Plenary Speakers

Plenary Lecturer: Dr. Jessica Lasky-Su      

Dr. Lasky-Su is an Associate Professor in Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. She graduated with a PhD in Genetic Epidemiology from Harvard School of Public Health and has over 19 yearsof experience in identification of genetic, genomic, and metabolomic determinants for complex diseases. She has authored over 100 peer-reviewed original research manuscripts. Dr. Lasky-Su’s current work is on analytic and network approaches to integrate metabolomics and other omics data types with the end goal of making strides towards precision medicine. She serves as the principal investigator and co-investigator on many grants focused on the integration of metabolomics and other omics data types for several diseases including asthma, allergies, preeclampsia, macular degeneration, cancer, and several other complex diseases. Dr. Lasky-Su is the chairman of the Consortium of METabolomic Studies (COMETS) which aims to facilitate the utilization of metabolomics in large population-based cohorts. She continues to promote metabolomics research among the epidemiological community through the establishment of solid statistical approaches, the harmonization of data, and the integration of metabolomics or other omics data.

 

Plenary Lecturer: Dr. Rima Kaddurah-Daouk 

Dr. Kaddurah Daouk is Professor in departments of Psychiatry and Medicine at Duke University Medical Center. She is a graduate of the American University of Beirut department of biochemistry with subsequent training at Johns Hopkins (worked with Noble Laureate Hamilton Smith), Massachusetts General Hospital and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

She has been a seminal force in development of applications for metabolomics in the medical field. She co-founded the Metabolomics Society and served over four years as its founding president helping create presence and voice for an interactive metabolomics community. She cofounded Metabolon, a leading biotechnology company for applications in metabolomics. With significant funding from NIH she established and leads large consortia that includes over 120 scientists from over thirty academic institutions. The “Mood Disorder Precision Medicine Consortium” (MDPMC) funded by NIMH seeks to optimize treatment outcomes in depression. The “Alzheimer’s Disease Metabolomics Consortium” funded by NIA and in partnership with the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative is one out of six consortia under Accelerated Medicine Partnership for Treatment of Alzheimer Disease (AMPAD) and Molecular Mechanisms of the Vascular Etiology of Alzheimer’s Disease (M²OVE-AD) initiatives set to respond to President Obama’s challenge to prevent or treat Alzheimer’s disease  by 2025 “A Plan to Address Alzheimer Treat or Prevent by 2025”. Currently she is establishing foundations for the “Alzhiemer Gut Microbiome Project” a large initiative that includes leadership from gut microbiome and the metabolomics fields with a mission to define gut brain chemical axis in Alzhiemer and other neuropsychiatric diseases. Earlier work funded by NIGMS through  “Pharmacometabolomics Research Network” established foundations for a new filed “Pharmacometabolomics”  that parallels and informs pharmacogenomics and where metabolic profiles of individuals are used to inform about treatment outcomes.

Dr. Kaddurah-Daouk leads several initiatives and task groups in Precision Medicine.