Workshop Day 2 – Global Team Science: Bridging Borders from Bench to Bedside

by biomed | Aug 31, 2022 | Colloquium, News, Past Events

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.

Workshop Day 1 – Global Team Science: Bridging Borders from Bench to Bedside

by biomed | Aug 26, 2022 | Colloquium, News, Past Events

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 the University 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.

2020 Annual NIH Global Doctoral Partnerships Research Workshop

by biomed | Jul 28, 2020 | Colloquium, News, Past Events

In the midst of a global pandemic, the NIH Oxford-Cambridge (OxCam)/Wellcome Trust (WT) Scholars rallied together to execute the Annual NIH Global Doctoral Partnerships Research Workshop (Workshop). The student-led Workshop Planning Committee (Committee) researched venues, engaged keynote speakers, invited guests, and arranged student talks and team competitions intended to be hosted at American University. Unfortunately, due to Covid-19, the Committee had to quickly pivot from an in-person event to hosting on a virtual platform. While months of planning went into the in-person Workshop, the Committee took on the challenges of creating not only the first student-run event, but also the first virtual event, finding creative ways to engage the student body and allowing Scholars to present their research.

Opening the 2020 Workshop, Committee Chair and ’19 NIH-Oxford Scholar, Marya Sabir, introduced NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins and welcomed the Scholars and participants. Dr. Collins addressed global cooperation in response to the Covid-19 pandemic and importance of global collaboration. “Science is necessary for the future of the world,” stated Dr. Collins.  

Following Dr. Collins’ welcome address, Keynote Speaker Madhukar Pai discussed “Reimagining Global Health in the Post-Pandemic World.” Key take-aways included the ability to “reflect on our privilege and spend the privilege to serve as allies in the quest for a more diverse and equitable global health.” He also stated, “we need to address health inequities within high-income countries. GLOBAL health is also and just as much LOCAL health.” This discussion prompted the audience to zoom out and discuss diversity and inclusion within their institutions and research partnerships.

Scholars Lynda Truong, Hannah Mason, and Marya Sabir served as moderators for concurrent sessions featuring Scholar oral presentations spanning Cellular and Molecular Biology, Immunology and Neuroscience respectively. For the first- and second-year Scholars, the Workshop Planning Committee took a unique spin on traditional “elevator pitches” and created a team competition.  Four teams, consisting of 6-7 students and led by a Scholar and an OxCam Executive Committee Captains, battled for bragging rights in executing condensed research talks.  The much-anticipated team competition yielded spirited research presentations, woven into creative formats, geared toward engaging the audience – all in an effort to hone science communication skills.   

On day two of the Workshop, ’18 NIH-Oxford Scholar Lauren Wedekind welcomed back Workshop attendees and introduced Keynote Speaker Ms. Krystal Tsosie. Ms. Tsosie, a PhD Candidate at Vanderbilt University, presented “Our Genomes, Our Health: Empowering Indigenous Data Sovereignty and Precision Medicine for US Tribes.” In her talk, she surveyed her work in bioethics as an Indigenous scientist, training of young Indigenous scientists with the Summer internship for Indigenous peoples in Genomics (SING) Consortium and discussed the problems of institutions’ engagement with tribal communities. Ms. Tsosie recommended the audience to read a perspective published in Nature called “A framework for enhancing ethical genomic research with Indigenous communities.”

Scholars Audrey Winkelsas, Lauren Wedekind and Katherine Masih served as moderators for consecutive Scholar oral presentations around Neuroscience and Neuroimmunology, Cancer and Genetics, and Infectious Disease and Vaccine Research.

To welcome the Class of 2020, Student Leadership Board member Boya Wang stitched together a video of the new Scholars introducing themselves and sharing fun facts. We learned that there are three sets of twins among the new class and heard that a newly married Scholar is hiking thousands of miles across the US prior to orientation week!

Due to time constraints in transitioning from an in person event to a virtual event, the Committee decided to reorganize alumni presentations via a bi-monthly Alumni Social Hour as part of a new initiative called the Career Development Seminar Series. They designed these webinars to engage with alumni of the NIH OxCam/WT Program. Hosted on the Alliance’s Zoom Platform, the Committee invited Program Alumni to talk about their careers in industry, consulting, academia, medicine, start-ups, and more and “met” alumni from around the world. The Committee has scheduled these webinars until mid-September and are looking forward to continuing this series. 

Keynote Speaker Drs. L. Michelle Bennett and Michele Hu graciously agreed to serve as presenters for the Zoom Career Development Seminar Series. Dr. Bennett presented “Collaboration and Team Science for Research Success” on July 13, 2020 and shared insights on Disciplinary Continuum, the Three Pillars (Trust, Vision and Setting Expectations) and Stages of Team Development. Dr. Michele Hu, a Professor of Clinical Neuroscience and Honorary Consultant Neurologist at the University of Oxford, will present on July 29, 2020. Dr. Hu leads the clinical research program on the Oxford Parkinson’s Disease Centre Discovery cohort and her team facilitates translational research in the field of longitudinal cohort studies and biomarkers for early and prodromal Parkinson’s disease, with particular focus on REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), and how sleep affects neurodegeneration.

To conclude the Workshop, the Annual Research Awards Ceremony announced eight Alliance Sponsored Awards, along with, Outstanding Speaker Presentation Awards and Honorable Mentions for each class year, and winning team for the Elevator Pitch Competition.  Details on the winners can be found in a separate article on this page. To learn more about the Workshop, the Program Agenda can be found here.

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, AuerbachSchrot, LLC, BioHealth Innovation, Certara, Cozzi Family Clinical Case Conferences/Mrs. Margaret Cozzi-Hamilton, Emergent BioSolutions, Institute for the Future of Medical Education, Lasker Foundation, MacroGenics, Margaret Bearn, Michael Lenardo, M.D., National Institutes of Health, NIH Oxford-Cambridge Scholars/Wellcome Trust Alumni, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, Richard Siegel, M.D. and Vera Siegel, University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and WCG.