Robert J. Lefkowitz, M.D.

2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry
2007 National Medal of Science

Dr. Lefkowitz studied and trained to become a physician at Columbia University, and upon completing his medical residency, research, and clinical training he was appointed Associate Professor of Medicine and Assistant Professor of Biochemistry at the Duke University Medical Center. Dr. Lefkowitz studies receptor biology and signal transduction. Acknowledging that each cell has a small receiver known as a receptor, which is able to receive hormones, Dr. Lefkowitz attached a radioactive isotope of iodine to the hormone adrenaline in 1968. By tracking the radiation emitted by the isotope, he succeeded in finding a receptor for adrenaline and studied how it functions. Approximately half of all medications used today make use of this kind of receptor.  He is currently an Investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as well as a James B. Duke Professor of Medicine and Professor of Biochemistry and Chemistry at Duke University.

Mary E. Klotman, M.D.

Dean, Duke University School of Medicine
Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs, Duke University

Dr. Klotman became dean of the Duke School of Medicine in June 2017. An accomplished clinician and scientist, Dr. Klotman’s research interests are focused on the molecular pathogenesis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV-1) infection. Among many important contributions to this field, Dr. Klotman and her team demonstrated that HIV resides in and evolves separately in kidney cells, a critical step in HIV-associated kidney disease. Her research group also has determined the role of soluble host factors involved in an innate immune response to HIV in an effort to improve prevention strategies, topical microbicides that could be used to block sexual transmission of HIV. Most recently, her group has been defining the role of integrase-defective lentiviral vectors for the delivery of an HIV vaccine.

Sir Richard Roberts, Ph.D.

Winner, 1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine

Dr. Roberts was educated in chemistry at the University of Sheffield, and in molecular biology at Harvard University. He worked for 20 years at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where his group discovered RNA splicing, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1993. He has had a long-standing interest in bioinformatics and has been applied to his research on restriction enzymes and DNA methylases. He now dedicates his research to GMO crops and food sources and demonstrating the effect they have on humanity.

Jack Szostak, Ph.D.

Winner, 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
Winner, 2006 Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research

Dr. Szostak is one of the great pioneers in genetic research. A Harvard University professor of Genetics and the Alexander Rich Distinguished Investigator at Massachusetts General Hospital, he is credited with the construction of the world’s first artificial yeast chromosome. Currently, Dr. Szostak’s lab focuses on the challenges of understanding the origin of life on Earth, and the construction of artificial cellular life in the laboratory.

Francoise A. Marvel, M.D.

Cardiology Fellow, Johns Hopkins University
Cardiology Fellow, Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
Co-Founder, Corrie Health

As a cardiology fellow at Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Marvel collaborated with Apple on an app, Corrie Health, designed to empower heart attack patients in their recovery. Corrie Health works with the Apple Watch and is the first cardiology app in CareKit, Apple’s new framework for medical applications. Corrie Health helps patients manage medications, schedule follow-up appointments, and contact healthcare providers. It also shows heart rate and steps walked each day, which are tracked by an Apple Watch, while blood pressure is monitored through another Bluetooth-enabled sensor. The American Heart Association presented Dr.Marvel and her team with a $25,000 Urban Health Accelerator grant. Dr. Marvel aims to expand our understanding of the roles of health technology, machine learning, and big data through ongoing testing and scaling of the Corrie Health platform for cardiovascular disease prevention.

Bohdan Pomahac, M.D.

Chief, Division of Plastic Surgery at Yale New Haven Hospital

Dr. Pomahac established the Plastic Surgery Transplantation Program at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). A pioneer in the field, Dr. Pomahac’s team performed the first three full face transplant procedures in the United States, and the first successful bilateral upper extremity transplantation in the Northeast. With the overall 10 face and 3 bilateral hand transplants, Dr. Pomahac made BWH the world leader in vascularized composite transplantation.

Dr. Pomahac joined Yale School of Medicine in August 2021 where he will pursue ongoing research efforts aim to expand transplantation capabilities in the future.

Harriet A. Washington

American Writer and Medical Ethicist
Author of Medical Apartheid, which won the 2007 National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction

Stephen Ray Mitchell, M.D., MBA, MACP, FAAP, FRCP

Dean for Medical Education, Georgetown University School of Medicine (2000-2020)
Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics and the Joseph Butenas
Professor, Georgetown University School of Medicine

Myrtle Potter

FORTUNE’s Top 50 Most Powerful Women in Business
Black Health Magazine’s 25 Most Influential African Americans in Healthcare
Glamour Magazine’s Everyday Icon
Wall Street Journal’s 50 Women to Watch.

Myrtle Potter is the CEO of Sumitovant Biopharma, Inc., a global biopharmaceutical company focused on rapidly developing innovative medicines. Before she joined Sumitovant, Myrtle served as Vant Operating Chair at Roivant (2018-2019). Prior to Roviant, she was CEO of Myrtle Potter & Company, a healthcare advisory firm she started in 2005. From 2000 to 2005, Potter was COO and later President of Genentech, where she achieved record sales and earnings growth and launched seven novel therapies.

During her tenure, she co-chaired the Product Portfolio Committee, which made all asset investment and prioritization decisions for Genentech’s drug pipeline, making it the most valuable pipeline in the world at that time. Prior to Genentech, she was President of Bristol-Myers Squibb’s U.S. cardiovascular and metabolic business, where she oversaw an operation of 3,500 people and which launched numerous multi-billion-dollar medicines. Potter began her biopharmaceutical career at Merck, where she started the company Astra-Merck, Inc., which, through a series of transactions, became AstraZeneca.

Potter is a graduate of the University of Chicago and serves on the university’s board of trustees. She also serves on the boards of Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, Myovant Sciences (Chairwoman) and Urovant Sciences (Chairwoman). She has previously served on the boards of Amazon, Express Scripts, Medco Health Solutions, and Rite Aid.

Paul B. Rothman, M.D.

Dean, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
CEO, Johns Hopkins Medicine

As Dean of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine, Dr. Rothman, oversees both the Johns Hopkins Health System and the School of Medicine. As a rheumatologist and molecular immunologist, Dr. Rothman’s research focuses on immune system molecules known as cytokines. Specifically, he has investigated the role these molecules play in the normal development of blood cells, as well as the abnormal development of these blood cells that lead to leukemia.