical Biomarkers Laboratory in the Department of Medicine and a postdoctoral
fellow in the Gangarosa Department of Environmental Health at Emory University.
Professor of Environmental Epidemiology & Head of the Childhood and Environment Programme, Research Professor and Coordinator of INMA-Sabadell Cohort
Dr. Martine Vrijheid is a professor of Environmental Epidemiology and head of the Childhood and
Environment Programme at the Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) in Barcelona. Her research
focuses on improving the understanding of environmental risk factors for child health and
development and the origins of disease, to underpin preventive action. Her research approach is
strongly nested in longitudinal cohort studies as a powerful platform for etiological research. She
leads and has led numerous national and international projects and has published extensively in this
field.
Dr. Vrijheid led the European collaborative HELIX (Human Early Life Exposome) project, funded by the
European Commission (EC) Framework Programme, in which she spearheaded the push for a more holistic
exposome approach to study multiple, co-existing exposures and their effects on child health
(neurodevelopment, cardiometabolic health, respiratory health). HELIX finalized the construction of
a "deep" exposome database with completely comparable chemical pollutant data, geospatial urban
environment data, child health outcome data, and multi-omics signatures, in mothers and children
from 6 European cohorts.
She is continuing early life exposome research as coordinator of the EC Horizon 2020 project ATHLETE
(Advancing Tools for Human Early Life-course Exposome Research and Translation), which aims to
advance important challenges in exposome research through improved tools, data, and translation.
Dr. Vrijheid is PI of the INMA birth cohort study in Spain, and as leader and collaborator in
several European grants, she has been instrumental in the building of a network of birth cohorts in
Europe, resulting in a FAIR data infrastructure for data sharing and harmonization across more than
30 European birth cohorts. She has authored over 300 publications, cited over 25000 times, with an
H-factor of 72.
She received her doctorate degree from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
and previously held positions as lecturer at LSHTM and as staff scientist at the International
Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC, Lyon).
Chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, UH Harrington Heart and Vascular Institute, University
Hospitals
Division Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine, UH Cleveland Medical Center
Director, Center for Advanced Heart and Vascular Care, UH Cleveland Medical Center
Professor, CWRU School of Medicine
Dr. Sanjay Rajagopalan is the division chief of cardiovascular Medicine, the director of the Center for Advanced Heart and Vascular Care at University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center. Dr. RajagopalanHe is also an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), American Association of Physicians (AAP), Association of University Cardiologists (AUC) and the Association of Professors of Cardiology (APC).
Dr. Sanjay Rajagopalan is among an elite group of physician scientists whose work has helped transform global perceptions of the impact of the environment on cardiovascular health. He is passionate about technology innovation in cardiovascular medicine for the development of personalized approaches to heart disease prevention.
Dr. Rajagopalan completed his MBBS at the University of Madras, India, his internal medicine training (including serving as Chief Resident) at SUNY (Buffalo, New York), Clinical and Research Fellowships in Cardiovascular Medicine/Vascular Biology at the Emory University School of Medicine (Atlanta, Georgia) and Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging training at Duke University Medical Center (Durham, North Carolina).
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Professor of Environmental Health Sciences & Vice Dean, Research Strategy and Innovation
Dr. Gary Miller is vice dean for Research Strategy and Innovation, and professor of Environmental
Health Sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.
He is an international leader on the exposome - the environmental equivalent of the genome. He
founded the first NIH-funded exposome center in the U.S. (the HERCULES Exposome Research Center at
Emory University) and wrote the first book on the topic, The Exposome: A Primer in 2014. Dr. Miller
has also helped develop high-resolution mass spectrometry-based methods to provide an omic-scale
analysis in human and animal samples. His laboratory studies environmental contributors to
neurodegenerative disease, such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, using C. elegans, transgenic mice,
and patient samples. In addition, he is leading the Columbia Exposome Initiative, an effort to
incorporate the exposome into clinical and translational research. His new book, The Exposome: A New
Paradigm for the Environment and Health, was published by Elsevier Academic Press in July, 2020.
Dr. Miller completed his PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the University of Georgia and postdoctoral training in molecular neuroscience at Emory University and Duke University .
Co-director of the Genomics in Action Strategic Initiative for the Center for Individualized Medicine at Mayo Clinic
Teresa Kruisselbrink is a genetic counselor in the Center for Individualized Medicine and an
instructor in laboratory medicine and pathology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Kruisselbrink manages a team of genetic counselors, where she develops and implements genetic
counseling services in the advancement and translation of personalized genomic medicine throughout
multiple programs and clinical departments. Kruisselbrink leads her team in the development and
delivery of clinical and research tools, educational strategies, and operational plans to promote
the integration of personalized medicine across a broad range of clinical disciplines. She provides
direct patient genetic counseling services to patients with cardiomyopathies, channelopathies,
aortopathies, and amyloidosis.
Kruisselbrink received her Master of Science in genetic counselling at the University of Minnesota
Twin Cities.
Professor of Medicine & Director of the Clinical Biomarkers Laboratory
Dr. Dean Jones is a professor of medicine (Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine)
and biochemistry (Adjunct) at Emory and director of the Clinical Biomarkers Laboratory. His studies
include redox biology and medicine and he has research programs in the areas of redox systems
biology, clinical metabolomics and environmental health. In recent years, Dr. Jones has also
developed an exposome research program, building upon the metabolomics and mass spectrometry
programs for affordable, high-throughput environmental chemical biomonitoring.
Dr. Jones is recognized for his research in oxidative stress, environmental health and toxicology,
mitochondrial mechanisms of cell death and thiol antioxidants glutathione and thioredoxin. He
received the Albert E. Levy Research Award, the Science and Humanity Award of the Oxygen Club of
California, is a member of the Emory Millipub Club, and received the R. Wayne Alexander Research
Career Achievement Award, the Society of Toxicology Mechanisms Lifetime Achievement Award and the
Jarrow Science Achievement Award.
Dr. Jones received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Illinois, Urbana, in 1971 and a Ph.D
in Biochemistry from Oregon Health Sciences Univ., Portland, in 1976. He was a National Sciences
Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow in Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, Ithaca, and a
Visiting Scientist in Molecular Toxicology at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm prior to joining
Emory in 1979. In 1997-98, he was a Nobel Fellow at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm.
Director of Mayo's Clinical Genome Sequencing Laboratory & Director of Business Development for Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine
Dr. Matthew Ferber is a consultant in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, an
associate professor of laboratory medicine and pathology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, and
serves as the director of the Clinical Genome Sequencing Laboratory in the Department of Laboratory
Medicine and Pathology at Mayo Clinic.
As the director of the Clinical Genome Sequencing Laboratory, Dr. Ferber leads a team of
co-directors and laboratory staff focused on developing genomic applications to improve patient
care. The overall goal of Dr. Ferber's research is to create access to DNA sequencing technology
that provides patients and their health care providers with a wealth of data to efficiently make
well-informed, personalized decisions about treatments and other clinical options.
Dr. Ferber completed his Doctor of Philosophy in molecular biochemistry and molecular biology at the
Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and a fellowship in clinical molecular genetics in the Mayo Clinic
School of Health Sciences.
Director of the Child Health and Development Studies and Senior Research Scientist
Dr. Barbara A. Cohn is director of the Child Health and Development Studies (CHDS) at the Public
Health Institute. CHDS is home to a groundbreaking study, which originated in 1959 and was designed
to shed light on the various factors impacting health during pregnancy and early childhood. Between
1959 and 1967, nearly 15,000 pregnant women and their families were enrolled. Researchers continue
to study these rich data and conduct important follow-up studies to further examine how events
during pregnancy impact the subsequent health of fathers, mothers and their children and
grandchildren. Cohn consults with researchers around the world on the use of the CHDS data for
health research.
In addition, Dr. Cohn directs research that examines how pregnancy protects against breast cancer
and influences other health problems in mothers and their children, in order to identify natural
protective mechanisms that can be used for prevention. She also investigates whether early life
exposure to environmental chemicals during pregnancy affects obesity, immune function, reproductive
health, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, neurodevelopment, cancer, and health disparities in
mothers and their children across the life span.
Dr. Cohn holds a doctorate in epidemiology, a master's degree in city and regional planning, a
master's degree in public health planning and a bachelor's degree in zoology - all from the
University of California, Berkeley.
Director of National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), Director of National
Toxicology Program
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Dr. Rick Woychik is the Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS),
and also as Director of the National Toxicology Program, both part of the National Institute of
Health (NIH). In these roles, he oversees federal funding for biomedical research to discover how
the environment influences human health and disease.
As a mammalian geneticist, Dr. Woychik has had several noteworthy accomplishments. His laboratory
was the first to clone and characterize the gene called agouti, which provided molecular insights
into obesity and the satiety response in the brain. Additionally, his laboratory was the first to
identify a gene mutation associated with polycystic kidney disease. Recently, his research program
has been focused on investigating the molecular mechanisms associated with how environmental agents
influence the epigenetic control of gene expression. Dr. Woychik previously served as president and
CEO of Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, and functioned as the director of the laboratory's
NCI designated Cancer Center. Prior to leading the Jackson Laboratory, Dr. Woychik held positions in
both academia and industry: chief scientific officer for Lynx Therapeutics; head of the Parke-Davis
Laboratory of Molecular Genetics; professor within the Departments of Pediatrics, Genetics and
Pharmacology at the Case Western Reserve University; and senior research scientist at the Oak Ridge
National Laboratory.
Dr. Woychik received his B.S. and M.S. at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and earned his Ph.D.
in molecular biology from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and completed his
postdoctoral training in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston.
Cathy Wurzer is the host of Morning Edition for MPR News. She is also the co-host of Almanac, a
weekly public affairs program for which she has won four Emmy Awards. Wurzer has also started a new
radio show last year titled "Minnesota Now."
Prior to MPR News, she was an anchor and reporter for WCCO-TV and a talk show host for WCCO-AM
radio, a producer for KMSP-TV, and political reporter for KSTP-AM radio. Wurzer is the author of
"Tales of the Road: Highway 61".
She received degrees in broadcast journalism and urban studies from the University of
Wisconsin-River Falls.
Professor
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology
Center for Individualized Medicine
Dr. Akhilesh Pandey is a senior associate consultant at Mayo Clinic and a professor in the
Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
A few of his research interests include developing novel assays for clinical diagnostics and using
systems biology approaches to study a variety of human diseases ranging from cancer and infectious
diseases to inherited genetic disorders.
Dr. Pandey obtained his medical degree from Armed Forces Medical College, Pune and completed his
residency in pathology at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School. He earned his
Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Michigan in molecular biology.
Carlson and Nelson Endowed Executive Director, Center for Individualized Medicine
Consultant in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department of Internal Medicine
Dr. Konstantinos Lazaridis is the Carlson and Nelson Endowed Executive Director for the Center for
Individualized Medicine, a consultant in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Department
of Internal Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Department of Clinical Genomics at Mayo
Clinic. He is a professor of medicine in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Dr. Lazaridis's research interests include genetic susceptibility to the environmental contributors
to chronic cholestatic liver diseases and the biology of biliary epithelia. Through his research,
Dr. Lazaridis and his team hope to explain the development and outcome of chronic cholestatic liver
diseases, namely primary biliary cirrhosis and primary sclerosing cholangitis.
Dr. Lazaridis received his Doctor of Medicine at the University of Ioannina in Greece. He completed
his internal medicine and gastroenterology fellowship at Mayo Clinic.
Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
Dr. Arjun Athreya is a principal data scientist, associate consultant in the Department of Molecular
Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, and assistant professor of pharmacology in the Mayo
Clinic College of Medicine.
Dr. Athreya is a leader and expert in developing technologies in artificial intelligence and machine
learning. His research and technologies dramatically minimize guessing in the try and try again
practice of treating patients by using artificial intelligence and high volumes of patient data to
optimize treatment selection and treatment management specific to the patient. This augments
physicians' decision-making abilities, decreasing the risk of treatment failures that bring added
disease burden to patients.
Dr. Athreya received his Doctor of Philosophy in computer engineering from the University of
Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Later, he became a research fellow at Mayo Clinic, where he
collaborated to build learning methods and models for analyzing clinical data.
Deputy Director of NIEHS
NIH Distinguish Investigator
Dr. Trevor Archer is the Deputy Director of National Institute of Health Sciences (NIEHS) and an NIH Distinguished Investigator. A renowned expert in cancer biology, hormone receptors, chromatin function, epigenetics, and stem cells, Dr. Archer’s research spans more than three decades.
In 1999 Dr. Archer lead the Chromatin Structure and Gene Expression Group at NIEHS. Later, he became the chief of the institute’s Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis, and appointed head of the NIEHS Epigenetics and Stem Cell Biology Laboratory. With ~ 120 peer-reviewed papers and mentoring many early-career researchers in 2019 he was named the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Distinguished Investigator.
Dr. Archer received his Ph.D. in Biochemestry from Queens University, Canada after which he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the National Cancer Institute on chromatin gene transcription and steroid receptors.
Professor of Biochemistry
Director Inserm unit 1124, University of Paris
Head of metabolomic biochemistry laboratory, Necker Enfants malades
Hospital, Paris
Dr. Robert Barouki is a Professor of Biochemistry at Université Paris Cité and head of the Inserm unit T3S: “Toxicology, Therapeutic Targets, cellular Signaling and Biomarkers”. He also heads the clinical metabolomics and proteomic biochemistry laboratory at the Necker Enfants malades hospital.
Dr. Barouki’s research is focused on the impact of environmental contaminants on human health, in particular Persistent Organic Pollutants and Endocrine Disrupting Compounds (EDCs). He is involved in several EU projects: HBM4EU (linking exposure to health), Heals and Neurosome (exposome), HERA (setting the research agenda in environment and health) and Oberon (EDC testing). He has also been involved in the networking of French and European research in the field of environment and health as well as in communicating scientific data to citizens.
Dr. Barouki received his degree in Medicine and his Ph.D. from the University of Paris, France. His studies included but were not limited to biochemistry pharmacology, pharmacology, and molecular biology during his education and training.
Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Brian Cunningham has been a faculty member in the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the department of Bioengineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign since 2004, following a 15-year career industry.
Dr. Cunningham’s technical focus is the utilization of photonics for biosensing in applications that include life science research, diagnostic, environmental monitoring, and pharmaceutical screening. He has over 85 issued US patents and over 188 peer reviewed journal publications. He is a Fellow of NAS, IEEE, OSA, RSC, AAAS, and AIMBE.
Dr. Cunningham is a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign alumni obtaining a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Professor and Melissa M. Noel Endowed Chair; Director for the Personalized Nutrition Initiative at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Sharon Donovan is a Professor at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign teaching both basic and advanced nutrition classes and has been included on the “List of Teachers Ranked as Excellent by their Students” more than 25 times for 9 different courses.
Dr. Donavan has ~225 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters and receives grant support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the United States Department of Agriculture (SDA), foundations and the food and pharmaceutical industry. Her research efforts have been recognized by both national and international organizations with several awards, and her graduate students have been the recipients of prestigious fellowships, scholarships, and awards for their research accomplishments. She serves as the President of the American Society for Nutrition for 2011-2012 and served as the President of the International Society for Research on Human Milk and Lactation (ISRHML) for 2018-2020.
Dr. Donovan received her B.S. and Ph.D. in Nutrition from the University of California at Davis.
Professor at University of California San Diego
Director of Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center
Co-Director of the Institute for Metabolomics Medicine
Dr. Pieter Dorrestein is Professor at the University of California - San Diego. He is the Director of the Collaborative Mass Spectrometry Innovation Center and a Co-Director, Institute for Metabolomics Medicine in the Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Departments of Pharmacology and Pediatrics.
Since his arrival to UCSD in 2006, Dr. Dorrestein has been pioneering the development of mass spectrometry methods to study the chemical ecological crosstalk between populations of microorganisms, including host interactions for agricultural, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications. To better annotate the molecules associated with complex biological samples, he has been developing the GNPS/MASST/ReDU untargeted mass spectrometry analysis ecosystem that is now accessed 450,000 times a month. He participated in panels for the white house science and technology office of president on the launch of a national microbiome initiative and has been on panels for the National Academy of Sciences on the Chemistry of the Microbiome. Dr. Dorrestein has co-authored ~500 publications and is, according to clarivate, in the top 1% most cited scientists. He has been recognized with several awards, among them are awards from the Beckman foundation, V-foundation in cancer research, Panamanian research award, EUREKA award for unconventional and enabling research, Hearst Foundation, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturing Association research award and the Abel award in pharmacology.
Dr. Dorrestein received both B.S. and his Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University.
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Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine
Consultant in the Division of Computational Biology, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, with joint appointments in the Department of Clinical Genomics and Laboratory Genetics, Department of Laboratory Medicine, and Pathology
Dr. Eric Klee is a Consultant in the Division of Computational Biology, Department of Quantitative Health Sciences, with joint appointments in the Department of Clinical Genomics and in the Division of Laboratory Genetics, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology. He is also the Director of Bioinformatics and the Director of the Translational Omics Program, within Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine. He holds the academic rank of Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Dr. Klee’s research focuses on the translational application of -omic technology to advance clinical diagnostics and patient care. He is actively engaged in the development and implementation of systems to support sequence analysis and interpretation of variant information for genetic testing, with a special interest in rare, undiagnosed, Mendelian Disease. The Translational Omics Program combines a multi-omic testing approach with innovative analytical methods and laboratory based functional studies to seek answers for undiagnosed disease patients. Current research includes the use of RNA-sequencing and methyl-sequencing to aid in clinical diagnoses, and anti-sense oligonucleotides as a potential therapeutic strategy for patients.
Dr. Klee is also active in education, teaching clinical bioinformatics to Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology residents and fellows, leading a graduate course on analysis and interpretation of exome and genome data, and co-director of the Discovery Science concentration in the new Masters of AI in Healthcare. He provides mentorship to medical and predoctoral students and holds full faculty privileges in Clinical and Translational Science at Mayo Graduate School, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine.
Dr. Klee received his Ph.D. in Health Informatics with his Thesis: “Systems for the prediction of secreted proteins in complete proteomes” from the University of Minnesota.
Associate Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine
Division of Endocrinology, Nutrition, and Metabolism
Mayo Clinic
Dr. Ian Lanza is a consultant in the Department of Internal Medicine, an associate professor of medicine in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, and serves as the Associate Research Chair in the Division of Endocrinology, Diabetes, Metabolism, and Nutrition.
Dr. Lanza directs NIH-funded research programs to investigate skeletal muscle and adipose tissue as target tissues to lessen the burden of chronic disease including obesity, aging, and cancer. He also directs the Metabolomics Core Facility that serves as an analytical resource for small molecule detection and quantitation and co-directs the Undiagnosed Disease Network Metabolomics Core. Dr. Lanza’s other interests also include mitochondrial physiology, extracellular vesicles, multi-omics, and exercise physiology.
Dr. Lanza received his Ph.D. in Kinesiology from the University of Massachusetts and is a Ph.D. Research Fellow in Endocrinology at Mayo Clinic.
Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer at Helix
Dr. James Lu is the CEO of Helix, the leading population genomics and viral surveillance company. He leads the company’s day-to-day operations and serves on the Board of Directors. Prior to this role, he acted as President and Chief Scientific Officer where he led the development of Helix’s Exome+® assay, established the company’s CLIA/CAP lab, and created the Helix Research Platform.
Under Dr. Lu’s leadership, Helix was awarded the first and only FDA authorization for its whole exome sequencing platform. He also drove Helix’s large-scale COVID-19 testing and viral surveillance program, securing partnerships with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) program and with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Dr. Lu is a graduate of Stanford University where he earned a BS and MS in Chemical Engineering and of Baylor College of Medicine where he earned his MD and PhD in computational biology.
Professor
Department of Nutrition, University of North Carolina
Dr. Susan Sumner is a Professor of Nutrition at the University of North Carolina Gillings School of Global Public Health. Dr. Sumner has also worked at the Research Triangle Institute as Director of the NIH Eastern Regional Comprehensive Metabolomics Resource Core, and as a Senior Research Scientist in the Center for Estimating Human Health Risks from Exposure to Nanoparticles.
Dr. Sumner’s research activities span several domain areas in Personalized Medicine, Metabolomics and Biomarkers Research, Obesity, and NanoHealth. She has led projects designed to identify biomarkers for the early detection of disease, to monitor disease progression or therapeutic intervention, and to gain insights into mechanisms of response. Dr. Sumner also leads several research efforts that involve using metabolomics to reveal mechanistic insights related to the impact of environmental exposure in utero or early in life on reproductive and developmental outcomes.
Dr. Sumner received her B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from North Carolina State University.
Clinical Director and Director of Quality
Genomics England
Honorary Consultant in Clinical Genetics
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust
Dr. Ellen Thomas is the clinical director and director of quality at Genomics England, and an honorary consultant in Clinical Genetics at Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Trust.
As part of the Genomics England Science Team, Dr. Thomas has worked on delivery of the 100,000 Genomes Project, and now focuses on Genomics England’s contributions to the NHS Genomic Medicine Service, as well as supporting the interface between research and clinical care for participants and researchers within the National Genomic Research Library.
Dr. Thomas’ training includes a Ph.D. thesis at Imperial College, studying genetic factors contributing to monogenic and complex diseases using high-throughput sequencing.
Professor
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Georgia Tech
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Georgia Tech
Dr. Saurabh Sinha is a newly appointed Professor at Georgia Tech in the Biomedical Engineering and Industrial and Systems Engineering Department. Prior to that, Dr. Sinha was a Founder Professor and Willett Faculty Scholar of Computer Science at University Illinois-Champaign Urbana. His experience spans over 25 years and interests include evolution, developmental biology, and neurogenetics.
This laboratory develops innovative computational methods, based on probabilistic inference, machine learning, and biophysics-inspired models, to answer unsolved and topical questions related to gene regulation in diverse biological processes.
Dr. Sinha completed his PhD in Computer Science from the University of Washington, Seattle, in 2002 and his Post-doc with Professor Eric Sigga at Rockefeller University, NYC, 2002-05.
