Keri Hildick serves as Chief Strategy Officer at Perspectum, where she spearheaded the creation of its Pharma Solutions division and has since driven its growth through strategic market, regulatory, and payer initiatives. Her leadership has been central to commercializing innovations such as LiverMultiScan, MRCP+, and CoverScan – expanding access to advanced imaging biomarkers that move beyond traditional metrics to provide clinicians and patients with richer, more precise insights into metabolic health and chronic disease.

Keri is an active voice in healthcare innovation and also serves as a Director of Oxford Centre for Diagnostics Ltd, contributing to regional diagnostics strategy in the United Kingdom. Beyond her corporate roles, she is a passionate advocate for earlier diagnosis of chronic conditions. Living with endometriosis herself, she champions reducing diagnostic delays and advancing patient-centered care, aligning with broader policy initiatives.

Keri holds a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience from the University of Bristol and a B.Sc. in Pharmacology with Industrial Experience from the University of Edinburgh.

Jaime Almandoz, MD, MBA, MRCPI, FTOS, is Medical Director of the Weight Wellness Obesity Medicine Program and Professor of Medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center.

Dr. Almandoz earned his medical degree from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, completed residency in Internal Medicine and fellowship in Endocrinology at the Mayo Clinic, and completed a fellowship in Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases at UT Southwestern. He is board certified in Endocrinology, Internal Medicine, and Obesity Medicine.

Dr. Almandoz serves on the Board of Directors of the American Board of Obesity Medicine and holds leadership roles with The Obesity Society and the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology.

His clinical and academic work focuses on comprehensive obesity care, integration of nutrition and lifestyle, reduction of health disparities, and long-term outcomes after bariatric surgery.

Professor Rachel Batterham is Senior Vice President, International Medical Affairs at Eli Lilly and Company. She is internationally recognized for pioneering research showing how gut hormones can be used to treat obesity, and she brings decades of hands-on experience caring for people living with obesity.

Before joining Lilly, Rachel was Professor of Obesity, Diabetes and Endocrinology at University College London (UCL) and an Honorary Consultant at University College London Hospitals (UCLH). She founded and led the UCL Centre for Obesity Research and served as the Royal College of Physicians’ Special Adviser on Obesity. She continues as an Honorary Professor at UCL and Honorary Consultant at UCLH.

In 2022, Rachel was awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) by the late Queen Elizabeth II for services to people with obesity—recognizing a 25- year career spanning basic science, Phase 1–4 clinical trials, and influence on public policy.

Rachel is passionate about reducing stigma and amplifying the patient voice in research and care. In 2017, she founded the Obesity Empowerment Network UK, a charity that ensures people affected by obesity help shape policy, research, and services. At Lilly, she partners with clinicians, advocacy groups, and health systems to help more people access effective, compassionate care.

Dr. Manu Chakravarthy is a physician– scientist and visionary leader in drug development with over two decades of experience turning scientific discoveries into transformative therapies. Recognized internationally as a thought leader in metabolic diseases, he has shaped the field through high-impact publications and keynote lectures worldwide.

He currently serves as SVP and Global Head of Cardiovascular, Renal, and Metabolism Product Development at Roche-Genentech, where he directs the strategy and execution of a portfolio addressing some of the world’s most pressing health challenges. Previously, as Head of R&D and Chief Scientific & Medical Officer at Carmot Therapeutics, he led all R&D efforts and played a pivotal role in the company’s acquisition by Roche in 2024. Earlier leadership roles include EVP and Chief Medical Officer at Axcella Therapeutics, VP and Global Head of External R&D at Eli Lilly, and Distinguished Scientist at Merck where he led Discovery Medicine in cardiometabolic diseases and contributed to multiple successful drug approvals across endocrinology, neuroscience, and infectious diseases.

Dr. Chakravarthy earned his M.D. and Ph.D. from UT Houston Medical School and MD Anderson Cancer Center. He trained in Internal Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and completed both a Clinical Fellowship in Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism and a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Lipid Metabolism at Washington University in St. Louis, where he later served on the faculty. He is board-certified in Endocrinology and serves as Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine at Rutgers.

Sandra Elia is the Chair of Obesity Matters, a national non-profit dedicated to advocacy, education, and patient support for people living with obesity. She also serves on the Novo Nordisk Chronic Disease Patient Advisory Council and is an internationally certified Food Addiction Counselor. In collaboration with leading obesity physicians, Sandra developed Canada’s first outpatient Food Addiction Recovery Program, now integrated into medical clinics nationwide, and co-created the country’s first 28-day residential treatment program at Toronto’s Renascent Rehab Centre.

She is the award-winning author of Never Enough: Three Pillars of Food Addiction Recovery and a recognized speaker on obesity, food addiction, and wellness. Sandra has partnered with organizations including Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, and Bausch Health, and her expertise has been featured across major Canadian media outlets.

Combining professional experience with lived experience, Sandra advances a compassionate, evidence-based approach to obesity treatment, helping to reduce stigma and empower individuals to seek treatment.

Dr. Priya Jaisinghani is a board-certified endocrinologist and obesity medicine specialist, currently serving as a Clinical Assistant Professor at NYU Grossman School of Medicine.

She completed her medical training and internal medicine residency at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, where she was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and received distinction in service to the community.

She went on to complete her endocrinology fellowship at NewYork-Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Dr. Jaisinghani is actively involved in obesity advocacy and education through the Obesity Action Coalition, the Tristate Obesity Society, and the Endocrine Society’s Obesity Special Interest Group Steering Committee.

Her academic work includes peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, including her latest on obesity and viral infections, and with recent publications appearing in Nature. Her expertise has been featured across major media outlets including ABC News, NBC News, the Today Show, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Times of India, and Medscape.

Matthew Zachary is one of the most recognized and respected voices of the modern patient movement. Diagnosed with brain cancer at age 21, he turned survival into a thirty-year career reshaping how patients, caregivers, and industry intersect. In 2007, he founded Stupid Cancer, the global leader for young adult cancer advocacy, building it into a community that reached millions and reframed survivorship as a cultural and political issue.

Today, Matthew leads We The Patients, a first-of-its-kind hybrid media and advocacy platform mobilizing the country’s 19 million cancer survivors and 35 million caregivers into a national patient rights movement. His initiatives span corporate partnerships, legislative campaigns, and a forthcoming Cancer Patient Protection Act.

As host of Out of Patients, one of the most listened-to healthcare podcasts in America, he convenes CEOs, regulators, and innovators alongside lived experience experts to challenge assumptions about access, equity, and innovation. He is also the author of We The Patients:

Understanding, Navigating, and Surviving America’s Healthcare Nightmare, to be released in 2026. With a legacy of community-building and a 30th cancerversary ahead, Matthew stands as the rare voice who can speak both the language of patients and the language of power.

Tania Simoncelli joined the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative in 2017 with a vision to build a program committed to centralizing essential leaders in the biomedical research ecosystem: patients. In service of this goal, she launched the Rare As One Project, a first-of-its-kind program that supports patient communities in their quest to accelerate research through grantmaking, capacity building support, and the development of new tools and partnerships. Her commitment to this work is grounded in more than twenty years of experience in advocacy and policy to address complex challenges at the intersection of science, technology, law and ethics. Previous roles include serving as Senior Advisor to Dr. Eric Lander at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; Assistant Director of Forensic Science and Biomedical Innovation at the White House Offi ce of Science and Technology Policy; Special Assistant to Commissioner Margaret Hamburg at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; and Science Advisor to the American Civil Liberties Union.

Simoncelli holds a B.A. in Biology and Society from Cornell University and an M.S. in Energy and Resources from UC Berkeley and is co-author with Sheldon Krimsky of Genetic Justice: DNA Data Banks, Criminal Investigations and Civil Liberties (Columbia University Press: 2011). In 2013, Simoncelli was named by the journal Nature as “one of 10 people who mattered” for her work in spearheading the ACLU’s successful Supreme Court case challenging the patenting of human genes. In 2021, she was elected to the rank of AAAS Fellow “for remarkable, high-impact contributions to developing strategies and policies for improving the public value of science.

Ms. Clancy has been CEO of Cure HHT for 24 years. Under her leadership, she initiated the Cure HHT research grant funding program to established and young researchers.

Under her tenure, through the investment of $3 Min seed grants since 2004, HHT research funding has been leveraged nearly $60M in private and public investment. She has been instrumental in providing the patient voice to the design of HHT clinical research trials. Marianne has expanded access to expert HHT care through the establishment and management of 33 HHT Centers of Excellence in North America and 25 centers globally. Her work in obtaining release of the HHT gene patents led to the launch of genetic testing for HHT in North America. Her team has led collaborations to enable the robust growth of the International Scientific Conferences in HHT since 2001 as the sole sponsor of these convenings. She is the principal investigator in the patient led international HHT research network funded by the Chan Zuckerberg Rare as One grant. Through Cure HHT, she has led funding initiatives for 2 International HHT Guidelines conferences resulting in standardized HHT diagnostic and treatment guidelines for health care professionals.

Marianne has led the HHT legislative initiatives and secured federal funding for HHT Centers of Excellence in the U.S., launched the first Comprehensive Natural History Registry Natural History Study and a Continuing Medical Education program. and has been a global educator and advocate on HHT issues to government agencies, physician, patient and biotech pharmaceutical partners.

In 2022, Marianne created a Therapeutic arm at Cure HHT to accelerate research translation, clinical trials and new therapeutic development and treatment for the global patient community.

Michaela Dinboeck leads the Novartis global PE strategy and systematic implementation across the enterprise portfolio, starting at early development stage, through to regulatory and value dossier submissions. The team creates a deep understanding of patient communities and their lived experiences and establishes long-term relationships to inform decision making. Key focus areas are PE Science, to develop robust methods for Patient Experience Data generation and Clinical Representativeness to ensure patients included in clinical trials represent the population new medicines are intended for. The remit includes PE Governance, Capability building and Impact Measurement for the company. Ms Dinboeck’s vision is to embed systematic PE in decision making and Patient Focused Drug Development along the lifecycle of medicines.

Ms Dinboeck moved to Patient Engagement after 20 years in Commercial and General Management positions within the Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Industry at country, regional and global level. In her roles she worked across multiple disease areas in established and emerging health care systems. She has lectured Business at Universities in Bolivia and Malaysia. In addition to her role as Head Patient Engagement, Ms Dinboeck serves on the Board of Novartis Pharma GmbH Germany.

Sunitha Malepati is the Founder & CEO of the Buffalo Initiative, a bold effort to accelerate treatments for rare pediatric brain diseases by rethinking how drug development is financed, governed, and brought to patients. After her daughter was diagnosed with a neurogenetic disorder, Sunitha launched Buffalo to close the gap between scientific discovery and the families often left behind by traditional drug development models.

An attorney with a background in private investment and nonprofit law, Sunitha brings a unique mix of legal, entrepreneurial, and advocacy experience to the rare disease space. She also serves as Vice President of the CACNA1A Foundation and sits on the Governing Board of COMBINEDBrain, a collaborative consortium focused on advancing clinical trial readiness for rare neurodevelopmental disorders. Sunitha has been nationally recognized for her leadership in patient-driven innovation. She is passionate about elevating rare disease families from storytellers to strategic partners in building a smarter, more inclusive future for medicine.

Dr. Amit Rakhit is an experienced pharmaceutical and biotech executive and has led teams in developing medicines to transform medical practice across multiple therapeutic areas including oncology, neurology, rare diseases, and cardiovascular conditions. He is particularly interested in building innovative bridges between the biotech industry, health technology, and the patient community to better meet the needs of patients and their caregivers. He is currently the Chief Medical Officer at BlueRock Therapeutics.

His previous roles have been in various C-suite positions helping companies build and grow from the start-up phase, IPO, and operating entities. He was most recently CEO at Flare Therapeutics and previously at Sporos Bioventures. Prior to this role, Amit was President and Chief Medical Officer at Ovid Therapeutics where he joined in the start-up phase and worked with the team through the IPO and subsequent pipeline development.

Between 2011-2016, he had senior-level roles at Biogen including Head of Worldwide Medical where he led a team of approximately 800 professionals in medical activities for marketed and pipeline compounds in the disease areas of multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative diseases, dementia, and hemophilia. He also led the global development programs for therapies in orphan and rare disorders such as dexpramipexole for ALS and Spinraza (nusinersen) for spinal muscular atrophy.

Prior to Biogen, he was with Bristol-Myers Squibb where he led an international medical team of 300+ professionals across 27 countries with a cross-therapeutic area focus that included cardiovascular, metabolics, oncology, HIV, virology, immunology, and neuroscience products.

His education includes Harvard fellowship training in Pediatric Cardiology at Boston Children’s Hospital, MD from Tufts University, a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, and dual MBAs from Columbia Business School and London Business School.

Josh Sommer is the co-founder and executive director of the Chordoma Foundation, an organization focused on improving the lives of people affected by the rare cancer chordoma, and leading the search for a cure.

With a sense of urgency prompted by his own chordoma diagnosis 18 years ago, Josh has built a global movement of patients, doctors and researchers to drive progress towards better treatments, better care, and a better experience for those affected by chordoma.

Under his leadership, the Foundation is pioneering an emerging model of patient-driven research through its in-house research laboratory, which is enabling collaborations with researchers and companies applying AI and other emerging technologies and dramatically speeding the pace of drug discovery.

The Foundation’s efforts have helped translate scientific advances into fourteen clinical trials for chordoma patients.

Eric Horvitz, MD, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer of Microsoft, where he guides company-wide research and strategic initiatives in AI, biosciences, and medicine.

He has led pioneering efforts to apply AI in both clinical and consumer health contexts.

Dr. Horvitz has been recognized with the Feigenbaum Prize and Allen Newell Award for groundbreaking contributions to artificial intelligence and was inducted into the SIGCHI Academy for his work in human-AI collaboration.

He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society, and has been elected fellow of AAAI, ACM, the American College of Medical Informatics, and AAAS.

His leadership roles have included serving as president of AAAI, commissioner on the National Security Commission on AI, and member of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, the Board of Regents of the National Library of Medicine, and the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board.

He received both his MD and PhD from Stanford University.

Grace Cordovano, PhD, BCPA is an internationally recognized, award-winning, board-certified patient advocate, strategist, and founder of Enlightening Results. She has dedicated her career to helping patients and their carepartners “navigate the unnavigable” across complex cancer, rare disease, and catastrophic diagnoses. Known as the “House” of patient navigation, Dr. Cordovano equips patients with the most pertinent, medically credible, and easy to understand information, tools, and technologies to make informed decisions about their care, spanning survivorship, palliative care, and end of life planning.

With more than 25 years of experience, she is a leading voice on digital health, clinical trials, AI governance, data interoperability, and techquity. As co-founder of Unblock Health, she empowers patients and carepartners with modern tools to access and correct their electronic health information while addressing patient administrative burden.

Dr. Cordovano frequently serves in advisory and leadership roles, such as HITAC, The Sequoia Project, CancerX, DiMe, and the National Academy of Medicine’s AI Code of Conduct project. Featured in StatNews, US News and World Report, Politico, MobiHealthNews, and other leading publications, she is widely recognized for shaping the future of patient centered care and championing techquity, rights, and innovation.

David Fajgenbaum, MD, MBA, MSc, is Co- Founder and President of Every Cure and a physician-scientist at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is one of the youngest faculty members ever to receive tenure at Penn Medicine. A patient battling a rare and life-threatening disease, Dr. Fajgenbaum discovered a repurposed treatment that saved his own life—a story he chronicled in his national bestselling memoir ‘Chasing My Cure‘, which is being adapted into a film by Forrest Gump producer Wendy Finerman. He has since advanced 13 more repurposed treatments for cancer and rare diseases and co-founded Every Cure to unlock more hidden cures from existing medicines. Every Cure has received over $100M from ARPA-H and TED’s Audacious Project. Earlier in his career, Dr. Fajgenbaum co-founded the Castleman Disease Collaborative Network (CDCN), which has transformed the research and treatment of Castleman disease and serves as a model for accelerating progress against other rare conditions.

One of the youngest recipients of multiple top NIH and FDA grants, Dr. Fajgenbaum has authored over 100 scientific papers in leading journals, including The New England Journal of Medicine, The Lancet, and The Journal of Clinical Investigation. He has been profiled by The New York Times, Good Morning America, TODAY, and Forbes 30 Under 30 and has received numerous honors, including the 2016 Atlas Award alongside then VP Joe Biden, 2022 NDRI Service to Science Award alongside Nobel Laureates Katalin Kariko and Drew Weissman, 2023 Philadelphia Citizen of the Year Award, and selection to the 2025 TIME100 Health list of the world’s most influential people in health. Dr. Fajgenbaum earned a BS from Georgetown University, MSc from the University of Oxford, MD from the University of Pennsylvania, and MBA from The Wharton School. While in college, David was a Division I quarterback and founded and led a national support network for grieving college students.

With more than 17 years of experience at ZS, Aaron currently serves as ZS’s global R&D solution area lead. In this role, Aaron partners with clients to strengthen the value of their pipelines, optimize the execution of clinical trials, drive the effective use of real-world evidence and improve medical and scientific engagement.

Aaron has extensive experience bringing together integrated teams of experts to deliver impact from R&D to commercialization. He has a wealth of personal experience working with clients on disease area strategy, clinical development strategy, clinical trial design and optimization, patient prediction, real-world evidence, medical strategy and business development and licensing. During his time at ZS, Aaron has worked in many different therapy areas, including oncology, rheumatology, dermatology, respiratory, cardiology, bone and metabolic, migraine and nephrology. Prior to leading the R&D solution area, Aaron led the ZS offices in Los Angeles and San Diego, where he worked with biotech companies to develop their commercial and R&D capabilities.

Before ZS, Aaron worked at Deloitte, served as an engineer in the biotech industry and was an officer in the U.S. Army.

Aaron holds a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from the United States Military Academy at West Point, and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.

Nav Nagra, MD, PhD, is an Associate Partner in McKinsey’s London office, where he serves clients in the Life Sciences space at the intersection of R&D productivity and technology.

He has led large-scale transformations of global R&D functions, where AI has been central to unlocking significant productivity gains, and works at the cutting-edge of implementing Agentic AI for leading pharmacos. He has supported pharmacos to build net-new AI-first discovery pipelines, accelerate and de-risk medicine clinical development timelines (by over 2-years), and identify novel indications for medicines to broaden impact of medicines.

Having practised as an MD, Nav completed his PhD in Biomedical Data Science at the University of Oxford, publishing his research in over twenty papers in peer-reviewed journals, including British Medical Journal (BMJ), Annals of Surgical Oncology, New England Journal of Medicine: Catalyst, and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery - and presenting internationally. Nav also conducted his postdoctoral research as a Fulbright Scholar, in Michael Porter’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness - Harvard Business School, and the PROVE Center (Brigham and Women’s Hospital); where his paper on optimising breast cancer care is still taught today.

Nav has been recipient of multiple scholarships, most notably, the All Awards Fulbright Scholarship, Royal College of Surgeons Academic award, and the Royal Society of Medicine’s President’s Prize.

Sarah Rossetti, RN, PhD is an Associate Professor of Biomedical Informatics and Nursing at Columbia University. Her research has been funded by NIH, AHRQ, ASTP and ANF and is focused on identifying and intervening on patient risk for harm and reducing excessive documentation burden by applying computational tools to mine and extract value from EHR data and leveraging user-centered design for patient-centered technologies.

She co-leads the CONCERN Early Warning System study which uses AI methods to predict patient deterioration based on nursing surveillance patterns and has been shown to significantly decrease patient mortality, sepsis, and length of stay. She is chair of AMIA’s 25×5 Task Force to Reduce Documentation Burden.

Dr. Rossetti is an experienced critical care nurse, received her PhD from Columbia University School of Nursing, and completed a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship at Columbia University’s Department of Biomedical Informatics. She was selected as a 2019 recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE) and 2024 co-recipient of the Donald A.B. Lindberg Award for Innovation in Informatics by AMIA.

Karla Childers is Vice President of Bioethics, Policy & Partnerships in the Office of the Chief Medical Officer at Johnson & Johnson. With a multidisciplinary foundation in chemistry, health law, and bioethics, Karla brings a unique lens to navigating complex ethical challenges in biomedical innovation.

The team she leads focuses on fostering responsible R&D practices, shaping ethics-based policies, and building key strategic partnerships that prioritize patient welfare, societal trust, and innovation. Karla is deeply committed to advancing ethical leadership across the life sciences and serves on the board of the Fellowships at Auschwitz for the Study of Professional Ethics (FASPE), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting ethical leadership and responsibility among professionals.

Karla’s leadership is grounded in a belief that ethical progress must accompany scientific advancement. She draws on a 20+ year history in the pharmaceutical industry, as well as her personal experience as a patient advocate for family members, to bring that belief to life. She also has a passion for teaching and is grateful to serve as a lecturer for Columbia University in the same program where she earned her Master of Bioethics.

Aaron Leibtag is the CEO and Co-Founder of Pentavere (a Healwell AI company), a globally recognized healthcare AI company built on a Patient-First philosophy.

Inspired by the tragic loss of his partner’s mother to an overlooked medical detail, he co-founded Pentavere to ensure no patient is ever missed.

Under his leadership, the company’s AI innovations led to the invention of a major AI patent, impacted more than one million lives, and were published and validated in over 40 leading medical journals.

Pentavere was recognized by Newsweek for advancing health equity through AI and awarded the 2024 Prix Galien USA Award for Best Digital Health Startup.

Its success ultimately led to acquisition by Healwell AI, where it now serves as a cornerstone for advancing disease detection and preventative care worldwide.

Greta Van Susteren is the host of The Record with Greta Van Susteren on Newsmax TV, airing weekdays at 4 p.m. ET. Since joining Newsmax, she has reported extensively on major global crises, including the Ukraine war—where she interviewed President Volodymyr Zelensky—Israel’s October 7 conflict— interviewing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—and the humanitarian crisis at the Darien Gap in Colombia.

Before Newsmax, Greta hosted Gray TV’s nationally syndicated Full Court Press and served as Chief National Political Analyst. During the pandemic, she co-hosted 36 daily coronavirus specials and produced documentaries for Voice of America, including Displaced, an award-winning film on the Rohingya crisis. She also anchored Plugged In, a VOA program broadcast worldwide in multiple languages.

Greta previously anchored at CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC. At Fox, she hosted On the Record for 14½ years, consistently the top-rated cable news program in its time slot. She has interviewed numerous U.S. presidents, world leaders, military officials, and cultural figures.

A lawyer by training, Greta has tried murder cases, argued appeals, and taught at Georgetown Law. Forbes named her six times among the “100 Most Powerful Women.” She is a recipient of Ukraine’s Order of Merit and multiple journalism awards. Greta lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, John P. Coale.

Melissa Creary, PhD, MPH is an Associate Professor of Health Management and Policy and Global Public Health in the School of Public Health at the University of Michigan. She is also Co-Director of Blue Cross Blue Shield sponsored Collaborative Quality Initiative: MSHIELD and Senior Advisor of Public Health, Policy, and Equity at the American Thrombosis and Hemostasis Network (ATHN). She received her PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies (focusing on Health, History, and Culture) at the Graduate Institute for the Liberal Arts (ILA) and Master’s in Public Health at Emory University. Over a nine-year career at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the Division of Blood Disorders, she helped create and lead the first national program and data collection system for sickle cell disease (SCD) at the agency.

Dr. Creary is an interdisciplinary social scientist who has worked with the sickle cell and bleeding disorder community as a scientist, policy maker, and public health researcher for over 20 years. Her primary research interests include how science, culture, and policy intersect, particularly around ethical, legal, and social concerns (ELSI). Through a health equity lens and using

historical and ethnographic methods, she uses sickle cell disease as a case to investigate simultaneous constructions of race and science via the development of policy. Her anti-racist research also theorizes how embodied outcomes of accumulated injustice and exclusion inhibit the receipt of justice even via well-meaning programs, policies, and technologies designed to build equity. She speaks on topics of justice, racism and anti-racism in health and biomedicine, COVID-19, identity politics in health, and bioethics. She has been published in Social Science and Medicine, BioSocieties, Law, Medicine, and Ethics, The American Journal of Bioethics, and JAMA Open Network.

Olivier Hermine MD, PhD is a professor of hematology at the University of Paris Cité, head of the clinical department of hematology and founder and coordinator of the national reference center on mastocytosis at the Hospital Necker Enfants-Malades.

He is also head of a research group on physiopathology and treatment of hematological disorders at the Imagine Institute and founder and coordinator of the laboratories of excellence on red cells in France and coordinating a national granted research, translational and clinical programm on Sickle cell disease. He teaches hematology both basic and clinical at different levels from undergraduate to MD and PhD at the Paris-cité University. He is a board member of Imagine Institute in charge of clinical and translational research committee and co-founder and scientific director of the Ecole Polytechnique-HEC Bioentreprenor programm.

He is current member of the American Society of Hematology and active member of the Red cell committee. He is a board member of EBMT Lymphoma working group and chairman of the Mantle cell sub-committee, European Mantle cell network, member of the scientific and administrative committee and coordinator of the Mantle cell group of the LYSA (French Lymphoma study group), and of the international retrovirology association (IRVA; HTLV-1 and related virus including T cell lymphoma) and co-founder and scientific director of the French CELAC group on Intestinal Lymphoma and active participant of the ECNM the European network of mastocytosis.

He is elected member of the French national academy of science, French national academy of pharmacy, Belgium Royal academy of medicine, and of Academia Europa in the human and veterinarian medicine. He is co-author of more than 990 peer review publications in International Scientific Journals.

He is co-founder of two biotechnologies (Inatherys (monoclonal antibodies against Transferin receptor in hematological malignancies) and AB Science (kinase inhibitor). Overall his research tries to understand and study mechanisms underlying several haematological malignancies and benign hematological disorders in humans and animals, in order to improve care and develop targeted and immune therapies.

Dr. Solomon Fiifi Ofori-Acquah is an internationally recognized leader in sickle cell disease (SCD) research and genetics. He holds the Calvin Smyre Endowed Chair and is a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar at Emory University, where he also serves as Director of the Georgia Solve Sickle Cell Initiative, a collaborative program involving Emory University, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, and Morehouse School of Medicine. He is a Member of the NIH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council.

Dr. Ofori-Acquah developed the first animal model of acute chest syndrome significantly advancing preclinical research in the field. He is the Founding Director of the West African Genetic Medicine Centre (WAGMC) at the University of Ghana, where he leads efforts to build capacity in genetics across the region.

He also directs the Sickle Cell Disease Genomics of Africa Network, part of the H3Africa Consortium, and the Ghanaian Genome Project, which aims to develop graduate training programs in human genetics, strengthen the genetic health workforce in Ghana, and implement public education and screening initiatives for genetic disorders across West Africa.

His current research focuses on a genome-wide association study (GWAS) in SCD and Ghana’s first population-based DNA sequencing project, which is initially centered on a cohort of 1,000 children living with SCD.

Dr. Ifeyinwa (Ify) Osunkwo, Chief Patient Officer for Rare Disease at Novo Nordisk, leads efforts to transform the lives of patients with rare diseases through equitable access to care, innovative treatment solutions, and strengthened partnerships with global patients and community stakeholders.

With over 30 years of experience as a hematologist, clinical trialist and sickle cell expert, Dr. Osunkwo has dedicated her career to addressing health disparities and building holistic, patient-centered healthcare solutions.

At Novo Nordisk, she plays a pivotal role in driving the company’s patient-centric portfolio approach to rare diseases, emphasizing collaboration, empowerment, and health equity.

Dr. Osunkwo’s extensive expertise in population health and health literacy positions her to deliver lasting impacts for patients and communities, reflecting Novo Nordisk’s commitment to redefining care for rare disease patients worldwide. Her leadership in patient advocacy strategy spans the entire development continuum, ensuring that patient voices are integral to every stage of the process.