Boston, MA - June 21 to 23, 2023

Boston, MA - June 21 to 23, 2023

20Jul

Myrtle Potter

Myrtle Potter

FORTUNE’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business
Black Health Magazine’s 25 Most Influential African Americans in Healthcare
Glamour Magazine’s Everyday Icon
Wall Street Journal’s 50 Women to Watch.

Myrtle Potter is the CEO of Sumitovant Biopharma, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company focused on rapidly developing innovative medicines. Before she joined Sumitovant, Myrtle served as Vant Operating Chair at Roivant (2018-2019). Prior to Roviant, she was CEO of Myrtle Potter & Company, a healthcare advisory firm she started in 2005. From 2000 to 2005, Potter was COO and later President of Genentech, where she achieved record sales and earnings growth and launched seven novel therapies.

During her tenure, she co-chaired the Product Portfolio Committee, which made all asset investment and prioritization decisions for Genentech’s drug pipeline, making it the most valuable pipeline in the world at that time. Prior to Genentech, she was President of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s U.S. cardiovascular and metabolic business, where she oversaw an operation of 3,500 people and which launched numerous multi-billion-dollar medicines. Potter began her biopharmaceutical career at Merck, where she started the company Astra-Merck, Inc., which, through a series of transactions, became AstraZeneca.

Potter is a graduate of the University of Chicago and serves on the university’s board of trustees. She also serves on the boards of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, Myovant Sciences (Chairwoman) and Urovant Sciences (Chairwoman). She has previously served on the boards of Amazon, Express Scripts, Medco Health Solutions, and Rite Aid.

Thomas H. Marshburn, M.D.

Thomas H. Marshburn, M.D.Emergency Room Physician, NASA Astronaut, and AquanautDr. Marshburn was selected by NASA in 2004. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Davidson College, North Carolina; a Masters in Engineering Physics from the University of Virginia; a Doctorate of Medicine from Wake Forest University; and a Masters in Medical Science from the University of Texas Medical Branch. The North Carolina native is a veteran of two spaceflights, STS-127 and Expedition 34/35.Before […]

Sameer Nagda, M.D., M.B.A.

Sameer Nagda, M.D., M.B.A.2021 and 2016, United States Olympic Women’s Soccer Team – Team Physician2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion, Team USA – Team PhysicianFellowship Trained Sports Medicine Surgeon – Knee, Shoulder, ElbowDr. Sameer Nagda is a Sports Medicine and shoulder specialist at the Anderson Clinic, and an Assistant Professor of Clinical Orthopaedic Surgery at Georgetown University School of Medicine. He evaluates and surgically treats problems of the knee, shoulder, and elbow. He has particular […]

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served as a medical missionary in Liberia, West Africa, since 1995. His many contributions include caring for patients; training nurses, medical students and interns; leadership development; and helping to increase the hospital’s response to HIV and AIDS, including starting a counselling program for patients living with the virus. He is also helping to develop a Christian Family Practice Residency training program for Liberian doctors. Despite his […]

Pardis Sabeti, M.D., Ph.D.

Pardis Sabeti, M.D., Ph.D.Associate Professor, Harvard School of Public Health InstituteMember of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MITDr. Sabeti is a computational geneticist who has created some of the most widely used algorithms to mine genomes for instances of human adaptation and created powerful molecular tools to clarify their biology. In 2014, she was named a TIME magazine “Person of the Year” as an Ebola fighter and in 2015 was one of TIME’s 100 […]

20Jul

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.

Dean, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

As Dean of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, Dr. Rothman, oversees both the Johns Hopkins Health System and the School of Medicine. As a rheumatologist and molecular immunologist, Dr. Rothman’s research focuses on immune system molecules known as cytokines. Specifically, he has investigated the role these molecules play in the normal development of blood cells, as well as the abnormal development of these blood cells that lead to leukemia.

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…

20Jul

William G. Kaelin Jr., M.D.

William G. Kaelin Jr., M.D.

2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Sidney Farber Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Dr. 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. 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. 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.

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…

20Jul

Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Ph.D.

Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Ph.D.

2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
2008 L’Oréal-UNESCO Award for Women in Science
2007 TIME Magazine’s 100 Most influential People

Dr. Blackburn won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2009 for discovering the molecular nature of telomeres, the ends of chromosomes that serve as protective caps essential for preserving genetic information, and for co-discovering telomerase, an enzyme that maintains telomere ends.

She is the Morris Herztein Professor of Biology and Physiology in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Dr. Blackburn and her research team at UCSF work with various cells including human cells, with the goal of continued understanding of telomerase and telomere biology.
Blackburn earned her B.Sc. (1970) and M.Sc. (1972) degrees from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and her Ph.D. (1975) from the University of Cambridge in England. She did her postdoctoral work in Molecular and Cellular Biology from 1975 to 1977 at Yale.

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…

20Jul

Gregg Semenza, M.D., Ph.D.

2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
2016 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research

Dr. Semenza is a professor of pediatrics, radiation oncology and molecular radiation sciences, biological chemistry, medicine, and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Semenza is the C. Michael Armstrong Professor of Pediatrics and serves as the director of the vascular program at the Institute for Cell Engineering. Dr. Semenza has led the field in uncovering how cells adapt to changing oxygen levels. He is best known for his groundbreaking discovery of the HIF-1 protein, which controls genes in response to changes in oxygen availability. The finding has far-reaching implications in understanding and treating low-oxygen health conditions such as coronary artery disease and tumor growth. Dr. Semenza was awarded the 2019 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for this groundbreaking research.

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…

20Jul

Anthony Atala, M.D.

Anthony Atala, M.D.

Director, Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine, Wake Forest School of Medicine
TIME Magazine, Top Medical Breakthroughs and Discoveries

Dr. Atala is a practicing surgeon, researcher, and director of the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine. His current work focuses on growing new human cells, tissues, and organs. He is Editor­-in-­Chief of Stem Cells Translational Medicine and Current Stem Cell Research and Therapy. In 2011, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Atala’s work has been included twice in Time magazine’s top 10 medical breakthroughs of the year. He was featured in U.S. News & World Report as one of 14 Pioneers of Medical Progress in the 21st Century. Over 10 applications of technologies developed in his laboratory have been used clinically. He is the editor of 20 books, has published over 400 journal articles, and has applied for or received over 200 national and international patents.

Zack Shinar, M.D.

Zack Shinar, M.D.Board-Certified Emergency Physician, Sharp Memorial HospitalDr. Shinar is…

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…

20Jul

Huda Yahya Zoghbi, M.D.

Huda Yahya Zoghbi, M.D.

2020 The Brain Prize
2017 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences
2017 Canada Gairdner International Award

Dr. Zoghbi is a professor of pediatrics, molecular and human genetics, neuroscience, and neurology at Baylor College of Medicine and is director of the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital. Dr. Zoghbi seeks to understand the mechanisms underlying brain development and degeneration.

Working primarily in mouse models and humans, Dr. Zoghbi and her team study the activities of proteins involved in neuropsychiatric disorders such as Rett syndrome, MECP2 duplication syndrome, and mania. They also collaborate with labs studying Drosophila to study the function of proteins that accumulate in late-onset degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s and inherited movement disorders such as Spinocerebellar ataxia type 1 (SCA1).

The team’s goal is to find ways to reduce abnormal accumulation of proteins in degenerative conditions and normalize protein levels in developmental diseases.

Zack Shinar, M.D.

Zack Shinar, M.D.Board-Certified Emergency Physician, Sharp Memorial HospitalDr. Shinar is…

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…

20Jul

Michael Rosbash Ph.D.

Michael Rosbash, Ph.D.

2017 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

The research of Michael Rosbash, Ph.D., focuses on the metabolism and processing of mRNA, the molecular link between DNA and protein, and ultimately led to his receiving the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017. After arriving at Brandeis University in 1974, Dr. Rosbash began to investigate the genetic influences on circadian rhythms of the internal biological clock within species, particularly fruit flies, that helps them adapt their biological rhythm to the different phases of day and night. In 1984, he and his colleagues identified a gene that encodes a protein that accumulates during the night but is degraded during the day. They also identified additional proteins that form part of a self-regulating biological clockwork in the fruit fly’s cells. The same principles have been shown to apply to other animals and plants.

Zack Shinar, M.D.

Zack Shinar, M.D.Board-Certified Emergency Physician, Sharp Memorial HospitalDr. Shinar is…

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…

20Jul

George M. Church, Ph.D.

George M. Church, Ph.D.

George M. Church, Ph.D.

Professor of Genetics, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School
Director, Harvard Medical School National Human Genome Research Institute’s Center of Excellence in Genomic Science
Director, Personal Genome Project, MIT’s Broad Institute and Harvard’s Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering

Harvard Professor Dr. Church, is a founding member of the Wyss Institute and director of PersonalGenomes.org, the world’s only open-access information on human genomic, environmental, and trait data.

A pioneer in personal genomics and synthetic biology, he developed the first methods for genome sequencing and dramatic cost reductions (from $3 billion to $600), contributing to nearly all “next-generation sequencing” methods and companies.

His team invented CRISPR for human stem cell genome editing and other synthetic biology technologies and applications, including new ways to create organs for transplantation, gene therapies for aging reversal, and gene drives to eliminate Lyme Disease and Malaria.

Dr. Church is the director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity, the National Institutes of Health’s BRAIN Initiative, and the Center for Excellence in Genomic Science. He has co-authored more than 515 papers, 130 patent publications, and one book, Regenesis.

Zack Shinar, M.D.

Zack Shinar, M.D.Board-Certified Emergency Physician, Sharp Memorial HospitalDr. Shinar is…

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…

20Jul

M Joycelyn Elders

M. Joycelyn Elders, M.D.

Surgeon General of the United States, 1993-1994

Dr. Elders was the first person in the state of Arkansas to become board certified in pediatric endocrinology, the fifteenth Surgeon General of the United States and the first African American, and only the second woman to head the U.S. Public Health Service. Long an outspoken advocate of public health, Dr. Elders was appointed Surgeon General by President Clinton in 1993. In 1996, she wrote her autobiography, Joycelyn Elders, M.D.: From Sharecropper’s Daughter to Surgeon General of the United States of America. Now retired from practice, she is a professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas School of Medicine and remains active in public health education.

Zack Shinar, M.D.

Zack Shinar, M.D.Board-Certified Emergency Physician, Sharp Memorial HospitalDr. Shinar is…

Richard Sacra, M.D.

Richard Sacra, M.D.Humanitarian Physician and Ebola SurvivorDr. Sacra has served…