Biographies

Speakers and Introducers

MEENA AUGUSTUS, PH.D. Executive Partner - HealthCare Global Enterprises Ltd. & Triesta Sciences Inc. (India), Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer, Shréis-Scalene Sciences Inc. USA.  Dr. Augustus was co-founder of Avalon Pharmaceuticals Inc., a biotech company using cutting-edge, revolutionary drug and target discovery approaches in cancer.  As Senior Scientific Director, she oversaw the efforts of the Molecular Genetics and Oncology group since the company's inception in 2000 to November 2002, and was instrumental to the development of Avalon's Amplicon and Biorepository databases.  She developed Strategic Scientific Alliances for Avalon between 2003-2006, initiating and establishing several key scientific, academic and clinical collaborations for the company, both domestic and international.  Currently, Dr. Augustus' company Shreis-Scalene is focused on bringing to the US and global markets, two portfolio medical devices: a diagnostic device the HemoseisT for the detection of cardiovascular diseases; and the Cytotron T, a therapeutic device that uses rotational field quantum magnetic resonance (RFQMR) in the treatment of diseases like osteoarthritis, cancer and more.

Dr. Augustus has served in premier research institutions in India, Germany, France and the US, and has been the recipient of the prestigious German Academic Exchange Service and Alexander von Humboldt Fellowships to pursue the study of cancer genetics and clinical oncology.  She spent 18 years as a member of the oncology faculty in a UICC-affiliated, 250-bed Comprehensive Cancer Research, Treatment and Teaching Hospital in Bangalore, India, eventually serving as Professor and Head, Department of Cell-biology & Pathology.  She played a key role in a large scale WHO-sponsored cancer detection and screening program in Karnataka, India, and was a co-investigator in a multi-institutional Indo-US (NCI-sponsored) study on the molecular characterization of lymphoid neoplasia. 

Dr. Augustus worked as a Special Volunteer with the Fogarty International Center, NIH and has held a visiting scientist position at Human Genome Sciences Inc., where she mapped more than 100 new human genes to their chromosomal locations.  She also served as a consultant at the Center for Prostate Disease Research (USUHS/Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine), where she pioneered a study on the molecular cytogenetic analysis of prostate cancer.  During 1997-1999, Dr. Augustus was a visiting scientist in the Lymphoma Biology Section-Pediatric Branch and the Cancer Genetics Group (NCI/NIH), and the Genome Technology Branch (NHGRI-NIH) in Bethesda, MD.  She played a key role in the design and development of the recently launched NCI and NCBI SKY/CGH Interactive Online (Cytogenetic) Database, a public resource that will enable the compilation and analysis of chromosome aberrations in cancer, both human and mouse. 

Dr. Augustus earned an MS in Zoology in 1974, and a Ph.D. in Human Genetics in 1979, from India.  She has published widely---original articles in peer reviewed journals, text book chapters and has presented invited talks in key industrial forums. 

Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project, is Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) at the National Institutes of Health.  With Dr. Collins at the helm, the Human Genome Project consistently met projected milestones ahead of schedule and under budget.  This remarkable international project culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book.  Building on the foundation laid by the Human Genome Project, Dr. Collins is now leading NHGRI's effort to ensure that this new trove of sequence data is translated into powerful tools and thoughtful strategies to advance biological knowledge and improve human health.  Dr. Collins is also known for his consistent emphasis on the importance of ethical and legal issues in genetics. In addition to his achievements as the NHGRI Director, Dr. Collins' laboratory has discovered a number of important genes, including those responsible for cystic fibrosis, neurofibromatosis, Huntington's disease and most recently, genes for adult onset diabetes and the gene that causes Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, a dramatic form of premature aging.

Dr. Collins received a BS from the University of Virginia, a Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Yale University, and an MD from the University of North Carolina.  He has been elected to the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences.

Lisa Conte, Chief Executive Officer, Founder, NAPO Pharmaceuticals.  Ms. Conte is responsible for strategy development, partnerships, recruitment, fundraising, and investor and public relations at Napo, and has been its Chief Executive Officer since its founding.  She also founded Shaman Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a natural product pharmaceutical company, in 1989.  As CEO of several companies, she has raised over $220 million (including leading an IPO).  From 1987 to 1989, Ms. Conte was a Vice President at Technology Funding, Inc., a venture capital firm where she was responsible for the analysis and management of health care industry investments.  From 1985 to 1987, she conducted risk and strategy audits for start-up healthcare companies at Strategic Decisions Group, a management consulting firm.  While studying for her MBA, Ms. Conte interned at Eli Lilly & Company, where she worked with their internal venture capital group to identify promising new biotechnology companies.  Ms. Conte received her AB in Biochemistry from Dartmouth College, her MS in Physiology/Pharmacology from the University of California at San Diego, and her MBA from the Amos Tuck School, Dartmouth College.  She is the recipient of several entrepreneurship awards, including the 1994 E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award, and has sat on several industry boards. 

David Ewing Duncan is an award-winning, best-selling author of six books, numerous essays, articles and short stories, and is a television, radio and film producer and correspondent.  He is the Chief Correspondent and co host of NPR Talk Radio's BioTech Nation, a weekly national program on public radio.  David is also a Visiting Researcher at the Graduate School of Journalism at UC Berkeley.  His most recent book is Masterminds: Genius, DNA and the Quest to Rewrite Life.  He wrote another book, Calendar: Humanity's Epic Struggle to Determine a True and Accurate Year, published in 19 languages and a bestseller in 14 countries.  In other subject areas, David has written the bestselling Pedaling the Ends of the Earth, about his bicycle expedition around the world, Hernando de Soto: A Savage Quest in the Americas, called "an astonishing tour de force" by the New York Times Book Review, Residents: The Perils and Promise of Educating Young Doctors and Cape to Cairo: An African Odyssey.  He is now at work on Experimental Man: a Molecular Autobiography.  David has also taught creative writing at Stanford University. 

David is Contributing Editor to Wired, Discover, and Technology Review, and a commentator on NPR's Morning Edition.  He has been a special correspondent and producer for ABC's Nightline and 20/20, and a producer for Discovery Television.  He is a correspondent for NOVA's ScienceNow! and an Executive Producer for the Smithsonian Networks.  He is a regular contributor to National Geographic, Fortune and MIT Technology Review, and was a longtime correspondent for Life.  He also writes for Harper's, Atlantic Monthly, Smithsonian, Outside, The Telegraph, The Guardian, The Washington Post Book World, and The New York Times.  He contributes to the Dialogues column for Discover. 

David is Founder and Editorial Director of the BioAgenda Institute, an independent non-profit program of events and educational initiatives that discusses and analyzes crucial issues in life sciences.  He hosts the 3-day annual BioAgenda Summit. 

Lloyd Griffiths, Ph.D., Dean, The Volgenau School of Information Technology and Engineering, George Mason University.  Lloyd Griffiths was named Dean of the School of IT & Engineering at George Mason University in 1997.  The School consists of approximately 4,200 engineering students, 2,100 of which are undergraduates enrolled in a total of six undergraduate majors.  Over 360 Ph.D. students are pursuing their degrees in the school.

In the past ten years, the Volgenau School has experienced exceptionally strong growth in both enrollment and research expenditures.  During this period, new undergraduate degree majors have been added in Computer Engineering and Information Technology.  In October, 2006, the School announced the largest single gift ever made to George Mason by an individual donor.  Sara and Ernst Volgenau provided $10M toward the growth of new academic programs.  This leadership gift will be used to take the school to a position of true national and international prominence.  Central to this effort is the announcement of a new program in the area of Nano-Info-BioEngineering.

Dr. Griffiths' undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering was awarded by the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada.  His MS and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering were awarded by Stanford University.

Dean Griffiths is a fellow of the IEEE, and has been recognized with the IEEE Browder J. Thompson prize paper award.  He currently sits on the boards of directors of several companies, many of which are early stage/startup ventures.

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Moira Gunn, Ph.D. is host of Tech Nation and BioTech Nation, which air on National Public Radio's SIRIUS Satellite Radio channels NPR Now and NPR Talk, and internationally to 133 countries via American Forces Radio International.  The program can be heard on over 200 domestic public stations and podcasts.

Tech Nation and BioTech Nation are the only national weekly radio programs covering the impact of technology and biotechnology. Tech Nation programs seek to educate the public on issues of science and technology.  They demonstrate that all aspects of our lives are affected, and to make reasonable decisions, we must understand much more as individuals, as communities, as nations and as a global society.  In over 2,000 in-depth interviews, Dr. Gunn has engaged guests from every walk of life: politicians and business people, scientists and futurists, novelists and educators, members of the media and more to discuss the underlying need for comprehension of essential science and technology.  The story of BioTech Nation and the leading issues we face is described in Dr. Gunn's book Welcome to BioTech Nation:  My Unexpected Odyssey into the Land of Small Molecules, Lean Genes, and Big Ideas.

She is Program Director, Information Systems, College of Professional Studies, University of San Francisco; Member, Dean's Science Advisory Council, Purdue University; and Member, Advisory Board, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Stanford University.  Her early career at NASA included large-scale scientific computation and global communications, with special emphasis in infrared satellite image processing, computational fluid dynamics, and global climate and weather modeling.  Dr. Gunn's subsequent robotics engineering work is in place at IBM, Morton Thiokol, United Technologies /Pratt & Whitney, Lockheed-Martin, Rolls-Royce, US Navy.  She has a technical patent with two USDA nutrition scientists in the area of nutrition measurement systems.  Other affiliations include Board Member Emeritus, Tech Museum of Innovation; Jury member, Heinz Awards, Technology, the Economy and Employment; Member, The Tech Awards Global Leadership Council; Member, Advisory Board, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology; Member, Advisory Board, Trusted Computing Group.

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John Holaday, Ph.D. is the Managing Director, President and CEO, and founding Director of QRxPharma (QRX, ASX), a specialty pharmaceutical company headquartered in Sydney, Australia.  He was co-founder of HarVest Bank of Maryland, EntreMed, Inc. (ENMD, NASDAQ) in 1992, and Medicis Pharmaceutical Corp. (MRX, NYSE) in 1988.  He also founded MaxCyte, Inc. and is a member of the Board of Directors of CytImmune Sciences, Xceleron, Accelovance and Seno Medical.  He has raised over $360MM in private and public rounds of financing for these companies that have a collective market capitalization in excess of $2 billlion.  Dr. Holaday served as a Captain in the US Army at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research as an officer and civilian for 21 years.  Dr. Holaday obtained his BS (1966) and MS (1968) from the U of Alabama and his Ph.D. from UCSF in 1976.  He was Professor of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine until 1996, and is Professor of Psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.  Dr. Holaday serves on the Leadership Board for the College of Arts and Sciences, U of Alabama, the Board of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute, and the Judges Panel for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year (2003-present).  He is on the Advisory Board of Harbert Investments, Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year 2006 Hall of Fame, holds over 30 patents and has published over 200 scientific articles and five books.

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Jennie C. Hunter-Cevera, Ph.D., has served as President of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute since October of 1999.  Prior, she was the Director of the Center for Environmental Biotechnology at the E. O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, which was a collaborative effort between the Lab and the University of California at Berkeley.  She co-founded two small companies, The Biotic Network and Blue Sky Research, that did contract work for large pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and she consulted for five years in a variety of biotechnology fields.  For 10 years Dr. Hunter-Cevera was employed at Cetus Corporation and served as the Director of Fermentation, Research and Development.  Before that she was at E. R. Squibb and Sons as Research Scientist.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera has served as President of the Society of Industrial Microbiology (SIM), of the US Federation of Culture Collections (USFCC) and of the International Marine Biotechnology Association (IMBA).  She served as Senior Editor for the Journal of Industrial Microbiology for ten years.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera also served as a member on former USDA Secretary Glickman's Genetic Resources Advisory Board and President Clinton's State Department Council on Genetically Modified Foods.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera also served as the US representative to the OECD on Biological Resource Centers.  She has given more than 70 invited lectures and keynote presentations and is the author of several papers, chapters, and books, as well as the holder of three patents and 15 pending patents. Dr. Hunter-Cevera was elected to the American Academy of Microbiology in 1995, received the 1996 SIM Charles Porter Award, and was elected as a SIM Fellow in 1997.  She was the West Virginia University Nath Lecturer in 1999, and appointed by Governor Glendening as Maryland's Science and Technology Representative for the Southern Governor's Association in 2000.  Dr. Hunter-Cevera was honored by her alma mater, West Virginia University, as the 2003 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award.  In 2004, Dr. Hunter-Cevera was the recipient of the USFCC/J. Roger Porter Award.  Supported by the United States Federation for Culture Collections (USFCC) and ASM, the award recognized Dr. Hunter-Cevera's expertise in collecting, maintaining, and preserving microbial cultures.  She was honored as one of Maryland's Top 100 Women for 2003 and 2007.  She was recognized in 2007 as one of the 50 Most Influential People in Maryland.  Dr.  Hunter-Cevera served on Governor Ehrlich's Technology Commission for the State of Maryland and was one of six members of the Governor's Executive Council for Transition.  She currently sits on the State of Maryland's Task Force on Minority Participation in the Environmental Community and several sub-committees for the Maryland Life Science Authority Commission in addition to several other non-profit and for profit boards of directors or advisors including the BIO IT Coalition. 

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Andrew E. Kantra is a partner in the Health Effects Litigation and White Collar and Corporate Investigations Practice Groups of Pepper Hamilton LLP, and is resident in the Philadelphia office.  He focuses his practice on representation of pharmaceutical clients in multidistrict litigation and individual cases, regulatory counseling and mediations of matters involving marketed products and clinical trials. 

Mr. Kantra has defended wrongful death and personal injury actions involving marketed and investigational products, involving extensive expert witness evaluation and development, analysis of medical literature, dispositive motion practice, and deposition preparation of company witnesses.  Mr. Kantra also conducts internal corporate investigations.

Mr. Kantra counsels pharmaceutical companies on research and development procedures, compliance with FDA regulations and consistency with ICH guidance.  He provides prophylactic counseling to clients with respect to FDA regulatory requirements regarding Good Manufacturing Practices, Good Laboratory Practices, Good Clinical Practices, clinical trials, labeling and advertising and other promotional activities.  He also drafts responses to inquiries and notices from FDA (including warning letters) and foreign regulatory agencies; identifies potential litigation risks in proposed protocols, informed consent documents, regulatory submissions, press releases and stand-by statements; and conducts due diligence analysis of contract research organizations and biotechnology companies. 

Mr. Kantra has spoken on legal risks in the clinical trial setting at the Biotechnology Industry Association's annual convention, and on risk evaluation of contract research organizations at the Practising Law Institute and at the Tort and Insurance Practice Section of the American Bar Association.  Additionally, he is a contributing author to the Drug and Medical Device Product Liability Desk Book. 

Mr. Kantra graduated from New York University School of Law in 1986 and received his undergraduate degree from Yale College in 1983.  He is active in litigating pro bono matters, has done volunteer construction work for Habitat for Humanity and serves as a volunteer for a men's homeless shelter known as Wintershelter.  In 1996, he received the Craig M. Perry Community Service Award from the Young Lawyers Division of the Philadelphia Bar Association. 

Mr. Kantra is a member of the New York and Pennsylvania bars and is admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 

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Lance Liotta, MD, Ph.D. is Co-Director of the George Mason University (GMU) Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine, and Professor of Life Sciences.  He is former Chief of the Laboratory of Pathology, Chief of the Section of Tumor Invasion and Metastases in the Division of Clinical Sciences, National Cancer Institute, NIH, and the former Deputy Director for Intramural Research, NIH.  He received his undergraduate degree at Hiram College in 1969 and went on to complete an MD/Ph.D. program at Case Western Reserve University in 1976.  Dr. Liotta has devoted his career to the study of the molecular basis of cancer progression and metastasis, the major cause of cancer treatment failure.  He was one of the first scientists to investigate this process at a molecular level.  Dr. Liotta invented a series of technologies and proteomic methods routinely used in biomedical research and clinical diagnostics, including Laser Capture Microdissection used in thousands of laboratories and hospitals worldwide.  He and his colleague, Dr. Emanuel F. Petricoin, have recently founded a company focused on personalized therapy, Theranostics Health, based on their GMU inventions and discoveries.  Dr. Liotta serves as Vice President of Research and Development for the company. 

He has been the recipient of numerous awards for cancer research, including three Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Medals, the Arthur S. Fleming Award, the Warner Lambert/Parke Davis Award, the Sixth Annual Rhoads Memorial Award, the Milken Family Foundation Award for Basic Research, the William M. Shelly Memorial Award, the Josef Steiner Prize, the Stanley Gore Research Award, the Simon Shubitz Award for Basic Research, the Lila Gruber Cancer Research Award, the Barbara Bohen Pfeifer Award for Scientific Excellence, the US Surgeon General's Medallion, the Maud L. Menten Lecture Award, and Election to Fellow Status in American Institute of Medical and Biologic Engineering.  He holds more than 80 patents for his work, and has published more than 650 papers, and is one of the most highly cited medical researchers in the world according to ISI.  Drs. Liotta and Petricoin began their proteomics collaboration in 1997, leading to the formation of the first Interagency Agreement between NCI and FDA to develop and test technologies for proteomic analysis (the study of protein activity in cells) of cancer and other diseases.  Their collaboration has produced more than 100 publications and numerous proteomic processes to develop new methods for diagnosis and treatment of diseases.  Combining their clinical and research expertise, they invented a new type of protein microarray technology to simultaneously measure multiple protein pathways from a biopsy specimen.  Understanding the activity of protein pathways may ultimately lead to personalized medical treatment and significantly impact public health.  In addition to their invention and development of new types of protein microarray technologies, they recently have made several seminal discoveries for biomarker-based research that may assist in the diagnosis of cancer and other diseases. 

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Lawrence C. Mahan, Ph.D. is an accomplished senior scientist with over 25 years experience in basic medical research including more than 10 years in the US Department of Health and Human Services.  An author of over 100 published articles and abstracts, he is the holder of four US patents.  His expertise spans cellular and molecular biology, functional genomics, neuroscience, pharmacology, immunology and biochemistry.  Dr. Mahan trained in pharmacology and physiology at the University of California, San Diego, and in molecular biology at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he continued as a principal investigator at NIMH and later NINDS.  He has served on a number of editorial boards and has acted as peer reviewer for scientific journals and granting institutions.  Dr. Mahan has held positions as guest researcher at the National Research Council of Canada (Ottawa, ON), director and managing partner of an emergent biotechnology company in Vancouver, BC, and as a private business consultant on technology platform development and facilities design in the areas of pharmaceutical sciences, in particular CNS drug discovery and functional genomics. 

Dr. Mahan joined Maryland's Department of Business & Economic Development (DBED) in 2001.  Acting on behalf of the Governor of Maryland and the Secretary of DBED as Senior Strategic Advisor for Biosciences, Dr. Mahan provides guidance to the administration on Maryland's industry and assets, and oversees programs of business development, strategic partnering, and industry initiatives in one of the largest clusters of bioscience companies and federal research laboratories in the United States.  These activities include long-term state strategic planning, emergent company due diligence and venture capital assistance; in-state business incubation, expansion and retention; national and international corporate location projects; federal-academic-private sector collaborative partnering initiatives; as well as legislation drafting, review and testimony.  He has been an invited speaker and lecturer on scientific topics (molecular neurobiology, neurochemistry, pharmacology, and functional genomics) as well as on a variety of business development topics in the biosciences industry. 

Robert Murphy is a partner in the Commercial Department of Pepper Hamilton LLP and is resident in the Washington, DC office.  He advises public and private companies on corporate and securities law issues surrounding corporate finance transactions and mergers and acquisitions, including private and public securities offerings (IPOs, repeat and secondary offerings, convertible notes offerings, PIPEs and Regulation S/offshore offerings), exchange tender offers, proxy contests, asset and stock purchases, venture capital financings and other commercial transactions.

Mr. Murphy also counsels public companies on disclosure and corporate governance issues, shareholder relations and United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and stock exchange compliance and listing matters.  His clients have included companies in the information technology, life sciences, telecommunications, financial services, manufacturing, mining and retail industries.  Mr. Murphy began his legal career at the SEC, where he was an attorney-adviser in the Division of Corporation Finance.  He lectures and writes frequently about securities law and corporate finance issues.  He has appeared as a panelist of numerous programs regarding developments in securities and corporate law.

Mr. Murphy is chairman of the BIO IT Coalition®, a not-for-profit organization for the advancement of information technology as an integral discipline in life science research, diagnostics and therapeutic discoveries.  The work of the Coalition is achieved through education, collaboration, professional development and partnership.

He is active in the community, volunteering with the Boy Scouts of America, St. John's College High School and youth hockey.  He is currently the Head Coach for the Villanova University Women's Ice Hockey Team.

Mr. Murphy is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA, 1978), University of Minnesota (MBA, 1980), Villanova University School of Law (JD, 1983) and Georgetown University Law Center (LL.M., Securities Regulation, 1987).  He is a member of the District of Columbia and Pennsylvania bars.

Emanuel F. Petricoin III, Ph.D., Professor of Life Sciences, Co-Director Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine at George Mason University. Prior to this position, he served as Co-Director of the FDA-NCI Clinical Proteomics Program from 2001-2005, and a Senior Investigator within the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research at the US Food and Drug Administration from 1993-2005.  Dr. Petricoin received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Maryland in 1990.  As a post-doctoral fellow at the US Food and Drug Administration, he concentrated on signal transduction analysis using proteomic technologies.  The focus of the CAPMM is the invention and use of proteomics technologies for signal transduction analysis, phosphoproteomics and peptidomic biomarker discovery for direct clinical applications at the bedside.  His expertise centers on translational research for applications of novel proteomics and nano-technologies for patient tailored medicine and clinical diagnostics.  He and his colleague, Dr. Lance Liotta, have recently spun-out a company focused on personalized therapy, Theranostics Health, based on their GMU inventions and discoveries.  Dr. Petricoin serves as Vice President, Chief Science Officer of the company.  He is a co-inventor on 25 filed and published patents, and has authored over 205 peer-reviewed publications and invited reviews.  He has authored over 40 book chapters, is on the editorial board of Proteomics, Biomedical Microdevices, Proteomics - Clinical Applications, Proteomics - Protocols, Molecular Carcinogenesis, Journal of Personalized Medicine, and served as a Senior Editor for Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention.  He was the founding Co-Editor-in-Chief of Clinical Proteomics.  Dr. Petricoin is a founding member of the Human Proteomic Organization (HUPO) as well as the US HUPO, and served on the Executive Committee and Treasurer for HUPO from 2002-2004.  He has received numerous awards including the NIH Director's Award, FDA Distinguished Scientist Award, American Society of Cytopathology Basic Research Award, the Roche Diagnostics/CLAS Distinguished Scientist Award and the Harvard University Leading Edge Award.

G. Terry Sharrer is Executive Director of the Medical Innovation & Transformation Institute of the Inova Health System, Northern Virginia's leading healthcare provider and largest private employer.  His work involves acquiring or inventing best practices that make healthcare more effective, efficient and equitable.  Before taking this position in the summer of 2007, he was curator of health sciences at the Smithsonian Institution, a career spanning nearly four decades.  He has served as Chairman of the Board, National Foundation for Cancer Research (Bethesda, MD); board member, Carilion Biomedical Institute, Roanoke, VA, and Science Advisor for the Loudoun County, VA Department of Economic Development.  Currently, he co-chairs the Medical Automation International Conference series; edits the Medical Automation newsletter Tagline; and holds a Visiting Scholar appointment at the National Museum of Health & Medicine, Washington, DC.  With a Ph.D. in history, from the University of Maryland, he writes and speaks about modern medicine, focusing on a central theme of "patient discovery." 

Gregory Stock, Ph.D., is both the director of the Program on Medicine, Technology and Society at UCLA's School of Medicine and the CEO of Signum Biosciences.  Signum, a biotech spin-off of Princeton University, is developing novel therapeutics and wellness agents that modulate cell signaling networks.  Signum is commercializing a safe new class of anti-inflammatories with broad therapeutic potential for skincare and respiratory disease, and is developing pharmaceutical candidates for Alzheimer's and Parkinson's as well as related dietary supplements for cognitive health. 

Dr. Stock, who has a Ph.D. in Biophysics from Johns Hopkins and an MBA from Harvard, lectures widely and has often appeared on CNN, PBS, the BBC and NPR to debate science policy with Francis Fukuyama, Leon Kass, Jeremy Rifkin and others who would rein in biomedical research.  He is the author of 8 books including the international bestseller, The Book of Questions, which is now in its 58th printing and has been translated into 17 languages, and Redesigning Humans: Our Inevitable Genetic Future, which won the 2004 Kistler Book Prize for Science. 

Dr. Stock sits on the editorial boards of American Journal of Bioethics, The Journal of Evolution and Technology, and Rejuvenation Research.  He also serves on the California Advisory Committee on Stem Cells and Reproductive Cloning.

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Liz Lerman Dance Exchange

Liz Lerman, Founding Artistic Director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange is a choreographer, performer, writer, educator, and speaker.  Described by the Washington Post as "the source of an epochal revolution in the scope and purposes of dance art," her dance/theater works have been seen throughout the United States and abroad.  She founded Liz Lerman Dance Exchange in 1976 and has cultivated the company's unique multi-generational ensemble, with dancers from 25 to 73 into a leading force in contemporary dance.  Liz has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the American Choreographer Award, the American Jewish Congress "Golda" Award, an honorary doctorate from Williams College, and Washingtonian Magazine's 1988 Washingtonian of the Year.  In 2002 her work was recognized with a MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship, and she was recently honored at the Jewish Cultural Achievement Awards and inducted into the University of Maryland's Alumni Hall of Fame.  As a frequent keynote speaker and panelist, Liz addresses arts, community, and business organizations both nationally and internationally.  She consults regularly with the Mellon Orchestra Forum and Synagogue 3000, and participated in Harvard University's Saguaro Seminar, which gathered thinkers to promote the growth of civic connectedness in the United States.  Liz attended Bennington College and Brandeis University, received her BA in dance from the University of Maryland, and an MA in dance from George Washington University. 

Elizabeth Johnson, Associate Artistic Director of Liz Lerman Dance Exchange is the Director of its Teen Exchange program and the National Teen Institutes for young artists.  Working with Celeste Miller in collaboration with Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival she has "Set Curriculum in Motion," teaching high school science and math through kinesthetic learning methods.  She is a recipient of a DC Arts and Humanities Young Artists grant, and was honored as a Center for Creative Youth Arts Leadership awardee by the Capital Region Education Council.  Elizabeth's choreography was showcased in Meditations on Mothers and Others at the 2006 Capital Fringe Festival.

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Susie Richard is artistic director of Washington D.C.'s Open Circle Theatre.  Her acting credits include The Folger Theater, Washington Shakespeare Company, Studio Secondstage, Project Y, Imagination Stage, and the Baltimore Shakespeare Festival.  She wrote for the Osteogenesis Foundation's book on growing up with Ontogenesis Imperfecta, and is a speaker on genetics and disabilities in the arts. 

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Scholarship Recpients

Konrad H. Aschenbach, Maryland Technology Economic Development Corporation (TEDCO) Scholarship Award Winner earned his BS magna cum laude in electrical engineering in 2001 from the University of Maryland, College Park and his MS in electrical engineering in 2003 from the University of California, Berkeley. He is currently working toward a Ph.D. in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Maryland.  Konrad's current research is the development of a low-cost portable DNA microarray system that can diagnose diseases at the point-of-care.  He hopes that his research project will have paved the way for commercialization of a self-contained electronic-detection microarray system that is able to cost-effectively and rapidly diagnose cancer and other diseases.  Such a product would improve patient care and quality of life for people all over the world, including those in developing countries where healthcare is prohibitively expensive.

Aristide Chikando, 5 am Solutions Scholarship Award Winner, is a doctoral candidate in the department of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology at George Mason University.  Mr. Chikando received his BS degree in Computer Science from Morgan State University in 2003, was the recipient of the National Institute of Health Pre-doctoral Intramural Research Training Award (2003 - 2004), and worked at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease on the development of SIMMUNE, a programming tool for simulating and analyzing immune system behavior.  From 2005-2007, Mr. Chikando served as president of the George Mason University Bioinformatics Graduate Student Organization.  Under his leadership, the organization was recognized by the university and formed strong ties with the scientific community of the Washington metropolitan area.  This enabled students in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Program to obtain internships with institutions such as the NIH, the Venter Institute, and the NSF.  Mr. Chikando has received the Graduate Research Assistantship award for the past three years and is currently finishing his thesis work in cardiac physiology. His research involves both computational modeling and experimental studies that investigate mechanisms of cardiac functions and of heart failure.  Upon completion of his thesis, Mr. Chikando plans to study the underlying mechanisms of cardiac arrhythmias and of heart failure.

Ganiraju Manyam, Virginia's Center for Innovative Technology Scholarship Award Winner, received his MS degree from the International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India.  He worked on a number of research projects during his Masters program, which include an online research paper database, a tool for analyzing the non-coding regions of genome, and a protein classifier using sequence modeling.  Ganiraju later worked as Junior Research Fellow in the Genomics Research Group at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, India, where he developed tools for predicting regulatory elements, comparative genomics analysis and large scale visualization of genomic DNA elements. Ganiraju is now studying for his Ph.D. in Biosciences at the Molecular and Microbiology Department, George Mason University. His research involves identification of expression profiles for discriminating between diseased and normal cells.  Particularly, he has analyzed tumor-specific telomere effects on adjacent genes and effects of airborne Francisella infection on lung epithelial cells.  Ganiraju is also a member of Phi-Beta-Delta honor society at George Mason. 

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Ixchel Victoria Montenegro, Pepper Hamilton LLC Scholarship Award Winner, is a senior at Montgomery Blair High School.  As a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Student Intern working in the National Institute of Mental Health at NIH, she researched repetitive behaviors in children with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).  She found that a strong similarity existed in repetitive behaviors among patients from both groups.  From these studies, Ixchel appreciated the difficulty in accurately diagnosing these disorders.  After observing the hardships that autistic children face in their struggle to interact with others and decode nonverbal cues, her feelings about becoming a pediatrician have strengthened. 

Faezeh Razjouyan, BIO IT Coalition Steve A. Mandell Scholarship Award Winner, emigrated from Iran to the United States in the fall of 2000.  Born and raised in Iran, her goal was to break the social barriers and pursue a well rounded and diverse college education and achieve her ultimate goal, to become a cardiac surgeon.  Inspired by the deaths of her grandfathers due to heart disease, she has had an interest in learning about the heart and its functions from an early age.  Faezeh is now a senior at George Washington University.  In addition to her academic experiences, she is devoted to various organizations at school and has taken the initiative to help the local community.  In the spring of 2004, Faezeh helped form a chapter of Unite for Sight (UFS) at GWU, is a non-profit organization with the purpose of improving eye health and prevent blindness throughout the world.  She has also been elected vice president of Tau Beta Pi (engineering honor society) for two straight years.  This position has allowed her to give back to the University to try to make it a better place for all students.  Faezeh has tutored high school students in her neighborhood and has joined GWU's Counseling Center as a peer tutor. 

Edward Rice, Arlington Economic Development Scholarship Award Winner, is a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology.  He will be attending Brown University next fall studying computer science.  At Thomas Jefferson, he has focused on electives in computer science classes.  Edward is also interested in medicine and biology.  This interest led to work at the National Center of Biotechnology Information, National Institutes of Health during the summers of 2006 and 2007, and this fall. He improved a software package called rh_tsp_map, which creates a genome map of an organism with radiation hybrid data to make it more automated, and coauthored a paper published in Bioinformatics describing these improvements.  Edward also created a new software package that uses the principles of synteny to perform quality control on a genome map.