Elena Fuentes-Afflick, MD, MPH Association of American Medical Colleges
Dr. Fuentes-Afflick, Chief Scientific Officer for the AAMC, Association of Medical Schools, will present information about historical trends in the U.S. biomedical research workforce. She will highlight the unique characteristics of specific subgroups of biomedical researchers and will lead a discussion of strategies to support the biomedical research workforce.
The central theme of the lecture is that inheritance extends beyond the DNA sequence itself. While DNA provides the genetic blueprint, the speaker’s work has demonstrated that cells also inherit epigenetic information carried by chromatin. Chromatin biology and epigenetics are fundamental areas of molecular biology with far-reaching implications for human health and disease. Aberrant chromatin regulation is now recognized as a hallmark of numerous diseases, particularly cancer.
We are taught that eggs and sperm combine to initiate the development of a new organism. While this statement is certainly true, it is less well known that changes that occur to gametes after they leave the gonads, and to female physiology after sexual maturity, are critical for fertility and the generation of high-quality offspring. Understanding these changes at the molecular level is important for identifying mechanisms of certain infertilities and optimizing conditions for assisted reproductive technologies.
You can't directly communicate trust. But you can communicate in ways that demonstrate trustworthiness. This talk will share what social science knows about how communication choices can shape specific trustworthiness perceptions and how these perceptions may affect people's willingness to trust health-related decision-makers.
Dr. Rice plans to present a personal history of his career studying animal viruses. From a surprise landing in a virology lab, to studying model enveloped arboviruses, Sindbis virus and yellow fever virus, and the dawn of molecular biology, which ushered in the ability to develop reverse genetic systems for probing virus biology and engineering viruses for new applications. In parallel, there was growing recognition of a new hepatitis virus affecting transfused patients.
Marylyn Ritchie, Ph.D. Medical University of South Carolina
Dr. Marylyn D. Ritchie is Chief Artificial Intelligence Officer for the MUSC Enterprise and Director of the MUSC AI Center for Health Innovation and Informatics. She also serves as Associate Dean for Artificial Intelligence and SmartState Endowed Chair in Translational Biomedical Informatics. An expert in translational bioinformatics, Dr. Ritchie develops methods integrating electronic health records with genomic data to advance research and patient care. She has more than 20 years of experience and over 500 publications. Dr.
Dr. William Pao is CEO of Revelio Therapeutics and author of BREAKTHROUGH: The Quest for Life-Changing Medicines. Previously, he served as Chief Development Officer and Executive Vice President at Pfizer and headed Roche Pharma Research & Early Development, overseeing global discovery and early development programs. Earlier, he was Professor of Medicine at Vanderbilt University and held leadership roles at Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. Dr. Pao earned his MD and PhD from Yale University and completed oncology training at Memorial Sloan Kettering.
Baldomero Olivera, Ph.D. School of Biological Sciences, University of Utah
Dr. Baldomero “Toto” Olivera is Distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Utah and a pioneer in the study of cone snail venoms. His research has identified and characterized conopeptides, potent neurotoxins that target ion channels and receptors and have advanced understanding of molecular neuroscience. Several peptides discovered by his laboratory entered clinical trials, including Prialt®, an approved treatment for severe chronic pain. Dr. Olivera earned his Ph.D. from Caltech and completed postdoctoral training at Stanford.
Dr. Swee Lay Thein is Senior Investigator and Chief of the Sickle Cell Branch at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. An internationally recognized hematologist, she previously served as Professor of Molecular Hematology and Clinical Director of the Red Cell Centre at King’s College London. Her research focuses on sickle cell disease, thalassemia, and other inherited red blood cell disorders. Dr. Thein has authored more than 400 scientific publications and is a Fellow of the U.K. Academy of Medical Sciences.
Scott L. Delp, Ph.D., is the James H. Clark Professor of Bioengineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Orthopaedic Surgery at Stanford University and Founding Chair of Stanford’s Department of Bioengineering. He directs the Wu Tsai Human Performance Alliance at Stanford, as well as the NIH-funded Restore and Mobilize Centers. Dr. Delp develops technologies to advance movement science, rehabilitation, and human health. His laboratory created widely used platforms including OpenSim and Simtk.org, supporting an international community of researchers and students.
This page was last updated on Tuesday, September 1, 2026
