Past Annual Meeting Keynote Speakers

2025

  • Kelvin Droegemeier, Professor of Atmospheric Sciences and Special Advisor to the Chancellor for Science and Policy, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign
  • Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD, Director, National Institutes of Health
  • Alberto Pepe, PhD, Chief Technology Officer,  Sage Bionetworks
  • Tsvi Gal, Head of Enterprise Technology Services, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
  • Jay Unruh, PhD, Director of Data Science, Stowers Institute for Medical Research

2024

  • Jennie Lopez, Inspiring Speaker, Author, and Coach
  • Judah Pollack, Author and Partner, Riverene Leadership

2023

  • NIH Town Hall
    • Liza Bundesen, Deputy Director, NIH Office of Extramural Research
    • Gregory Germino, Deputy Director, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
    • Monica Webb Hooper, PhD, Deputy Director, National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities
    • Dorit Zuk, Deputy Director, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
    • Richard Turman, President, ACT for NIH (Modertator)
  • Alexander Alonso, Chief Knowledge Officer, Society for Human Resource Management
  • Chaitanya Baru, Senior Advisor, Technology, Innovation, and Partnerships Directorate, National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • Susan Monarez, Deputy Director, Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H)

2022

  • Jessica C. Dawson, Learning and Development Consultant, Gallup
  • Sudip Parikh, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • Dietram A. Scheufele, Taylor-Bascom Chair in Science Communication and Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and in the Morgridge Institute for Research, and a Distinguished Research Fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg Public Policy Center

 

2021

  • Dr. Marie Bernard, Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Dr. Sylvia Butterfield, Acting Assistant Director, Education and Human Resources Directorate, National Science Foundation (NSF)
  • Tom Lynch, President and Director, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
  • Dr. Tara Schwetz, Assistant Director for Biomedical Science Initiatives, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP)
  • Ian Simon, Assistant Director, IDA Science & Technology Policy Institute


2020

  • Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
  • Dr. Cary Funk, Director of Science & Society Research, Pew Research Center
  • Ms. Esther Krofah, Executive Director, FasterCures
  • Alec Tyson, Associate Director of Research, Pew Research Center


2019

  • David Bernstein, PhD, Senior Director, Science and Strategy, Stand Up To Cancer
  • Kelvin Droegemeier, PhD, Director, White House Office of Science and Technology Policy
  • Liz Neeley, Executive Director, The Story Collider
  • Jason Owen-Smith, PhD, Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan; Co-Founder and Executive Director, Institute for Research on Innovation and Science
  • Daniela Schiller, PhD, Associate Professor, Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Friedman Brain Institute
  • Bodo Stern, PhD, Chief of Strategic Initiatives, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • Carrie Wolinetz, PhD, Associate Director for Science Policy at NIH and Acting Chief of Staff to NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins


2018

  • Valerie Conn, Executive Director, Science Philanthropy Alliance
  • Ken Diffenderfer, MS, Assistant Director of the Stem Cell Core Facility at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies
  • Marc Kastner, PhD, President, Science Philanthropy Alliance
  • Ann Merchant, Deputy Executive Director, Office of Communications, National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
  • Judah Pollack, Author and Partner, Riverene Leadership
  • Pandurangan Vijayanand, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Division of Vaccine Discovery, La Jolla Institute
  • Lydia Villa-Komaroff, PhD, Founder, Intersections SBD Consulting
  • Andrew Ward, PhD, Professor, Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, California Campus, Scripps Research


2017

  • James M. Anderson, MD, PhD, Director, NIH’s Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI)
  • Irene Avila, PhD, Special Assistant to the Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity, National Institutes of Health
  • John T. Burklow, Associate Director for Communications and Public Liaison, National Institutes of Health
  • Danielle Carnival, PhD, Vice President, Biden Cancer Initiative
  • Sylvia James, EdD, Acting Deputy Assistant Director, Education and Human Resources Directorate, National Science Foundation
  • Jeffrey W. Strovel, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, ConverGene
  • Jon R. Lorsch, PhD, Director, National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Lili M. Portilla, MPA, Director, Office of Strategic Alliances, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Rob Stein, Correspondent and Senior Editor, Science Desk, National Public Radio


2016

  • Judah Pollack, Author and Partner, Riverene Leadership
  • Joanna Davies, DPhil, President & Chief Executive Officer, San Diego Biomedical Research Institute;
  • E. Wayne Holden, PhD, President & Chief Executive Officer, RTI International
  • David I. Meyer, PhD, President & Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
  • Donna M. Randall, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Cancer Prevention Institute of California
  • Marie Csete, MD, PhD, President & Chief Scientist, Huntington Medical Research Institutes
  • U.S. Representative Patrick E. Murphy (FL-18)
  • Michael S. Lauer, MD, Deputy Director for Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health
  • Paul Robbins, PhD, Professor, Department of Metabolism & Aging, Florida Campus, Scripps Research Institute
  • Paul V. Mockapetris, PhD, Chief Scientist, ThreatSTOP


2015

  • Representative Tom Cole (R-OK)
  • Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, Director, NIH
  • J.R. Haywood, President, Federations of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB)
  • Michelle Bulls, Director, NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
  • Jean Feldman, MBA, Head, NSF Policy Office, Office of Budget, Finance, and Award Management


2014

  • Michelle Bulls, Director, NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration
  • Gerald D. Fischbach, MD, Chief Scientist and Fellow, The Simons Foundation
  • Holden Karnofsky, Co-Founder and Co-Executive Director, GiveWell
  • David Kennedy, Director, Costing Policy and Studies, Council on Governmental Relations
  • Jennie Larkin, PhD, Acting Deputy Associate Director for Data Science, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Sally J. Rockey, PhD, Deputy Director for Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health
  • Gil Tran, Senior Policy Analyst, Office of Management and Budget
  • Craig Wegner, PhD, Executive Director, Translational Science, Emerging Innovations, Scientific Partnering and Alliances, AstraZeneca IMED
  • Mark Wdowik, Assistant Vice President for Research and Industry Partnerships, Colorado State University


2013

  • Margaret Anderson, Executive Director, FasterCures
  • Michelle G. Bulls, Director, NIH Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, Office of Budget, Finance, and Award Management
  • Walter Capone, Chief Operating Officer, The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation
  • David Edwards, PhD, Director of Animal Biotechnology, Biotechnology Industry Organization
  • Jean Feldman, Head, NSF Policy Office; Division of Institution and Award Support; Office of Budget, Finance, and Award Management
  • Richard Hodes, Director, National Institute on Aging
  • Maisha Leek, Chief of Staff, Representative Chaka Fattah (D-PA)
  • Story Landis, Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
  • Alan Leshner, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
  • The Honorable Ed Markey, Senator from Massachusett
  • Amy S. Mitchell, Acting Director, Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism
  • John Wingfield, Assistant Director for Biological Sciences, National Science Foundation


2012

  • Mark D. Adams, PhD, Scientific Director, J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI)
  • Nicholas Schork, PhD, Director of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics, Scripps Translational Science Institute, Director of Research, Scripps Genomic Medicine, Professor, Department of Molecular and Experimental Medicine, The Scripps Research Institute, Professor of Psychiatry and Biostatistics (adjunct), UC San Diego
  • Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Human Genetics and Molecular Biology, The Joseph Stokes Jr. Research Institute, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
  • Sally J. Rockey, PhD, Deputy Director for Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health
  • Michelle G. Bulls, Acting Director, Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, National Institutes of Health


2011

  • Remi Brouard, MD, Vice President External Innovation, Sanofi-Aventis
  • Avi D. Spier, PhD, Director of Business Development, Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation
  • Theodore J. Torphy, PhD, Vice President and Global Head of External Innovation and Business Models, CREATe, Johnson & Johnson
  • William R. Brody, MD, PhD, President, Salk Institute
  • Lawrence A.Tabak, DDS, PhD, Principal Deputy Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Chas Bountra, PhD, Head of the Structural Genomics Consortium at the University of Oxford
  • Stephen C. Mockrin, PhD, Director, Division of Extramural Research Activities, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH)


2010

  • Eric Green, MD, PhD, Director, National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Vicki Seyfert-Margolis, PhD, Senior Advisor for Science Innovation and Policy, Office of the Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
  • Joel Kupersmith, MD, Chief Research and Development Officer (CRADO), Veterans Health Administration
  • Francis S. Collins, MD, PhD, Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Marc Smolonsky, Associate Deputy Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
  • Marc Garufi, Chief, Public Health Branch, White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
  • Joe Ellis, Director, Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration (OPERA), Office of Extramural Research (OER), Office of the Director (OD), National Institutes of Health (NIH)


2009

  • Lee Hartwell, President & Director, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
  • Regina Rabinovich, MD, MPH, Director, Infectious Diseases, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Robin Wagner, PhD, Chief of the Office of Extramural Research's Reporting Branch


2008

  • Norka Ruiz Bravo, PhD, Deputy Director of Extramural Research, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Alan Krensky, MD, Director, Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives, National Institutes of Health (NIH)
  • Jeremy M. Berg, PhD, Director, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
  • Story C. Landis, PhD, Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
  • Griffin Rodgers, MD, MACP, Director, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
  • Mary Woolley, AIRI Past President, President, Research!America
  • Marin P. Allen, PhD, Deputy Associate Director for Communications and Public Liaison and Director of Public Information, National Institutes of Health (NIH)


2007

  • Lawrence Corey, MD, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, PI, HIV Vaccine Trials Network, Head, Program in Infectious Diseases, Co-Director, Vaccine and Infectious Diseases Institute
  • Jill G. Conley, Director, International and Precollege Science Education Programs, Howard Hughes Medical Institute
  • James, F. Battey, Jr., MD, PhD, Director, NIDCD
  • Leroy Hood, MD, PhD, President, Institute for Systems Biology


2006

  • Jeffrey M. Trent, PhD, President and Scientific Director, TGen
  • Eric M. Reiman, MD Executive Director, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute; Clinical Director, Neurogenomics Division, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen); Professor and Associate Head of Psychiatry, University of Arizona; and Director, Arizona Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium


2005

  • Elias A. Zerhouni, MD, Director, National Institutes of Health
  • Norka Ruiz Bravo, PhD, Deputy Director of Extramural Research, Office of the Director, National Institutes of Health
  • Joe Palca, Senior Science Correspondent, National Public Radio
  • Nancy Shute, Senior Science Writer, U.S. News & World Report
  • Rick Weiss, Science and Medicine Writer, The Washington Post
  • Geoff Grant, Staff Director, Research Business Models Subcommittee, COS, NSTC and Deputy Director for Management, Operations, and Policy, BFA, NSF
  • Bruce Stevenson, PhD, Vice President, Academic Affairs, Salk Institute for Biological Studies
  • Lydia Villa-Komaroff, PhD, Chief Operating Officer, Vice President for Research, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
  • William H. Beers, PhD, Chief Academic and Scientific Officer, Marine Biological Laboratory


2004

  • Kathie Olsen, PhD, Associate Director with the Office of Science and Technology Policy
  • Lawrence Tabak, DDS, PhD, Director of the National Institute of Dental And Craniofacial Research, Chair of the NIH Roadmap Working Group
  • Geoff Grant, Staff Director, Research Business Models Subcommittee, COS, NSTC and Deputy Director for Management, Operations, and Policy, BFA, NSF
  • Jon Miller, PhD, Director of the Center for Biomedical Communications, Northwestern University
  • Paul W. Kincade, PhD, President, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology
  • Howard H. Garrison, PhD, Director, Office of Public Affairs, Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology


2003

  • William F. Raub, PhD, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Science Policy within the Office of the Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
  • Arthur Jampolsky, MD, Founder and Co-Director, The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute
  • Warren C. Cook, President of the JAX Research Systems at The Jackson Laboratory
  • Neal A. Palafox, MD, MPH; Professor and Chair, Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii
  • Peggy A. Means, Senior Vice President for Strategic Development, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
  • John Pratt, Associate Director, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research


2002

  • Michael Manganiello, Senior Vice President & Director of Government Relations, Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation
  • Susan Quantius, Majority Health Staff, House Labor/HHS/Education Appropriations Subcommittee
  • Wendy Baldwin, PhD, Director for Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health
  • Carol Alderson, Assistant Grants Policy Officer, Office of Policy for Extramural Research Administration, National Institutes of Health
  • Sidney McNairy, PhD, Director, Division of Research Infrastructure, National Center for Research Resources, National Institutes of Health
  • Ruth Kirschstein, MD, Former Acting Director, National Institutes of Health
  • Francis Collins, MD, PhD, Director, National Human Genome Research Institute
  • Donna Dean, PhD, Acting Director, National Institute of Biomedical Imaging & Bioengineering