Session Abstract
Session Synopsis: With an estimated 2.5 million patients in the United States alone, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), is a mysterious disease baffling medical agencies and inquisitive people all over the world. Join us to explore why precision medicine is fundamental in solving ME/CFS and clarifying its etiology.
Session Chair Profile
Ph.D., MPA, Chief Scientific Officer and Vice President for Research, Solve ME/CFS Initiative (SMCI)
Biography
Zaher Nahle is an award-winning scientist with interdisciplinary training in administration and biomedical research. Currently, he oversees the research and scientific portfolio at SMCI that includes the peer-review grant program for external investigators, specialized biobanking and patient registry platforms as well as numerous medical education initiatives for patients and healthcare professionals. He also directs a specialized investment program with medical centers, government agencies and industry partners to spark innovation and accelerate the discovery process in the ME/CFS disease space. Dr. Nahle is a frequent speaker at international conferences and serves on specialized committees at federal agencies, including the NIH and the CDC. His background spans the fields of cancer biology, high-throughput technologies, diabetes, and ME/CFS. Prior to joining SMCI, he served on the faculty at leading universities and founded a nonprofit organization focused on the disability agenda with a classmate while at Harvard. His work is featured in journals like Science and Nature. He was an awardee of the American Heart Association (AHA) and the Department of Defense (DoD) and a Mason fellow at Harvard. He received a PhD in Physiology and Biophysics from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory/Stony Brook and an MPA from Harvard University, where he completed a fellowship in public policy and management at the John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Speaker Profile
M.D., Simcox-Clifford-Higby Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
Biography
Dr. Komaroff is Senior Physician, Brigham & Women’s Hospital (BWH). He served as Director of the Division of General Medicine at BWH (1982-97); Co-Director, Program in Clinical Effectiveness, a training program in non-laboratory investigation; and Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Health Publications Division of Harvard Medical School, responsible for all Harvard Medical School’s consumer health publishing (1997-2015). He is the Founding Editor of NEJM Journal Watch General Medicine, a publication of the New England Journal of Medicine, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American College of Physicians. For 35 years, he has cared for and studied patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). He has served as an advisor on this and related illnesses to the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Surgeon General, and Institute of Medicine/National Academy of Sciences.
Speaker Profile
MBA, President and CEO, Codexis
Biography
In June of 2012, John Nicols was named as the company’s second President and Chief Executive Officer. Prior to Codexis, he served for more than 22 years in various capacities at Albemarle Corporation, a public company focused on the development, manufacture, and marketing of highly engineered specialty chemicals. Since March 2012, Mr. Nicols was Senior Vice President, Strategic Development and Catalysts and before that the Vice President of Catalysts. He had roles in Fine Chemistry, led the Global Flame Retardants business, and headed the Bromine Businesses in Asia from 1995 to 1998. Prior to Albemarle Corporation, Mr. Nicols worked for three years in manufacturing and research and development for Hercules, Inc. Mr. Nicols received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and an M.B.A. from the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
