Genetic Counseling and Genomic Medicine

Vincent S. Gallicchio has 42 years experience in academic medicine and research covering experimental hematology, immunology, and developmental therapeutics for human diseases such as AIDS and cancer. He has earned national and international respect and recognition for his efforts. In a first time study reporting on academic scholarly productivity in the Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science, Gallicchio was rated the number one academic biomedical laboratory science researcher in the United States. In addition to his passion for research, Gallicchio is equally passionate to teach, mentor and advise students. He has mentored many doctoral and post-doctoral students, dozens of master’s level students and hundreds of undergraduate students both foreign and domestic, many of whom are now esteemed researchers themselves at institutions such as: Oxford University, Eastern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, University of Limpopo (South Africa), Jewish and Mercy Hospitals in Cincinnati and major pharmaceutical companies such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. As a board certified medical laboratory scientist by the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP), Gallicchio also serves as the Clinical Laboratory Director of the Lab Tree Clinical Biochemical Research Laboratory in Greenville, SC. He also serves as a consultant to Minerals Resources International, Inc on matters related to the health benefits of trace elements; and is a consulting Vice-President of Technology Development for Conversion Laboratories, LLC, and West Columbia, SC. He has served on the faculty and academic staff at the Yale University School of Medicine, the University of Kentucky Medical Center, the University of Central Lancashire (England) and the University of Wolver hampton (England). He has served as President of Alpha Eta Honor Society, the International Society for Lithium Research, International Federation of Biomedical Laboratory Science and currently serves as Vice President of the Educational and Research Centers in Trace Elements program operated under the auspice of UNESCO.

Personalized Medicine, cell science, Trace elemts, biology, Biomedical Laboratory

Dr Sergey Suchkov, MD, PhD was born in 11.01.1957, a researcher-immunologist, a clinician, graduated from Astrakhan State Medical University, Russia, in 1980.Suchkov has been trained at the Institute for Medical Enzymology, The USSR Academy of Medical Sciences,National Center for Immunology (Russia), NIH, Bethesda, USA) and British Society for Immunology to cover 4 British university facilities. Since 2005, Dr Suchkov has been working as Faculty Professor of I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University and Of A.I.Evdokimov Moscow State Medical & Dental University. From 2007, Suchkov is the First Vice-President and Dean of the School of PPPM Politics and Management of the University of World Politics and Law. In 1991-1995, Dr Suchkov was a Scientific Secretary-in-Chief of the Editorial Board of the International Journal“Biomedical Science” (Russian Academy of Sciences and Royal Society of Chemistry, UK) and The International Publishing Bureau at the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In 1995-2005, Suchkov was a Director of the Russian-American Program in Immunology of the Eye Diseases.Dr Suchkov is a member of EPMA (European Association of Predictive, Preventive and Personalized Medicine,Brussels-Bonn), a member of the NY Academy of Sciences, a member of the Editorial Boards for Open Journal of Immunology and others. Dr Suchkov is known as an author of the Concept of post-infectious clinical and immunological syndrome, co-author of a concept of abzymes and their impact into the pathogenesis of autuimmunity conditions, and as one of the pioneers in promoting the Concept of PPPM into a practical branch of health services

Predictive, Preventive and Personalized Medicine,Immunology, Medicine, Pathology

Ananda S. Prasad was born in Buxar, a small town in the state of Bihar, India. After graduation from high school, he joined Patna Science College, Patna University where he was top student in chemistry and received B.Sc degree with honors in mathematics. Prasad entered the Patna Medial College in Bihar, graduating there in 1951 with high distinction in physiology. In 1952 Prasad went to St. Paul’s Hospital, Dallas, Texas, for residency training in pathology, accompanied by his wife, who sought further training in obstetrics and gynecology. Contrary to the route taken by his classmates, Ananda Prasad decided not to seek Membership in the Royal College of Physicians (MRCP), England, and looked for additional training in the USA. He was accepted by Dr. C.J. Watson, a well known outstanding Professor of Medicine, for training in internal medicine at the University of Minnesota Medical School. He was trained at Minnesota to be a clinical scientist with research interests in calcium and magnesium metabolism. Thus began a lifelong interest in the metabolism of various elements, including zinc. Prasad then went to Iran at the invitation of Hobart A. Reimann, who had preceded Dr. Watson as Chief of Medicine in Minnesota, and was Chief of Medicine at the Nemazee Hospital of Pahlevi University in Shiraz, Iran. He was a personal friend of the Shah of Iran. Prasad left Iran in January 1961 and joined the department of Biochemistry and Medicine of Vanderbilt University under Dr. William J. Darby. Although Dr. Darby wanted Prasad to study porphyrin metabolism in Pellagra in Egypt, Prasad shared with Darby his speculation that zinc deficiency in the Middle East was prevalent and was responsible for widespread growth retardation. Darby approved plans to investigate zinc metabolism in growth-retarded subjects and Prasad was able to join the U.S. Naval Medical Research unit No.3 (NAMRU-3), in Egypt. Studies in Egypt showed that the growth retardation and gonadal hypofunction in these subjects were related to zinc deficiency. The anaemia was due to iron deficiency and responded to oral iron treatment. Ananda S. Prasad, M.D., Ph.D., has been at the WSU School of Medicine since 1963, when he took a position as director of the Division of Hematology. Dr. Prasad was appointed a Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Division of Hematology- Oncology, in 2000. Ananda Prasad has published over 300 papers and fifteen books. He was founding editor of two journals,American Journal of Hematology and Journal of Trace Elements in Experimental Medicine. Prasad has received much recognition for his contributions. These include AMA Goldberger Award, American College of Physicians Award for outstanding work in science as related to Medicine, Medal of Honor from Mayor of Lyon, France, First Raulin Award for pioneering research in zinc from International Society for Trace Elements Research in Humans (ISTERH), Robert H. Herman Award from American Society of Clinical Nutrition, Mastership from the American College of Physicians, inducted in the Heritage Hall of Fame, International Institute Foundation, Detroit, Michigan and Asian Academy Hall of Distinction Award, Washington, DC. Most importantly Prasad received the 2010 Prince Mahidol Award from Bangkok.

Medicine

María A. Pajares completed her PhD from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) in 1986, and her postdoctoral studies from the Harvard Medical School (Boston, USA) in 1989. She is a Senior Research Scientist from the CSIC since 2006, where her own group works in the structure/function relationships that govern methionine metabolism in health and disease. She has authored more than 60 original papers in reputed international journals, she serves as referee for a large number of journals and several grant agencies and is now also serving as an Editorial Board member for the World Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Editorial Board member for the World Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Anatoly Victorovich Skalny was born on the 12th of April, 1962 in Ivano-Frankovsk-City (Ukrain). Graduated school in Olyka village of Volynskaya oblast and medical faculty of Ivano-Frankovsk Medicine State Institute (1985) with honours. Began to carry aout scientific researches from 1979 in a student scientific society under the leadership of professor G.A. Babenko, a leading specialist in medicine elementology in Soviet Union. Ph.D. in Medicine (from 1990). Member of Council on trace elements in agriculture, biology and medicine in AS USSR and RAS (from 1987), Executive Committee of Moscow department of physicians-assistants' Society (from 1989), Boards in ecology and natural recources, science, culture and public health Political Consulting Council under the President of Russian Federation (from 1997), Member of advisory committee in ecology at Moscow City Parliament, co-founder of public movement "Healthy City - health of moscovites" (from 1998). In 1985–1991 worked as a research assistant, Junior Researcher and Researcher in department of restoration treatment of children with cerebral paralysis of Research Institute of common and justice psychiatry by V.P.Serbsky of HM USSR, department of alcoholism genetics in State Scientific Center of narcology of HM USSR. In 1988 he founded scientific-medical center "Element" that is the base to carry out researches of biosubstrates elemental content for medicine purposes during 11 years (for population, health and sanitary-hygienic organizations), scientific institutes such as Research Institute of pediatrics of RAMS, Center for perinatology, obstetrics and gynaecology of HM RF, Navy Institute of Hygiene of HM RF, colleges of medicine of Moscow, Ivanovo, Irkutsk, N.Novgorod and other cities. Center for Biotic Medicine, - autonomous non-profit organization (CBM), - was founded by A.V.Skalny in 1995 that is the unique scientific-methodical Center for problems of applied medicine elementology in RF and UIS. On the 19 of January, 2001 "Russian Society of Medicine Elementology" (RUSTEM) was founded to provide the strongest evolution of trace elements paradigm. During the period from 1982 about 200 scientific articles and thesis' were published by A.V.Skalny in special issues in Russia and abroad as well as manuals and mini-monographs in problems of practical medicine elementology. A.V. Skalny with co-authors registered 3 certificates of authorship and 3 patents of RF and Ukrain in the branch of producing new biologically active compounds of trace elements (Se, Zn) to treat and make prophylaxis of human diseases, methods of treatments of zinc deficiency states, alcohol coma and schysophrenia. To date new line in medicine and ecology, - medicine elementology, - is established by A.V. Skalny in Russia and UIS and developed successfully that studies peculiarities of human organism elemental composition in different functional states and disorders and the ways to increase organism adaptative functions with the help of trace elements metabolism correction. In SMC "Element" and CBM more than 20 Ph.D.'s and 5 D.Sc.' in medicine and biology were trained who develop different applied aspects of medicine elementology in branches of perinatology, endocrinology, urology, nephrology, labour medicine, nutrition hygiene, narcology in leaders clinics of Russia, Ukrain, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan. In 1998-1999 production of new generation of effective major and trace elements' preparations (compounds with aspartic, spirulina) was organized under the methodic management of organizations headed by A.V. Skalny that awoke interest of specialists and consumers home and abroad. On April, 2003 A.V. Skalny opened the first chair of nutritiology and bioelementology in Russia and became its leader. From September, 2003 Bioelementology Institute, the first in the world, being founded by A.V. Skalny under support of Orenburg State University rectorate and RUSTEM, began its activity.

Internal Medicine (General Medicine)

After medical studies at Aristotelian University in Greece, Constantin Polychronakos specialized in pediatric endocrinology in Canada and had post-doctoral research training at McGill University in Montreal, where he is now full professor in the Department of Paediatrics with cross-appointment in Human Genetics. He is credited with the discovery of the effect of the INS locus in the thymus in type 1 diabetes, with two of the first GWAS for type 1 and type 2 diabetes and one of the first uses of exon capture combined with NGS to elucidate the cause of a rare monogenic form of diabetes

.

Dr. Farid Menaa is an inter- and multi-disciplinar professional (director, professor, researcher and entrepreneur) with increasing international recognition. His strong background is mainly related to medecine, biology, pharmaceutical sciences, biochemistry, biophysics and genetics. Dr. Menaa has studied and worked for/with several reputed institutions worldwide, including Sorbonne (Paris, France), CNRS (France), INSERM (France), CEA (Ministry of Defence, France), SKCC/sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute (USA), Schools of Medecine of Paris (France), Wuerzburg (Germany) and Campinas (Unicamp, Brazil). Among other responsibilities he carried out, Dr. Menaa has been, for several years, the R&D director of Fluorotronics, Inc. San Diego, CA, USA, a premier company specialized in fluorine chemistry and nanotechnology. Dr. Menaa was also a principal investigator in projects related to Oncology, Dermatology, Stem Cells, Genetics and Hematology. Dr. Menaa is currently an international consulting expert in healthcare and biosystems for a number of organizations and serves as an editorial board member for a large number of esteemed journals in medecine, sciences and business. Dr. Menaa holds dozen of peer-reviewed manuscripts and is a respected member of prestigious scientific/medical organizations and meetings where he is often invited as a chairman.

Medicine; Genetics; Fluorine Chemistry; Nanotechnology; Biophysics; Biochemistry

Adrián LLerena is the Director of the Clinical Research Center in the University Hospital Infanta Cristina en Badajoz Spain. He is also Professor of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology in two Medical Schools in the University of Extremadura Spain and part time in the University of Beira Interior, Portugal. He earned his PhD at University of Extremadura in 1988 and between 1989 to 1993 did his post doc at Karolinska Institute Sweden focusing on Clinical Pharmacogenetics of antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. His teaching experience is of more than 20 years in Spain and of about 9 years in Portugal. He has supervised more than 10 PhD thesis

pharmacology, personalized medicine

Andreas Scherer is the Project Director for Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM)and previously he was a founder and CEO of Spheromics, a company focused on consultancy in biomarker development, as well as analysis and interpretation of complex biomedical datasets. Dr Scherer is a molecular and computational biologist with long experience in gene expression profiling and biomarker development and qualification. Before founding Spheromics in 2007, Dr Scherer worked in various positions for Novartis in Basel, Switzerland. In 2011 he accepted the position Bioinformatics Manager at the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) in Melbourne, AU, from where he returned to Finland in 2013. Dr Scherer is author and co-author of a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and editor of a book about unwanted variation in microarray datasets. He is advisory board member of the journal “OA Bioinformatics”.

Bioethics, Genomics, Biomarkers

Dr. Stephen Wang received his training in pharmaceutical sciences at the Texas Medical Center under Professor Ming Hu. Dr. Wang currently serves as a senior principal scientist in the Pharmacokinetics, Dynamics and Metabolism Division of Pfizer in Cambridge, MA. Previously, Dr. Wang served as a biotransformation group leader responsible for enzymology drug-drug interactions for Millennium Takeda Pharmaceuticals in Cambridge MA. In addition to this, Dr. Wang also served as a senior scientist in the department of Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics at Schering Plough Research Institute which was later acquired by Merck. Dr. Wang’s research interests focus on mechanistic PK/PD modeling for both small and large molecules as well as physiologically based pharmacokinetic modeling for the assessment of drug drug interaction potential. Dr. Wang has made significant contributions in the field with a consistent publication track record of manuscripts in peer-reviewed scientific journals and various book chapters.

.

Dr. Candida Fratazzi has worked in biomedical research for over 25 years. Prior to her full commitment to Boston Biotech Clinical Research, LLC, she served as Vice President of Clinical Research at MediVector, Inc. Dr. Fratazzi has also held management positions at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Altus Pharmaceuticals Inc., Shire HGT, and Vitex Inc. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. During her carrier, Dr. Fratazzi developed clinical strategies and plan developments for many drug candidates, presented in INDs and end-of-phase2 briefing documents. Furthermore, Dr. Fratazzi devoted a special attention to drug safety and risk management recognizing its critical value in the contest of clinical development. Her work resulted in the market approval of Tigecycline® IV (Wyeth), Velaglucerase alpha® (Shire), Replagal® in Canada, and submission of Lipoprotamase (Alnara).She is also chairman of Women in Bio of Greater Boston.

.

Luiza Spiru, MD, PhD is Professor of Geriatrics and Gerontology at Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy and beginning with 1999, the Head of the Geriatric and Geronto-Psychiatry University Department, to Ana Aslan National Institute of Geriatrics Gerontology (1999-2003) and “Elias” University Emergency Hospital in Bucharest (2003 – in present). After doctorate (1997) she acquired multiple specializations in Molecular Medicine, Geriatrics Gerontology and Old Age Psychiatry and therewith several competences in: Cell Biology, Neuro-PsychoPharmacology, Abdominal and Heart Ultrasound-Investigations, IT in medical services, Standardized Geriatric Evaluation, Diagnosis and Treatment of Memory Impairment Diseases, Differential Diagnosis of Alzheimer Dementia’s and other related Dementia, Health Services Management, MBA - British Council, Leadership Management International - Effective Personal Productivity, Texas USA.

Mukesh Verma is a Program Director and Chief in the Methods and Technologies Branch (MTB), Epidemiology and Genetics Research Program (EGRP) of the Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences (DCCPS) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), National Institutes of Health (NIH). Before coming to the DCCPS, he was a Program Director in the Division of Cancer Prevention (DCP), NCI, providing direction in the areas of biomarkers, early detection, risk assessment and prevention of cancer, and cancers associated with infectious agents. He holds a M.Sc. from Pantnagar University and a Ph.D. from Banaras Hindu University. He did postdoctoral research at George Washington University and was a faculty member at Georgetown University. He has published 136 research articles and reviews and edited three books in cancer epigenetics and epidemiology field.

Biomarkers, Cancer epigenetics , Epidemology,

Vincent S. Gallicchio has 42 years experience in academic medicine and research covering experimental hematology, immunology, and developmental therapeutics for human diseases such as AIDS and cancer. He has earned national and international respect and recognition for his efforts. In a first time study reporting on academic scholarly productivity in the Journal of Clinical Laboratory Science, Gallicchio was rated the number one academic biomedical laboratory science researcher in the United States. In addition to his passion for research, Gallicchio is equally passionate to teach, mentor and advise students. He has mentored many doctoral and post-doctoral students, dozens of master’s level students and hundreds of undergraduate students both foreign and domestic, many of whom are now esteemed researchers themselves at institutions such as: Oxford University, Eastern Kentucky University, University of Cincinnati, University of Florida, University of Kentucky, University of Limpopo (South Africa), Jewish and Mercy Hospitals in Cincinnati and major pharmaceutical companies such as Procter & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson. As a board certified medical laboratory scientist by the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP), Gallicchio also serves as the Clinical Laboratory Director of the Lab Tree Clinical Biochemical Research Laboratory in Greenville, SC. He also serves as a consultant to Minerals Resources International, Inc on matters related to the health benefits of trace elements; and is a consulting Vice-President of Technology Development for Conversion Laboratories, LLC, and West Columbia, SC. He has served on the faculty and academic staff at the Yale University School of Medicine, the University of Kentucky Medical Center, the University of Central Lancashire (England) and the University of Wolver hampton (England). He has served as President of Alpha Eta Honor Society, the International Society for Lithium Research, International Federation of Biomedical Laboratory Science and currently serves as Vice President of the Educational and Research Centers in Trace Elements program operated under the auspice of UNESCO.

Biomedical Laboratory

Dr. Candida Fratazzi has worked in biomedical research for over 25 years. Prior to her full commitment to Boston Biotech Clinical Research, LLC, she served as Vice President of Clinical Research at MediVector, Inc. Dr. Fratazzi has also held management positions at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceuticals, Altus Pharmaceuticals Inc., Shire HGT, and Vitex Inc. and Wyeth Pharmaceuticals. During her carrier, Dr. Fratazzi developed clinical strategies and plan developments for many drug candidates, presented in INDs and end-of-phase2 briefing documents. Furthermore, Dr. Fratazzi devoted a special attention to drug safety and risk management recognizing its critical value in the contest of clinical development. Her work resulted in the market approval of Tigecycline® IV (Wyeth), Velaglucerase alpha® (Shire), Replagal® in Canada, and submission of Lipoprotamase (Alnara).She is also chairman of Women in Bio of Greater Boston.

Internal medicine, Allergy, Immunology, Pharmaceutical analysis,Biomarkers

Gérard Siest, PhD, will receive the 46th annual award, sponsored by Bayer Diagnostics. He offers the following biographical sketch: He finished his Pharmacy studies in Strasbourg and Nancy, specialized in Laboratory Medicine. After a hospital residency (2 years) he passed the certificates of Clinical Biochemistry, of Microbiology, of Hematology, and of Bacteriology. He received a PhD in Biochemistry in 1966. Having obtained these skills in clinical biology, he applied them progressively to creation of the Centre for Screening of Metabolic Diseases at the Hospital of Nancy and then to creation of the Laboratory of the Centre for Preventive Medicine. During this time, he developed his university career, successively being Assistant then Associate Professor, finally Professor of Clinical Biochemistry, and then of Molecular Biology and of Molecular Pharmacology. He accepted in succession several responsibilities: Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Chairman of the Scientific Council of the Faculty, and Vice-President of the University. On a regional scale, He look after many research structures and serve on a national scale as a member of CNRS and INSERM commissions. He is presently the President of the Research Committee on Cholesterol and Lipids (ARCOL). Twelve Professors or Research Directors have been selected from our team. Since 1970, he have organized nine Colloquiums of Prospective Biology at Pont-à-Mousson every 3 or 4 years, in addition to numerous other scientific meetings. He was also a member of the International Federation of Clinical Chemistry (IFCC) Expert Panel on Reference Values and Chairman of the Expert Panel on Drug Effects. Finally, in my recent activities, he assumed the Presidency of the IFCC for 6 years, developing a strategic plan and promoting the evolution of this organization, which increased from 50 members to 73 under my presidency. They also developed a public relations action and many contacts with other international sister organizations and signed new agreements with two regions (South America and Europe). He is currently the head of the Centre du Médicament and I run the Laboratory and the Research of the Centre for Preventive Medicine. His research activities are oriented, on the one hand, towards the study of reference values and the knowledge of biological variations in laboratory examinations, including those due to drugs. This is furthered by the Centre for Preventive Medicine, which examines each year 70 000 subjects supposed to be in good health. On the other hand, he is in charge of a research team in the cardiovascular risks domain linked to lipoprotein metabolism. We particularly wish to understand better the functions, the clinical interest, and the pharmacological target of the apolipoproteins. Apolipoprotein E is of special interest, being at relatively high concentrations in tissue damaged through oxidation. More than 500 original publications and more than 20 books carry his name. he is a member of many scientific societies and of the editorial boards of clinical chemistry and pharmacology journals. He is now Editor, European Journal of Clinical Chemistry and Clinical Biochemistry.

Pharmacology, Personalized Medicine

Edward D Blair PhD MBA is a molecular biochemist with 15 years experience in the pharmaceutical industry, recently as a Director ofApplied Diagnostics & Surrogates at GlaxoSmithKline and is a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge. He has been directly involved in pharma R&D from target identification to clinical trials, notably withAmprenavir (HIV) and Relenza (influenza). He has developed programmes that support the strategic integration of surrogate biomarkers & diagnostics into the drug development pipe-line from candidate selection to approval & launch. His broad therapeutic area experience includes viral, respiratory, liver and neurodegenerative disease, frequently in collaboration with esteemed academic groups. He is an expert in the field of virology having edited two books and co-authored over thirty papers & five patents

Pharma, Biomarkers and Molecular Diagnostics

Dr Farid MENAA has completed his Ph.D in radiation oncology and gerontology from the French Atomic Energy Authority (CEA- 2003) and University of Paris (Jussieu-Sorbonne). Thereafter, he completed three international post-doctoral terms in medicine, genomics, sciences and technology. Among other professional activities, he is currently the R&D executive director of Fluorotronics Inc., a chemical and nanotechnology company. He has published many papers in reputed journals and serving as an editorial board member of prestigious scientific journals. His main current focuses are related to preventive, personalized, translational, integrative and regenerative medicine, in order to prevent and implement early diagnosis and efficient therapy.

Oncology, Gerontology, Genetics, Biochemistry, Pharmacy and Nanomedicine

Allen D. Roses has established an international reputation for his work in pharmacogenetics, exploratory drug discovery, and clinical neuroscience.Dr. Roses also serves in several capacities at Duke University: as Jefferson-Pilot Professor of Neurobiology and Genetics, as Director of the Deane Drug Discovery Institute, and as Senior Scholar at the Fuqua School of Business.Dr. Roses was a member of the Science Board of the US Food and Drug Administration between 2003-2007. He recently returned to Duke after a decade-long career as a Senior Vice President at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and its corporate predecessor GlaxoWellcome (GW),Founding Director of the Joseph and Kathleen Bryan Alzheimer\'s Disease Research Center, Chief of the Division of Neurology, and Director of the Center for Human Genetics.

Pharmacogenetics and Neuroscience

Dr. Xiaohua Douglas Zhang is an Associate Director, Scientific Staff, in Merck Research Laboratories. He got his Ph.D. in statistics from Carnegie-Mellon University, PA, USA, an MS in Genetics and a BS in Biology from Beijing Normal University, China. He has worked on analyzing data generated from new biotechnologies. He has analyzed many high-throughput screening (HTS) projects for many years. Merck has put great effort into RNAi research. It purchased Sirna for $1.1 billion in 2006 and has one of the largest labs for conducting RNAi/compound HTS. Since early 2005, Dr. Zhang has led data analysis in RNAi HTS projects at Merck and has continuously developed and adopted experimental designs and analytic methods for HTS projects including novel analytic methods for quality controls and hit selection, which allows him and his colleagues to continuously publish papers in the HTS area. He has a book titled "Optimal High-Throughput Screening: Practical Experimental Design and Data Analysis for Genome-scale RNAi Research" published by Cambridge University Press in 2011. He has organized/chaired many sessions in professional meetings, has reviewed grant proposals for NIH and European Commission, and has refereed many manuscripts submitted to prestigious journals such as Nature, Nature Methods, Journal of American Statistical Association, Bioinformatics, etc.

Bioinformatics

Dr Andreas Scherer is the founder and CEO of Spheromics, a company focused on consultancy in biomarker development, as well as analysis and interpretation of complex biomedical datasets. Dr Scherer is a molecular and computational biologist with long experience in gene expression profiling and biomarker development and qualification. Before founding Spheromics in 2007, Dr Scherer worked in various positions for Novartis in Basel, Switzerland. In 2011 he accepted the position Bioinformatics Manager at the Australian Genome Research Facility (AGRF) in Melbourne, AU, from where he returned to Finland in 2013. Dr Scherer is author and co-author of a number of articles in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and editor of a book about unwanted variation in microarray datasets. He is advisory board member of the journal “OA Bioinformatics”.

Bioethics, Genomics, Biomarkers

Anil Modak is the Associate Director of Medical Products Research Development at Cambridge Isotope Laboratories in Andover. Dr. Anil Modak has been involved in the design research and development of novel non invasive breath tests for personalized medicine using stable isotope substrates for the diagnosis of disease states and evaluation of enzyme activity. He is the author of several recent patents and publications. He had reviewed papers for reputed journals and authored one book chapter. He serves on the Editorial board of the Journal of Breath Research. His previous experience includes working for Ribozyme Pharmaceuticals in Boulder CO and Monsanto in St. Louis, MO. His postdoctoral research was conducted at the University of Iowa and Kings College London.

Design and develop novel, non invasive, phenotype breath tests using stable isotope substrates for identifying non responders for various drugs metabolized by specific P450 CYP enzymes to enable physicians to personalize medication.

Dik C. van Gent did his PhD at the Netherlands Cancer Institute (NKI) and postdoctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health (USA). He is now Associate Professor at the world-renowned DNA repair group at the Department of Genetics of the Erasmus MC Rotterdam, one of the largest university medical centers in The Netherlands. He has published more than 50 papers in reputed journals, including Cell, Science and Nature and serves as an editorial board member of ‘DNA Repair’ and ‘Genome Integrity’

‘ex vivo’ and study the DDR by inducing DNA damage in cultured tumor cells

Dr. Sholler received her M.S. in Microbiology and Immunology from McGill University and her M.D. from New York Medical College. At Brown University, she performed a residency in pediatrics and a fellowship in pediatric oncology/hematology. Prior to joining VAI, Dr. Sholler most recently worked in the Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology at the University of Vermont. Dr. Sholler joined VAI in 2011 as Co-Director of the Pediatric Oncology Program, Associate Professor in the Center for Cancer Genomics and Quantitative Biology, and Head of the Laboratory of Neuroblastoma Translational Research. She is jointly appointed with the Helen DeVos Children\'s Hospital as the Haworth Family Director of the Innovative Therapeutics Clinic in the Division of Pediatric Oncology. As well, she is Chair of the Neuroblastoma and Medulloblastoma Translational Research Consortium (NMTRC) and Guest Researcher within the Pediatric Oncology Branch at NCI/NIH.

Liang Cheng, MD was chosen President of the International Association of Chinese Pathologists for 2006-2007. Dr. Cheng is an Associate Professor of pathology and urology and Director of the Clarian Molecular Pathology Laboratory. Dr. Cheng is also the 2006 award winner of the Arthur Purdy Stout Annual Prize which recognizes significant career achievements by a surgical pathologist under the age of 45 whose research publications have had a major impact on diagnostic pathology. The prize was created in memory of Dr. Arthur Purdy Stout who was one of the pioneers of oncological surgical pathology.

Molecular Genetic Pathology

Dr Sankar M.D., M.P.H a physician trained in India and the University of West Indies as an internist who also possess a master of public health degree from Queensland Australia. He has have over 12 years of experience working in the life sciences industry with biotech/Pharma companies and governmental organizations like NCI and NHLBI providing clinical development and operations support in the analysis of clinical and safety data for drugs and biologics. His depth of experience also spans across other areas in clinical development including Quality assurance and clinical trial monitoring. Dr Sankar is an expert on ICH/GCP regulations and is a certified clinical research professional with SOCRA. He is an active member of SOCRA, DIA, ASCO, EPPIC Global, Tie Silicon valley and ACRP. Dr Sankar’s therapeutic area expertise includes immunology, oncology, hematology, infectious diseases and CNS. He has been involved as part of the NDA submission for 2 compounds one each for oncology and CNS. Dr Sankar also serve on the various sub committees within DIA focused on clinical development, clinical trial design, quality risk management and good clinical practices.

Immunology and Molecular Diagnostics

Adrián LLerena is the Director of the Clinical Research Center in the University Hospital Infanta Cristina en Badajoz Spain. He is also Professor of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacology in two Medical Schools in the University of Extremadura Spain and part time in the University of Beira Interior, Portugal. He earned his PhD at University of Extremadura in 1988 and between 1989 to 1993 did his post doc at Karolinska Institute Sweden focusing on Clinical Pharmacogenetics of antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs. His teaching experience is of more than 20 years in Spain and of about 9 years in Portugal. He has supervised more than 10 PhD thesis

pharmacology