Speakers

Joseph Loscalzo, M.D., Ph.D.

Dr. Loscalzo has been a member of the faculty of Boston University, first as Chief of Cardiology and, since 1997, Chairman of the Department of Medicine. Dr. Loscalzo is also currently the Director of the Whitaker Cardiovascular Institute at Boston University School of Medicine and Physician-in-Chief at the Boston Medical Center. From 1984 to 1994, Dr. Loscalzo was a member of the faculty of Harvard University, where he rose to the rank of Associate Professor of Medicine, and of the staff at Brigham and Women's Hospital, where he became the Director of the Center for Research in Thrombolysis. Dr. Loscalzo holds an A.B., M.D., and a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania.

Allen W. Cowley, Ph.D.

Allen W. Cowley, Jr. is Professor and Chairman of the Department of Physiology at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Prior his current position, he was Professor of Physiology working in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics headed by Dr. Arthur Guyton at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.

Dr. Cowley's scientific interests are in the study of renal and vascular mechanisms involved in the long-term control of arterial pressure. Application of molecular genetics to the understanding of complex physiological function represents the central theme of most of his current research. Working with a large team of physiologists, geneticists, clinical scientists, and computational biologists, this work has resulted in the first comprehensive systems biology genetic map of cardiovascular function published in Science in 2001.

He is active in scientific and professional organizations. An active member of the American Physiological Society since 1972, he has served as a Councilor of the APS for five years and Chairman of the Water and Electrolyte Homeostasis Section. From 1997 to 1999 he served on the Executive Committee as President-elect, President, and Past-President of the APS. He served as the President of the International Union of Physiological Sciences (IUPS) from 2001-2005 and has served as President of the Association of Chairmen of Departments of Physiology. From 1990-1996, he served on the Executive Committee as Vice-Chairman, Chairman and Past-Chairman of the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of American Heart Association. Having served on a number of NIH study sections, he has most recently served for four years as a member of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council. He has served as an Associate Editor of more than 10 editorial boards, including four journals of APS, and since 2003 has been the Editor-in-Chief of Physiological Genomics.

Dr. Cowley is director of the NIH Specialized Center for Hypertension Research at MCW, which has as its emphasis the search for genes responsible for high blood pressure. He directs the NIH Program "Blood Pressure-Determinants and Controllers" now in its 25th year of continuous funding. He co-directs an NIH Program of Genomic Applications (PGA) for the development of genetic model organisms that will link genes to function. He is also the director of an NIH training grant in high blood pressure research and, throughout his career, has trained more than 30 postdoctoral fellows and students. He has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including the Distinguished Achievement Award of the Scientific Councils of the American Heart Association in 1996, the Novartis Award from the Council for High Blood Pressure Research of the American Heart Association in 1997, the 1996 Ernest H. Starling Award and Distinguished Lectureship of the APS Water and Electrolyte Homeostasis Section, and was the recipient of the Walter B. Cannon Award of the APS in 2002.

Janice V. Meck, Ph.D.

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Thomas G. Coleman, Ph.D.

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Nitin Baliga, Ph.D.

Dr. Baliga holds an undergraduate degree in Microbiology from Ruia College, India and a M.Sc. In Marine Biotechnology from Goa University, India. Dr. Baliga conducted his doctoral studies in Microbiology at University of Massachusetts at Amherst and his postdoctoral studies in systems biology with Dr. Leroy Hood at ISB. During his predoctoral studies, he won two competitive awards from the government. Of India: the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research Fellowship, and a fellowship from the Department of Biotechnology. C

urrent research in Dr. Baliga's laboratory is geared towards elucidating complete sets of genetic circuits in Halobacterium NRC-1 that specify its robust behavior in an ever-changing hypersaline (saturated salt) environment. Dr. Baliga's research involves scientists of varied expertise in diverse areas such as environmental molecular microbiology, structural biology and computational biology.

Dr. Baliga has also made significant contributions to improving biology education in high schools throughout the greater Seattle area. His primary goal is to develop mind stimulating inquiry modules that teach high school students novel concepts in biology such as systems biology. Research in Dr. Baliga's laboratory is supported by research grants from the National Science Foundation, the Department of Defense, the NASA and Department of Energy.

Debbie Nickerson

Dr. Nickerson is currently a Professor of Genome Sciences and Bioengineering at the University of Washington. She received her Ph.D. in Immunology from the University of Tennessee in 1978

Scott Patterson, Ph.D.

Dr. Patterson is the Senior Director for Genomics at Celera Genomics, an Applera Corporation. Dr. Patterson has more than 20 years of scientific experience predominantly in protein analysis and its application to understanding biological processes. Most recently he served as an associate director of research and head of the department of biochemistry and genetics. In this position he was responsible for the proteomics program, which he developed, and the mouse genetics platforms. Prior to joining Amgen, Dr. Patterson was a staff investigator at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York. He also held several positions at The University of Queensland in Australia during which time he earned his Ph.D. in Physiology there in 1989.

Steve Stice, Ph.D.

Steven Stice is a Professor and has a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar endowed chair in the Animal and Dairy Science Department at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on developing innovative animal cloning techniques and stem cell therapies. He also serves as the Chief Scientific Officer and is on the Board of Directors for ProLinia, Inc . He is also Vice President for human stem cell research at BresaGen Inc. BresaGen has four of the human embryonic stem cell lines approved for NIH funding.

Dr. Stice has over 15 years of research and development experience in biotechnology and is a co-founder of three existing biotechnology companies. He produced the first cloned rabbit in 1987 and the first cloned transgenic calves in 1998 (George and Charlie). In 1997 his group produced the first genetically modified embryonic stem cell derived pigs and cattle. This research led to publications in Science and Nature journals, national news coverage (CBS, NBC, ABC and CNN) and the first US patents on cloning animals and cattle embryonic stem cells. Last year he announced a breakthrough in cloning process with eight additional cloned calves. Throughout his career he has published and lectured on cloning and stem cell technologies. Prior to joining the University of Georgia, Dr. Stice was a cofounder and Chief Scientific Officer at Advanced Cell Technology, a company developing cloning technology for production of pharmaceutical proteins and cell transplantation. Prior to that he managed the cattle genetics project at ABS Global a subsidiary of WR Grace (1989-1994).

Dr. Stice was named one of the top forty entrepreneurs under forty years old in the state of Georgia and received the AGR grand president's award for leadership in agriculture and Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the University of Illinois. He received a B.S. in agricultural science at the University of Illinois, an M.S. from Iowa State University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

The Honorable Jonathan B. Perlin, MD, PhD, MSHA, FACP

Dr. Jonathan B. Perlin was nominated by President George W. Bush to serve as Under Secretary for Health in the Department of Veterans Affairs on Feb. 18, 2005, and confirmed by the Senate on April 28, 2005. As the Chief Executive Officer of the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), Dr. Perlin leads the nation's largest integrated health system.

Prior to his nomination, Dr. Perlin served as Acting Under Secretary for Health since April 6, 2004, and Deputy Under Secretary for Health from July 2002 to April 2004. He also served as VHA's Acting Chief Research and Development Officer from December 2003 to July 2004, directing a $1.8 billion research program specializing in basic, clinical, rehabilitation and health services research.

Dr. Perlin was VHA's Chief Quality and Performance Officer from 1999 to 2002. In that role, he was responsible for supporting quality improvement and performance management. VA is one of two federal agencies recognized twice by Congress for "managing for results." VHA's Quality and Performance program has been specifically recognized by the Innovations in American Government and the RIT-USA Today Quality Cup Programs.

Dr. Perlin's background includes health care quality management, medical education, health information technologies, medical education, and health services research. Prior to joining VHA, Dr. Perlin served as medical director for Quality Improvement at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals - Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Health System. At VCU, he helped establish the Health Services Research Fellowship in the Division of Quality Health Care, Department of Internal Medicine, and was associate director of the Internal Medicine Residency Training Program. Dr. Perlin is broadly published and maintains an academic appointment as adjunct associate professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Dr. Perlin held previous appointments at the Richmond VA Medical Center, where he led in the development and implementation of the "Firm (group practice) System" and served as a firm director. He was the inaugural chief of the Telemedicine Section and developed an interstate network for providing clinical consultation as well as distributed education and administration.

A Fellow of the American College of Physicians, Dr. Perlin has a master's of science in health administration. He received his Ph.D. in pharmacology and toxicology (performing research in molecular neurobiology) with his M.D. as part of the Medical Scientist Training Program at Virginia Commonwealth University's Medical College of Virginia Campus.

Emanuel F. Petricoin, Ph.D.

Dr. Emanual Petricoin III was appointed to the faculty of George Mason University on April 1, 2005. Prior to this, he joined the FDA in 1993, where he served as co-director of the joint FDA-NCI Clinical Proteomics Program in the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the FDA, and is considered the proteomics and protein array expert in the Food and Drug Administration. Moreover, he is considered an agency expert on drug and biologic effects on signal transduction and kinase-driven cascades along with artificial intelligence based bioinformatic tools. The FDA-NCI Clinical Proteomics Program is a world-leading biologic research effort that is the first of its kind focusing on translational bench-to-bedside applications. This program has been the basis for the invention of several key enabling technologies such as Laser Capture Microdissection, invention of new types of Protein Microarrays, and Proteomic Pattern Diagnostics. The Clinical Proteomics Program is the first program in the world to implement proteomic technologies to monitor target effects before, during and after the use of molecular targeted therapeutics in human tissue specimens during clinical trials. Dr. Petricoin holds a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Maryland at College Park.

Terence E Ryan, Ph.D.

Terence E Ryan is Director, Integrative Biology for GlaxoSmithKline’s Discovery Research division in King of Prussia, PA. Prior to joining GSK in 2003, he was Director, Cell Biology for Celera Genomics, working on target identification and validation using high-throughput proteomic technologies. He has also been Associate Director, Cell Technologies at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Dr Ryan received his PhD in microbiology from Rutgers University, and his AB from Princeton University.

The Honorable George Allen

Senator Allen is currently the 51st United States Senator from Virginia. Prior to his election to the Senate, he served as the 67th Governor of Virginia from 1994-1998. As Governor, he won wide recognition for educational improvements such as the implementation of rigorous academic standards and accountability. Several other hallmarks of Senator Allen's tenure as Governor include the overhaul of an outdated juvenile justice system, work-oriented welfare reform and the abolition of parole for felons. Senator Allen is also widely credited with bringing a record $14 billion of private sector investment along with hundreds of thousands of jobs to Virginia through the expansion and relocation of technology and manufacturing companies.

Bringing the same innovative, constructive leadership to Washington, Senator Allen was unanimously elected a member of the Senate Republican Leadership as Chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee in 2002. In the 2004 election, under Senator Allen's leadership, Republicans picked up four seats in the U.S. Senate.

Senator Allen holds a B.A. in History with distinction as well as a law degree from the University of Virginia. He and his wife, Susan, reside near Mt. Vernon in Fairfax County with their three children: Tyler, Forrest, and Brooke.

Eugene P. Trani, Ph.D.

Since arriving in 1990 to become the fourth president of Virginia Commonwealth University, Dr. Eugene P. Trani has greatly expanded the mission of the University so that it plays a key role in metropolitan and statewide development.

Since 1990, Dr. Trani has spearheaded an investment in the institution's infrastructure currently worth more than $689 million, more than $400 million of which has been devoted to facilities for the sciences, engineering, biomedical research, biotechnology, and patient care. Approximately $82 million has been invested in construction on Broad Street next to campus, which has attracted approximately $45 million in new business activity in this area, including Kroger, Lowes, and upscale apartments.

In the early 1990s, Dr. Trani also established the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park, becoming Chair of its Authority Board. The Research Park is a collaboration of academic, business, government and civic leaders to serve as a catalyst for bioscience and technology development in the state.

As President and Chair of the Board of Directors of the VCU Health System, Dr. Trani has had a tremendous influence on the role of the University's clinical mission in health care in the region and across the state. Strategic planning under his leadership led in 2000 to the establishment of the VCU Health System, which brings together MCV Hospitals, MCV Physicians, Virginia Premier Health Plan and University Health Services.

Dr. Trani's community service leadership has been recognized in a number of ways. Because of his vision of VCU and the VCU Health System as partners in community development, he was appointed Chair of the Metropolitan Richmond Chamber of Commerce for 1997-98 and recently Chair of Richmond Renaissance.

In the spring of 2002, CEOs for Cities, a high powered alliance of mayors, corporate executives, university presidents and experts on inner-city development, released a report in collaboration with the Initiative for a Competitive Inner City (ICIC) praising VCU and Dr. Trani for strong leadership, focus on economic development and success in working with the Richmond community. In "Leveraging Colleges and Universities for Urban Economic Revitalization: An Action Agenda", VCU was presented as a national case study, along with Columbia University, of the impact of higher education in the revitalization of our nation's cities. Following this report, VCU received coast-to-coast coverage for its innovative programs toward city enhancement and revitalization.

Daniel J. LaVista

Dan LaVista has served as the Executive Director of the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) since August 7th, 2004. He provides leadership to Virginia's public and private institutions and acts as a liaison to the Education Council. He's a member of the following boards: Virginia College Savings Plan; the Virginia College Building Authority; the Commission to Review, Study, and Reform Educational Leadership; the Center for Innovative Technology Board of Directors; the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center; and the Virginia Environmental Education Commission, as well as ex officio on the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission (VRTAC).

Eric Schadt, Ph.D.

Dr. Schadt joined the biotech startup company Rosetta Inpharmatics in late 1999 as a senior computational scientist. His research at Rosetta Inpharmatics centered on developing cutting edge technologies to elucidate common human diseases, identifying and prioritizing novel drug targets for common human diseases (with a specific focus on obesity, diabetes, atherosclerosis and metabolic syndrome), and identifying and validating biomarkers for disease subtypes, drug toxicity, and drug efficacy. During Dr. Schadt's tenure at Rosetta he led efforts to build the bioinformatics and computational genomics groups and led research efforts within these groups to experimentally annotate the human genome using gene expression microarrays. This research was a key component of Merck's decision to acquire Rosetta. After Rosetta was acquired by Merck, Dr. Schadt led efforts to define genetic and pharmacogenomics strategies within Merck Research Labs, and established the Genetics department to more aggressively develop and apply methods to identify, prioritize, and validate novel drug targets. Dr. Schadt is currently Senior Scientific Director of Genetics at Merck Research Labs/Rosetta Inpharmatics. Prior to joining Rosetta, Dr. Schadt was a Senior Research Scientist at Roche Bioscience. He received his B.S. in applied mathematics and computer science from California Polytechnic State University, his M.A. in pure mathematics from UC Davis, and his Ph.D. in biomathematics (required candidacy in molecular biology and mathematics) from UCLA.

Albert-László Barabási

Dr. Barabási is the Emil T. Hofman Professor of Physics at the University of Notre Dame, where he teaches and directs research on complex networks. A Hungarian born native of Transylvania, as an undergraduate student he worked as a scientific correspondent for the largest Hungarian general audience weekly in Bucharest. After receiving his Masters in Theoretical Physics at the Eötvös University in Budapest, Hungary, he was awarded a Ph.D. three years later at Boston University. After a year at the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, he joined Notre Dame as an Assistant Professor, to be promoted Professor and Endowed Chair at the unprecedented age of 33. He is the recipient of the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award and the Office of Naval Research's Young Investigator Award.

He is the author of Linked: How Everything Is Connected to Everything Else and What It Means; co-author of a successful monograph on fractals and surfaces entitled Fractal Concepts in Surface Growth, which is by far the most cited text in this area. His seminal work on complex networks, 19 degrees of separation, the Internet's Achilles Heel, and on the topology of cellular networks has been widely featured in the media, including the cover of Nature, and written about in Science, Science News, New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, American Scientist, Discover, Business Week, Die Zeit, El Pais, Le Monde, London's Daily Telegraph, National Geographic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, New Scientist, La Republica. He has been interviewed by BBC Radio, National Public Radio, CBS and ABC News, CNN, NBC, and many other media outlets.