Yuk Ming Dennis Lo was the featured speaker at the Spring 2024 Lasker Lessons in Leadership event. Lo discussed his scientific training in the UK, establishing a lab in Hong Kong, and crossing the boundaries between academia and industry. He was joined by Yasemin Cole, Kritika Singh, and Henry Taylor, students in the NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars program.
The October 17, 2023, Lasker Lessons in Leadership featured an interview with MacArthur Fellow Michelle Monje-Deisseroth and Lasker Laureate Karl Deisseroth, both professors at Stanford University and Howard Hughes Investigators. The NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program students specifically requested this pair because they are successful physician-scientists who have a family together. Although balancing a demanding career with family life can be hard, the couple strives to remain flexible and to work as a team. They emphasized that although seeing patients on top of conducting research takes more time, it helps them focus their scientific research.
The Colloquium Planning Committee (Committee) selected this year’s theme for the 2023 NIH Global Doctoral Partnerships Annual Research Colloquium as Science for All: Integrity, Transparency, Accessibility. The NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars wanted this theme to reflect on the importance of inclusion across all scientific disciplines and provide a supportive, welcoming environment for all trainees. Led by Chair Rachel Smith and Vice Chair Jude Tunyi, the Committee consisted of exceptional student members Theressa Ewa, Abigail Giles, Poorva Jain, Jasmine Mack, Mathieu Perez, Linh Pham, Mitchell Sun who dedicated their time to organize this year’s Colloquium at Homerton College, University of Cambridge.
Kicking off the Colloquium, the Committee invited Drs. Andreas Danhorn, Andrew Harper, and Coralie Viollet from AstraZeneca, Dr. Richard Siegel from Novartis, and Dr. Stella Hurtley from Science to lead an industry networking event which was moderated by Scholars Abigail Giles and John Hancock.
The Committee invited Dr. Magdalena Skipper, the editor-in-chief of Nature and Chief Editorial Advisor for the Nature portfolio as the Keynote Speaker whose talk was titled, “Science by All & for All: How a Science Publisher Can Support Social Justice & Equitable Development.” Dr. Skipper expressed that science by all is vital to science for all. She encouraged the attendees to champion open and transparent research, be collaborative, especially with the public, and both encourage and support diverse voices. Special Topics speaker, Dr. Elisabeth Bik, Science Integrity Consultant, Harbers Bik LLC, John Maddox Prize Recipient, and Scientific and Editorial Director, uBioMe discussed “Double Trouble: Inappropriate Image Duplications in Biomedical Publications.” Dr. Bik shared the three types of duplications that occur in science publications and called upon the audience to see if they could spot the duplications through an interactive lecture.
TheJustice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion speakers included Drs. Kerry McInerney and Rachel Bervell. Dr. Bervell, Partners in Health, Bias in Medicine challenged thought processes surrounding maternal deaths, especially black women, in her talk “Confronting a Diagnostic Dilemma: Exploring the Basis of Bias in Medicine.” Dr. Bervell further discussed the role of bias in these disparities and the ways we define racism in medicine. Dr. Kerry McInerney, University of Cambridge, Bias in Research posed three key questions during her lecture which included What is bias? How do we think about AI’s harms? And who makes AI and why does that matter?
The 2022 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, Dr. Justin Lathia, was invited to reflect on his experiences as an NIH OxCam Scholar and highlight his career path leading to his current position as Professor and Vice Chair, Cleveland Clinic and Co-Leader, Molecular Oncology Program, Case Comprehensive Cancer Center. His goal is to build and lead a cutting-edge brain tumor program that helps improve the lives of patients worldwide based on research produced by the next generation of cancer researchers. Following his talk, he served on the NIH OxCam Alumni Panel alongside Drs. Adam Knight, Founder and Chief Business Officer, Neuron23, Arianne Richard, Tenure Track Investigator at Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK, and Jessica van Loben Sels, Laboratory Specialist, US Virgin Islands Department of Health.
Throughout the Colloquium the Class of 2020 gave Oral Presentations, the Class of 2021 presented Posters, and the Class of 2022 participated in a 3-minute Thesis Competition. Congratulations to NIH-Marshall Scholar Emily Steffke for the best Oral Presentation, Hannah Duffy for the Best Poster Presentation, and Mitchell Sun for the best 3-minute Thesis. Further Congratulation to the team consisting of Ayden Case,Poorva Jain, Tung Nguyen, Grace Perry, Alaina Shreves, and Alia Welsh led by Dr. Elodie Ghedin (ExComm Lead), Dr. Kathy Zoon (Alliance Lead) and Hallie Gaitsch (Student Lead) for being named the 3-minute Thesis Team winners.
Scholars, mentors, leadership, as well as Alliance Board Directors, were invited to attend the Gala Reception. Professor Clare Bryant, the Cambridge Director of the NIH OxCam Program, opened the elegant dinner reception with a warm welcome to attendees and invited outgoing NIH OxCam Program Scientific Director Dr. Alan Sher to give the Welcome Address and to reflect upon his career path, sharing wisdom and advice with the audience. Following Dr. Sher’s speech, Committee Chair and Vice-Chair Ray Smith and Jude Tunyi moderated the much-anticipated annual Science Recognition Awards Ceremony. Congratulations to Scholars Will Snyder, Ray Smith, and Jude Tunyi for being named the first, second, and third-place winners of the 2023 Photo Contest Winners for their “My Cool Science” submissions.
Details on the winners can be found in separate articles on the Alliance website.
On February 24th, 2023, sixteen NIH Oxford-Cambridge (OxCam) Scholars, from first- to final-year graduate students, had the opportunity to visit the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER). IBRA Board Director Dr. Kathryn Zoon, who served as the FDA CBER Principal Deputy Director (and first female Director) from 1992-2002, paved the path for the NIH OxCam Scholars to visit the FDA as a Career Development and Exploration Initiative. Scholars had the opportunity to learn about CBER’s role in integrating innovative science with regulations to protect public health. In addition to Dr. Zoon, included on the career exploration planning team were Scholar-lead organizer, Marya Sabir, NIH OxCam Scholars Program leadership, Dr. Kristi Porter, Dr. Racquel Collins, Kara Rothberg, Dr. Elodie Ghedin, Dr. Sonja Best and FDA’s Dr. Karen Elkins and Dr. Monica (Burts) Young. Alexandra Ambrico, Director of Communications, Education, and Professional Development represented the sponsor International Biomedical Research Alliance on the planning committee.
CBER is the Center within FDA that regulates biological products for human use and both protects and advances public health by ensuring that biological products are safe, effective, and available to all. Dr. Karen Elkins, CBER’s Associate Director for Science and Principal Investigator, provided welcome remarks and gave an overview of the FDA and CBER, including its history and current-day operations. Within CBER, there are 65 lead investigators whose research ranges from basic to targeted therapy studies. She described the different phases of drug approval and shared how less than 10% of drugs make it past the New Drug Application (IND) phase. IND is a request from a clinical study sponsor to obtain authorization from the FDA to administer an investigational drug or biological product to humans and is the first submission on the drug development timeline.
Following Dr. Elkins’ talk, the Scholars embarked on tours of the laboratories and research facilities. Scholars had the opportunity to ask questions and learn more from the research staff, engaging in small group discussions with CBER Principal Investigators with a range of expertise from vaccines to blood/blood products. “I never knew the extent of the collaborative research that the FDA performed until today,” remarked Class of 2018 Ph.D. Scholar Taylor Farley.
Dr. Young provided an overview of training and career opportunities at the FDA, beginning with the organization of the FDA. She highlighted professional career paths at the FDA, mission-critical occupations, how to apply for these fellowships and jobs, and the different paths to the FDA. Poorva Jain, a Class of 2022 M.D./Ph.D. Scholar commented, “This visit helped me better understand the dynamics of how a career at the FDA looks and also the people involved in monitoring and assessing novel therapies. It made the FDA go from a black box entity to a really comprehensive and dynamic research and regulatory institute. It was an unparalleled opportunity to network with some outstanding scientists”.
To conclude the Career Development and Exploration Initiative at the FDA, a training and careers panel and networking session was held. The panel discussion included postdoctoral fellows, biologists, reviewers, and investigators to share their backgrounds and current research. The networking session included panelists and additional principal investigators to engage with the scholars. Marya Sabir, a Class of 2019 Ph.D. Scholar notes, “I left inspired by the innovative research and fundamental regulatory work being done by CBER investigators. Not only are they safeguarding the public’s health with their work, but they are also pushing the frontiers of science – it is truly a unique place.”
The International Biomedical Research Alliance is committed to providing Career Development and Exploration Initiatives to Scholars in the NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program. The goal of these initiatives is to ignite Scholar thinking around career opportunities where they can play a key role in the future of biomedical research enterprise. Please reach out to our Director of Communication, Education, and Professional Development, Alexandra Ambrico, at [email protected] if you would like to be involved in hosting future exposure visits.
The Workshop prioritizes rigorous empirical research on the frontiers of biomedical science and medicine. The aim is for Scholars to have an opportunity to share their work through elevator pitches, poster sessions, and oral presentations which concurrently stress the importance of public speaking, networking, and preparing data for a diverse audience. Alongside Scholars’ research talks, keynote speakers and panelists were invited to prepare presentations keeping on the theme of “Global Team Science: Bridging Borders from Bench to Bedside.”
On Day 2 of the NIH Global Doctoral Partnerships Workshop, the morning discussion touched upon neuroscience, cancer research, and cell and molecular biology through oral presentations prepared by the Class of 2019. Following these talks, Dr. Jess Wade, an Imperial College Research Fellow investigating spin selective charge transport through chiral systems in the Department of Materials, was invited to give the Science Communication Address. Science Communication is necessary to make scientific research accessible to non-specialist audiences and to build an ecosystem of response to global, societal needs. This is exactly what Dr. Wade does. She tapped into the needs of society – the lack of visibility of women and underrepresented minorities (URM) in STEM – and challenged herself to write one Wikipedia article a day to combat this problem. Wikipedia receives 32 million page views daily and less than 20% of the English-language biographies on Wikipedia are about women, with even fewer about women in STEM. By contributing female and URM profiles, Dr. Wade was determined to fight the negatively impacted narrative of women and URM that diminishes the ability of people like them to see themselves as scientists, engineers, technologists, and mathematicians. This work encourages females, children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, and people of color to see past social stereotypes and provide role models in STEM. Dr. Wade is committed to improving diversity in science, both online and offline, and has tremendous momentum to ensure representation and equity in retaining, promoting, and honoring women and URM in STEM. During her “Science and Storytelling” presentation, Dr. Wade discussed the platforms available to share science and encouraged the audience to investigate classroom visits, hands-on workshops, offline/online talks, social media, online content, books, TV, podcasts, and radio to bring research beyond the bench. This session showcased how these varied platforms incorporate public engagement in knowledge exchange, teaching, and social responsibility of doctoral students and researchers.
Prior to the Alumni Panel, Dr. Paul Tesar, a Professor and Director of the Pluripotent Stem Cell Facility at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine, was invited as the International Biomedical Research Alliance’s 2021 Distinguished Alumni Award recipient to give the introductory address. Scholars were eager to hear insights as doctoral students to succeed both in the NIH OxCam Program and in life afterward. Dr. Tesar’s talk “19 years after starting the NIH OxCam Program” highlighted how his time in the NIH OxCam Program led to the science that his lab is doing today. He shared his experiences founding a biotech company and provided wisdom and advice for the Scholars as they embark on the journey of becoming the next generation of leaders in biomedical science. The Alumni Panel invited Dr. Sabrina Heman-Ackah, Neurosurgery Resident at Penn Medicine, Dr. Megan Dennis, Assistant Professor at UC Davis, Dr. Andrew Ishizuka, SVP for Translational Research at Vaccitech, Dr. Matt Maciejewski, VP of Data Science at Korro Bio, Inc., and Dr. Jason Mellad, CEO/Co-founder of Start Codon to lead a question-and-answer session with the audience. The Workshop Planning Committee prepared questions based on Scholar feedback, while also encouraging Workshop attendees to ask questions about career paths, life choices, and experiences in medicine, research, biotech, and entrepreneurship.
Workshop Planning Committee co-chair Alex Waldman moderated the final discussion, the Reflections Panel with the NIH OxCam Class of 2018 panelists, John Shannon, Emily Kolyvas, Madeline Epping, and Taylor Farley. Panelists were asked to share their experiences, impart wisdom, and provide mentorship to the new Scholars. With a reputation of being a very honest and open look in the rearview mirror, both the Alumni and Reflections panels draw some of the most interesting questions from current Scholars and this year was no exception.
Following the Panel Discussions, the Champagne Reception in the Liddon Quad encouraged Scholars to assemble for their Class photos, and for the traditional photograph of all Workshop attendees on the grand and sprawling Keble lawn. Scholars, mentors, leadership, as well as Alliance Board Directors, were invited to attend the Gala Reception. Dr. Michael Dustin, the Oxford Director of the NIH OxCam Program, opened the elegant dinner reception with a warm welcome to attendees and invited Alliance Board Director Dr. Kathryn Zoon to give the Welcome Address. Following Dr. Zoon’s speech, Workshop Planning Committee co-chairs Kritika Singh and Alex Waldman moderated the much-anticipated annual science recognition Awards Ceremony. Details on the winners can be found in separate articles on the Alliance website.
Congratulations to Scholars Emily Beltran, Jacob Gordon, and Mario Shammas for being named the first, second, and third place winners of the 2022 Photo Contest Winners for their “My Cool Science” submissions.
The Board of Directors of the International Biomedical Alliance would like to acknowledge the following individuals and organizations whose steadfast support makes a meaningful difference for the next generation of scientists: Arsenal Capital Partners, BioHealth Innovation, Bluestreet Productions, Cleveland Foundation, Emergent BioSolutions, the Foundation for Advanced Education in the Sciences, Institute for the Future of Medical Education, Korro Bio, Lasker Foundation, MacroGenics, Michael Lenardo, M.D., National Institutes of Health, London Foundation, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Richard Siegel, M.D. and Vera Siegel, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and WCG. They would also like to extend their gratitude to the NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars Program Leadership Team and Workshop Planning Committee Members, Alex Waldman (Committee Co-Chair), Kritika Singh (Committee Co-Chair), Emily Beltran, Cristie Contreras, Kelsey Lowman, Jocelyne Rivera, Ray Smith, Stephanie Williams, and Mathieu Perez for their hard work and determination that made the 2022 Global Doctoral Partnerships Research Workshop a great success.
Science communication, networking, and outreach are essential for training the next generation of scientists and leaders in biomedical research. Raising public awareness and the public understanding of science is essential for our health and for the scientific enterprise. Providing effective ways to communicate science has vastly changed over the past few years due to the continued constraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of the advancements in science have been shared virtually, limiting both personal and professional interactions of collaborators. The NIH Oxford Cambridge Scholars (Scholars) have found innovative ways to share their science, both with their peers and the greater scientific community, which was exponentially highlighted at the Annual NIH Global Doctoral Partnerships Research Workshop (Workshop) held every summer. For the first time in three years, the Scholars conducted an in-person Workshop at Keble College, at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The Workshop brought together students, Program leadership, Executive Committee members, faculty, Alliance Board Directors, and mentors from the NIH and the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge to highlight and share the incredible work the Scholars have done during their time in the Program and invited renowned keynote speakers.
Commencing during the pandemic, the Scholars organized a Workshop Planning Committee to take the reins of developing an international virtual conference. This year was the first year that the Scholars held a student-led Workshop in person. The Workshop Planning Committee created the Global Team Science: Bridging Borders from Bench to Bedside theme to recognize the interdisciplinary, cross-cultural nature of science and to highlight ways to develop convergent solutions to complex problems.
The Workshop was held 26-28 July 2022 and drew international speakers from various fields and areas of expertise with unique perspectives to network with Scholars and invited guests. On the first day of the Workshop, the keynote speaker, Dame Professor Sarah Gilbert, Saïd Professor of Vaccinology at the University of Oxford who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, spoke about her experiences working to develop vaccines against emerging pathogens such as influenza, Lassa fever, Nipah, etc. and the crucial role her lab played in pandemic recovery worldwide. In early 2020, only weeks before learning about the new pathogen emerging from China, Dame Gilbert’s team designed a novel vaccine modeled on their concurrent virology work. By March 2020, they were awarded £22 million in funding from the U.K. Government to begin human trials. On March 1, 2021, the COVID-19 vaccine trial resulted in data on real-world efficacy from Public Health England and reported that in the population over 80, hospitalization was reduced by 80% and at least 60% of those in their 60s who received one dose were protected against symptomatic disease. Dame Gilbert continued with the lessons she and her lab learned and discussed future directions.
Dame Gilbert’s presentation was followed by keynote speaker Director General, Vaccine Taskforce Madelaine McTernan whose talk entitled “The Vaccine Taskforce: Bringing together science, industry, and the public sector” introduced the Vaccine Taskforce and outlined their success during the pandemic. Director General McTernan noted that the United Kingdom was the first country to deploy a COVID-19 vaccine outside of a clinical trial and the first to deploy both the Pfizer/BioNTech and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines. Over 87% of the UK population received a full primary course and 69% received their booster/third dose. Director General McTernan noted reasons why they were successful including 1) the portfolio approach to vaccine procurement – securing agreements with multiple promising candidates and multiple vaccine platforms 2) working with suppliers in a different, more collaborative way to identify and quickly solve problems 3) ongoing work to further our understanding of the virus and the effort of vaccines 4) strong partnership between government, academia, clinical experts, scientists, and industry and 5) creating effective processes that support proper oversight and risk assessment, but also facilitate swift decision making. Keynotes Gilbert and McTernan fielded audience questions after their presentations, giving further insights into the incredible work of scientists around the world. Together they worked with clinicians, regulators, manufacturers, and volunteer citizens to produce a highly effective vaccine that was designed, tested, manufactured, and distributed in one year. All these entities worked together to make a vaccine for the world…now that’s global team science!
Following the keynote addresses, the Scholars gathered with Program Leadership for the Student Leadership Board Address and NIH Town Hall and UK Universities Town Hall Meetings Scholars were given the opportunity to ask questions and a platform to share their thoughts and suggestions, with the joint aim of continuing to innovate and continuously improve the student experience in the Program.
The Class of 2019 prepared oral presentations ranging from topics such as machine learning to neurophysiology to developing 3-D, multicellular models to understand diseases. Scholar Mario Shammas took home the gold with his presentation “OMA1 mediates local and global stress responses against protein misfolding in CHCHD10 mitochondrial myopathy.” He shared that CHCHD10 was recently identified as an autosomal dominant cause of Parkinson’s disease, ALS/FTD, and myopathy and shared the development of a novel knock-in mouse to further understand these diseases. Mario found that the inner mitochondrial membrane peptidase OMA1 is essential for neonatal survival conditionally in the setting of inner mitochondrial membrane stress, coordinating local and global stress responses to reshape the mitochondrial network and proteome.
Always a highlight of the Workshop, the Elevator Pitch Team Competition encompasses three teams, consisting of 6-7 first-year students, and is led by coaches consisting of an upperclassman Scholar, Alliance Director, and an OxCam Executive Committee faculty member. The teams are required to execute condensed research talks as part of the Class of 2021 Elevator Pitch Team Competition. These talks are a 90-second pitch that enables the audience to learn about each Scholar, their work, and what they are hoping to accomplish during their time in the Program. For the third year in a row, Dr. Sonja Best’s team, co-led by upperclassman Scholar Alex Waldman and Alliance Director Dr. Matt Maciejewski, were crowned winners of the 2022 Elevator Pitch Team Competition. The Team Who Must Not Be Named took on an iconic theme of Harry Potter and wove in the series details, props included, in their pitches. Winners included Ray Smith, Sandra Mon, Kelsey Lowman, Will Snyder, Zoe Wong, John Hancock, and Jocelyne Rivera.
J. Peter Figueroa, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Public Health, Epidemiology, and HIV/AIDS at theUniversity of the West Indies in Mona, Jamaica was the inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion speaker. For over four decades, Dr. Figueroa’s health leadership contributed substantially to public health in Jamaica, the Caribbean, and around the world. Dr. Figueroa’s roles over this time included: Principal Medical Officer – Epidemiology in the Ministry of Health, Chief Medical Officer, Director of the National HIV-STI Program, Scientific Secretary and Chair of the Caribbean Health Research Council, and temporary advisor to WHO on a range of public health topics, earning him numerous recognitions, such as the United Nations Peace Medal for his service as Vice-chair of the National Committee for the commemoration of the International Year of Peace.
As is customary, the centerpiece of the Workshop is listening to and understanding Scholar research projects. The first day of the Workshop concluded with poster presentations by the Class of 2020 ranging from topics like single cell analysis, electrophoresis, cardiometabolic impact, and mouse models of glioblastoma. Scholar Kritika Singh was named the Class of 2020 Poster presentation winner for her poster entitled “Ultrasound activated HPV VLP conjugates for tumor therapy.” Closing out Day 1 of the Workshop, the Scholars set up Class dinners and had the opportunity to meet with their mentors and lab mates.
