Leading experts gathered at Yale School of Medicine for the inaugural meeting of the school’s Scientific Advisory Board. The event began with a reception at the Blake Hotel in New Haven on November 30, featuring a talk by Nancy J. Brown, MD, Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Yale School of Medicine on the institution’s strategic vision for scientific discovery. The next day, the board convened for three sessions on existing strengths, developing strengths, and cross-cutting themes. Topics included neuroscience; biomedical informatics, and data science; and faculty development and partnerships with engineering. The meeting featured time for members of the board to interact with faculty presenters and leaders.
Members of the board in attendance were Jean Bennett, MD, PhD, F.M. Kirby Professor of Ophthalmology at UPenn Perelman School of Medicine; Brian Kobilka, MD, PhD, Hélène Irwin Fagan Chair of Cardiology at Stanford University; Kelsey C. Martin, MD, PhD, director of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative; Juanita L. Merchant, MD, PhD, chief of the division of gastroenterology and professor of medicine at the University of Arizona; Charles Sawyers, MD, Marie-José and Henry R. Kravis Chair in Human Oncology and Pathogenesis at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Michael Singer, MD, PhD, co-founder and CSO of Cartesian Therapeutics, principal at Thirsty Brook Investments, and assistant professor adjunct at Yale School of Medicine; Holden Thorp, PhD, the Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and editor-in-chief at Science Magazine; and Ira Mellman, PhD, vice president of cancer immunology at Genentech.
“This is a great opportunity to get critical feedback on our overall strategic vision for research from world-leading scientists,” said Anthony Koleske, PhD, deputy dean for basic science research.
Each year the school will feature different scientific priorities and provide follow-up based on input from the board. All parties expressed excitement about continuing the conversation in the years to come.