Women’s Health Conference 2026

Opening Session

8:30–9:00 AM
Welcome and Opening Remarks

AI and Digital Innovation in Women’s Health

Moderator: Melissa Bondy (Stanford University)

9:00–9:20 AM
Leveraging Human Organ Chips to Provide New Insights into Women’s Health
Donald E. Ingber — Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University

9:20–9:40 AM
AI-guided Integration of Biological and Clinical Knowledge for Maternal and Child Health
Nima Aghaeepour — Stanford University

9:40–10:00 AM
Artificial Intelligence in Obstetrics: Opportunities and Challenges in Maternal–Fetal Medicine
Mahesh Choolani — Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, National University of Singapore

10:00–10:20 AM
AI and FemTech in Women’s Health
Alaa Abd-Alrazaq — Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar

10:20–10:40 AM
Wearables, Data Science, and Performance: Insights from Women Athletes
Juliana Antero — Université Paris Cité

10:40–11:00 AM
Panel Discussion

11:00–11:20 AM | Coffee Break

Precision Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine

Moderator: Ed Giovannucci (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

11:20–11:40 AM
Mediterranean Diet Interventions and Women’s Health: Evidence from Cohort Studies and Trials
Miguel Ángel Martínez-González — University of Navarra, Spain

11:40–12:00 PM
Healthy Diets for People and Planet: Integrating Human and Planetary Health
Walter C. Willett — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

12:00–12:20 PM
Nutrition and Women’s Health: over life course and across generations 
Cuilin Zhang — National University of Singapore

12:20–12:40 PM
Panel Discussion

12:40–1:30 PM | Lunch

Hormones, Cardiometabolic and Vascular Health

Moderator: Eric B. Rimm (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

1:30-2:00 PM
Keynote Lecture: Menopausal Hormone Therapy: Evolution of Evidence and Current Clinical Recommendations
JoAnn E. Manson — Harvard Medical School & Brigham and Women’s Hospital

2:00–2:20 PM
Cardiovascular Disease in Women: Epidemiology, Risk Factors, and Prevention
Kathryn M. Rexrode — Harvard Medical School & Brigham and Women’s Hospital

2:20–2:40 PM
Vascular Aging in Women: Mechanisms, Measurement, and Clinical Implications
Rosa Maria Bruno — Université Paris Cité

2:40–3:00 PM
Cardiometabolic Diseases in Asian Populations: Unique Risk Profiles and Prevention Strategies
Roger Foo — National University of Singapore

3:00–3:20 PM
Sex Differences in GLP-1–Based Therapies: Implications for Cardiometabolic Health
Sébastien Czernichow — Université Paris Cité

3:20–3:40 PM
Panel Discussion

3:40–4:00 PM | Coffee Break

Lightning Talks by Young Investigators

4:00–5:00 PM
Selected Abstract Presentations

Healthy Aging and Mental Health

Moderator: Alberto Ascherio (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

8:30–8:50 AM
Brain Aging in Women: Biomarkers, Imaging and Risk for Dementia
Rachel F. Buckley — Harvard Medical School

8:50–9:10 AM
Brain Imaging Meets AI: Advancing Precision Neurology and Psychiatry
Helen Zhou — National University of Singapore

9:10–9:30 AM
Depression and Mental Health in Women: Risk Factors and Prevention
Olivia I. Okereke — Harvard Medical School

9:30–9:50 AM
Panel Discussion

9:50–10:10 AM | Coffee Break

Reproductive Health I: Pregnancy, Fertility, Endometriosis, and PCOS 

Moderator: Marie-France Hivert (Harvard Medical School)

10:10–10:30 AM
Nutrition and Fertility: Evidence from Prospective Cohorts and Clinical Studies
Jorge E. Chavarro — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

10:30–10:50 AM
Endometriosis and PCOS: Epidemiology, Mechanisms, and Clinical Management
Stacey A. Missmer — Michigan State University

10:50-11:10 am
Menstrual Blood as a Novel Biofluid for Endometriosis Research and Diagnosis
Ludivine Doridot — INSERM & Université Paris Cité

11:10–11:25 AM
Panel Discussion

Reproductive Health II: Pregnancy, Fertility, Endometriosis, and PCOS 

Moderator: Emily Oken (Harvard Medical School)

11:25–11:45 AM
Preconception Health and Offspring Outcomes: Insights from the GUSTO and S-PRESTO Cohorts
Yap Seng Chong — National University of Singapore

11:45–12:05 AM
Svadhyaya and homeostasis – the art of self-study in the time of continuous wearable personal monitoring
Shruthi Mahalingaiah — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

12:05 AM–12:25 PM
Autoimmune Diseases in Women: Epidemiology and Clinical Implications
Karen H. Costenbader — Harvard Medical School

12:25–12:40 PM
Panel Discussion

12:40–1:30 PM | Lunch

Global Women’s Health and Health Equity

Moderators: Wafaie Fawzi (Harvard T.H. Chan SPH), Clarisse Berthezène (Université Paris Cité)

1:30–1:50 PM
THE STRESS TEST WE IGNORE: Reclaiming Prevention as Women’s Health Policy
Michelle A. Williams — Stanford University

1:50–2:10 PM
Therapeutic Mobility and Breast Cancer: Lived Experiences of African Women in Europe
Clémence Schantz — Université Paris Cité & Institut Convergences Migrations

2:10–2:40 PM
Advancing Global Women’s Reproductive Health: The confluence of Science, Programs and Policy Innovation
Ana Langer — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

2:40–3:00 PM
Panel Discussion

3:00–3:20 PM | Coffee Break

Special Session: Global Women’s Health Impact Tracking Platform (WHIT)

Moderator: Marcia Castro (Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health)

3:20–4:15 PM
Panelists:
World Economic Forum
McKinsey Health Institute
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

4:15–5:00 PM
Spotlight on NUS–Harvard Chan Women’s Health Initiative (NUSHINE)

Reception and Poster Presentations

5:00–8:00 PM
Location: Veritas Science Center (formerly Harvard Medical School New Research Building) – 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, Boston, MA

NHS at 50: Celebrating Discovery, Inspiring Generations

8:30–8:45 AM
Welcome

8:45–9:15 AM
Nurses’ Health Study: History, Landmark Discoveries, and Public Health Impact
Andrea Romanos-Nanclares, Heather Eliassen — Channing Division of Network Medicine, MGB/HMS

9:15–9:45 AM
Diet and Nutrition Across the Life Course: Lessons from NHS
Deirdre Tobias, Frank B. Hu — Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

9:45–10:45 AM
Lightning Talks by Junior NHS Investigators

10:45–11:05 AM | Coffee Break

11:05 AM–12:05 PM
NHS Principal Investigator Panel

12:05-12:35 PM
NHS participant panel

Closing remarks

Dr. Alaa Abd-Alrazaq is an Assistant Professor and Director of Artificial Intelligence for Precision Women’s Health at the AI Center for Precision Health at Weill Cornell Medicine–Qatar. He is also an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Qatar University and Visiting Fellow at the University of South Wales. His work focuses on the intersection of Artificial Intelligence, digital health, and FemTech to advance personalized and preventive healthcare for women. Dr. Abd-Alrazaq has authored more than 130 peer-reviewed publications and serves on several international editorial boards in digital health and medical AI.

Nima Aghaeepour is a machine learning and artificial intelligence scientist and the Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine II Endowed Professor and Professor of Pediatrics, and of Biomedical Data Science at Stanford University. His laboratory develops machine learning and artificial intelligence methods to study clinical and biological modalities in translational settings. Dr. Aghaeepour primarily focuses on leveraging multiomics studies, wearable devices, and electronic health records to address clinical challenges in perioperative care and maternal and child health, with a particular focus on interventional settings including operating rooms, ICUs, labor and delivery, and NICUs. His work is recognized by awards from numerous national and international organizations including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Alfred E. Mann Foundation, the March of Dimes Foundation, the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Aging, and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Prior to his faculty role, Dr. Aghaeepour earned his B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Tehran, followed by a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from the University of British Columbia and a postdoctoral fellowship at Stanford University.

Dr. Juliana Antero (PT, PhD) is an epidemiologist at the French National Institute of Sport (INSEP). She leads a research team focused on female athletes’ health and performance through the Empow’her program. This research program uses digital tools and wearable sensors for in situ, longitudinal monitoring of elite athletes, applying a personalized, multiparametric approach that integrates physiology, hormonal fluctuations, and training load. Dedicated to advancing women’s health research, she also serves on the Executive Committee of iWISH (Institute for Women and Interdisciplinary research in Science and Health) at Université Paris Cité, coordinating the “Living and Ageing in Good Health” research axis.

Dr. Ascherio graduated in medicine at the University of Milan in 1978 and practiced medicine and public health in Latin America and Africa for several years before moving to Boston, USA, where he became Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. He was awarded honorary doctoral degrees from the University of Southern Denmark and the University of Bergen, delivered the Falch Lecture in 2023, and he is co-recipient of a life sciences 2025 Breakthrough Prize for discovering that the Epstein-Barr virus causes multiple sclerosis.

Andrea Baccarelli, MD, PhD, is the Dean of the Faculty at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His work on the health impact of environmental exposures has been used by agencies worldwide to shape pollution control policies. Dr. Baccarelli previously served as chair of the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, director of the NIH/NIEHS P30 Center for Environmental Health and Justice and president of the International Society for Environmental Epidemiology. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Baccarelli holds an MD from the University of Perugia in Italy, an MS in Epidemiology from the University of Turin, and a PhD from the University of Milan.

Clarisse Berthezène is a Professor of History at Université Paris Cité (ECHELLES, UMR 8264) and she holds a Chair at the Institut Universitaire de France. She is the Head of Global Engagement for iWISH, the Interdisciplinary Institute for Women’s Health at Université Paris Cité. She has published extensively on the history of conservatism. Her current research project focuses on the history of welfare states and gendered health inequalities in Europe.

Dr. Melissa Bondy is the inaugural chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health and the Associate Director for Population Sciences at the Stanford Cancer Institute. Before joining Stanford, she was Associate Director of Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences and section chair of Epidemiology and Population Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine. Her research focus is in genetic and molecular epidemiology and is at the forefront of developing innovative ways to assess the roles of heredity and genetic susceptibility in the etiology of cancer and outcomes, primarily brain and breast cancer. Currently, she leads the largest family study of glioma patients, as well as a study of molecular predictors of outcome for glioma patients. She has a strong interest in health disparities and has a current study to investigate the ethnic differences in glioma. She has been working on studying the health effects of exposure to Hurricane Harvey. She serves on the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI) Board of Scientific Advisors, where she provides direct counsel to the Director of the NCI, and is a member of the External Advisory Board for several NCI-designated cancer centers. In 2018, she received the Visiting Scholar Award from the NCI Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

Rosa Maria Bruno (MD, PhD) is specialist in Internal Medicine and Hypertension, head of the Unit of Clinical Pharmacology and Women’s Cardiovascular Health at the Hopital Européen Georges Pompidou and full professor in Pharmacology at Université Paris Cité (Paris, France). Her research is focused on novel approaches for the non-invasive evaluation of vascular ageing in hypertension and other diseases, with a focus on sex and gender differences. She is vice-president of the Artery Society, treasurer of the ESC Council of Hypertension and member of the Council of iWISH (Institute for Women and Interdisciplinary Research in Science and Health) of Université Paris Cité.

Dr. Buckley is an Associate Professor of Neurology at Mass General Brigham and Harvard Medical School. She is a past recipient of an NIH-NIA K99/R00 Pathway to Independence award and an NIH DP2 New Innovator Award. After initially completing her PhD in Neuropsychology at the University of Melbourne, Australia, with the Australian Imaging Biomarker and Lifestyle Study of Aging, she then moved to Boston to train in PET neuroimaging and cognitive decline under the mentorship of Dr. Reisa Sperling at the Harvard Aging Brain Study. Her research interests lie in sex differences in risk for Alzheimer’s disease, and she holds multiple NIH grants seeking to optimize women’s brain health in neurodegenerative disease, with a specific focus on the role of menopause, sex hormones and the X chromosome to impact risk and resilience to Alzheimer’s disease. Rachel is the recent past Chair of the Sex and Gender Differences in Alzheimer’s disease Professional Interest Area for the Alzheimer’s Association; she is a co-lead of the Sex and Gender in Neurodegeneration (S|GN) Consortium for the Alzheimer’s Disease Data Initiative and sits on the editorial board for Neurology.

Marcia Castro is Andelot Professor of Demography, chair of the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and director of the Brazil Studies Program of the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies (DRCLAS). Her research focuses on the development and use of multidisciplinary approaches to identify the determinants of infectious disease transmission in different ecological settings to inform control policies. She made important contributions during recent public health emergencies and has projects on malaria, COVID-19, arboviruses, women’s health, infant/child mortality and development, and climate change in the Brazilian Amazon. She is an elected member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. She earned a PhD in demography from Princeton University.
 

Jorge E. Chavarro, M.D., Sc.D., is Dean for Academic Affairs and Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Chavarro’s research focuses on understanding how nutritional, lifestyle and metabolic factors impact human reproduction and reproductive milestones throughout the life course, and how these events, in turn, impact other aspects of health.  His work has resulted in more than 500 scientific publications. He has served as standing member and Chairperson of the Pregnancy and Neonatology study section for the US National Institutes of Health, and as a member of the Research Program Review Panel for the World Health Organization’s Human Reproduction Programme.

Karen Costenbader, MD, MPH is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and holds the Michael E. Weinblatt, MD Endowed Chair in Rheumatology in the Division of Rheumatology, Inflammation and Immunity at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, where she serves as Director of the Lupus Program and Chief of the Section of Clinical Sciences. Dr. Costenbader’s research investigates the epidemiology and pathogenesis of systemic lupus erythematosus and rheumatoid arthritis in particular. She is an experienced research mentor for medical students, residents, graduate students in epidemiology, and rheumatology fellows and junior faculty, having trained over 50 doctoral and post-doctoral fellows and faculty. She is PI of the Lupus Registry containing data on more than 3,000 patients. She is currently the Deputy Editor of Arthritis & Rheumatology. She has served as the Chair of the NIH’s ‘Arthritis, Musculoskeletal and Skin Disease’ Study Section, Chair of the Medical and Scientific Advisory Council for the Lupus Foundation of America, and as Faculty Director of the Office of Research Careers at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Dr. Sébastien Czernichow, MD, PhD, is Professor of Nutrition at Paris Cité University (Faculty of Health | Université Paris Cité (u-paris.fr) and head of the Department of Nutrition at Georges Pompidou Hospital (Paris, France). This Department is dedicated to the management of patients living with severe obesity and is part of a European network for accredited multidisciplinary treatment centers (COMs – EASO). His major research interests include the epidemiology and prevention of obesity and diabetes. He has published over 330 scientific papers.

Ludivine Doridot is a researcher at INSERM (French National Institute of Health andMedical Research) and an Associate Professor at Université Paris Cité (Paris, France). She obtained her PhD in Genetics from Université Paris Descartes in 2013 for her studies on preeclampsia, a hypertensive disease of pregnancy. She then performed a postdoc in Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a Harvard-affiliated hospital in Boston (USA), where she studied genetic environment interaction in the context of metabolic syndrome. Since 2017, she has
focused on endometriosis and reproductive immunology. She obtained a European Starting Grant (ERC) to study menstrual blood in the context of endometriosis in 2023. Since 2025, she is co-coordinating a national research consortium on endometriosis involving 12 research teams and 3 clinical centers. In 2025, she also joined the executive board of iWISH (Institute for Women Interdisciplinary research in Science and Health) and University-Hospital Federation FRAME (Finding Reliable Answer for Managing Endometriosis). 

Dr. Heather Eliassen is Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is Director of the Chronic Disease Epidemiology Unit within the Channing Division of Network Medicine, for which she also serves as Associate Director, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Dr. Eliassen is co-PI of two ongoing prospective cohort studies, the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), founded in 1976 with 121,700 women, and the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHSII), founded in 1989 with 116,400 women. She also is Director of the Channing/Harvard Cohort Biorepository, which houses more than three million biospecimens from 200,000 cohort participants, and Co-Leader of the Cancer Epidemiology Program at the Dana-Farber/Harvard Cancer Center. Her research focuses on breast cancer, and the roles of diet, lifestyle, and underlying biology in risk and survival. Specifically, she is interested in modifiable factors that may reduce the risk of developing breast cancer, and those that may improve survival after breast cancer diagnosis. She incorporates biomarkers, including metabolomic profiles, hormones, and specific markers of dietary intake, as well as biomarkers from tumor tissue. Dr. Eliassen is actively involved in teaching and mentoring graduate students at the Harvard Chan School and mentoring postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty members at Harvard and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. In addition, much of her time is spent working with both internal and external investigators, facilitating the use of the cohort resources.

Wafaie Fawzi is a physician and epidemiologist focused on advancing global health research, education, and practice. He is the Richard Saltonstall Professor of Population Sciences, Professor of Nutrition, Epidemiology, and Global Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Between 2011 and 2018, he served as Chair of the Department of Global Health and Population at Harvard. He established and continues to lead the Nutrition and Global Health Program, an interdepartmental initiative at Harvard where, over the past 25 years, he has sought to strengthen the evidence base for advancing human health and development. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. He has directed the design and implementation of more than 35 randomized controlled trials and numerous large observational epidemiologic studies of maternal, child, and adolescent health, and major infectious diseases. His team’s work has advanced evidence and policies about the safety and benefits of integrated nutritional interventions for pregnant women, infants, and adolescents. As a program director and academic leader, he has convened interdisciplinary teams to establish and advance global health education and to foster research and knowledge translation. He leads multiple training grants and has developed two implementation science initiatives to advance adolescent health in Africa and Asia, as well as the intersectoral integration of food systems/agriculture, nutrition, and planetary health.

Prof Roger Foo is a graduate of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine (Class of 1992). Upon graduation and national service, he spent 20 years abroad before returning to Singapore in 2013. His specialist training was undertaken at King’s College Hospital, London, and Addenbrooke’s Hospital, University of Cambridge, UK. In 2003, Prof Foo was awarded the UK Wellcome Trust Fellowship to pursue postdoctoral molecular and cellular research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York, and returned to Cambridge UK in 2006 as a British Heart Foundation Fellow and Consultant Physician, before eventually returning to Singapore. His laboratory is recognised as the first to publish an epigenomic map of the failing human heart in 2012. Now, the Foo lab continues to contribute to discoveries in the field of heart disease epigenetics and gene regulation, having published an in-depth analysis of the cardiac chromatin 3D organisation, and mapped out the mechanisms of nodal pathways that regulate cardiomyocyte cell states. The lab deep dives into the cardiac genome and epigenome, using advanced technologies of single cell transcriptomics, CRISPR gene-editing and induced pluripotent stem cells to push science at the frontiers. Always seeking translational opportunities, Prof Foo was also the first to apply Next Generation sequencing to the cardiac clinic at National University Hospital, and established multiple research and commercial networks with collaborators and biopharma, locally and internationally.  He holds an adjunct Research Director position at the Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in A*STAR, and also mentors many young clinician scientists through his role as Advisor of the NUHS Clinician Scientist Academy and also nationally in the College of Clinician Scientists.

Dr. Edward Giovannucci is a Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. In addition, he currently is an American Cancer Society Clinical Researcher Professor. Dr. Giovannucci graduated from Harvard University in 1980, and he received his MD from University of Pittsburgh in 1984. He did his residency in anatomic pathology at the University of Connecticut, and then completed a Doctor of Science in epidemiology from Harvard in 1992. His research focuses on how nutritional, lifestyle and genetic factors affect the risk of development and progression of cancers and other major chronic diseases. A specific interest has been understanding etiologic mechanisms underlying the relation between diet, physical activity, body weight and composition, and metabolic dysfunction and cancer risk. He served as a member for the expert panel for the World Cancer Research Fund/American Institute of Cancer Research and on the United States 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee.

Dr. Hivert is a Professor in the Department of Population Medicine (DPM) at Harvard Medical School (HMS). She is a clinical investigator with a primary focus on the etiology and prevention of obesity and related metabolic conditions, particularly type 2 diabetes and gestational diabetes. Her research expertise includes fetal metabolic programming mechanisms and the integration of genetics, epigenetics, and environmental factors contributing to obesity and diabetes across the life course. She is the Principal Investigator (PI) of Genetics of Glucose regulation in Gestation and Growth (Gen3G), and co-PI of Project Viva, two independent prospective birth cohorts that investigate the health determinants of mothers and children. She is currently involved in many international consortia investigating the genetics determinants of glycemic regulation during and outside of pregnancy, as well as epigenetics mechanisms linked to prenatal exposures and fetal programming. She is one of the leaders of the international effort “Precision Medicine for Diabetes Initiative” for the field of Gestational Diabetes. At Harvard Medical School, she is the director of the Curricular Theme “Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine” and the co-director of the Advance Integrated Science Course “Metabolism, Nutrition, and Lifestyle Medicine”. She is also the Director of the Precision Medicine Translational Research (PROMoTeR) Center at DPM and HMS.

Frank Hu, MD, MPH, PhD, is a world-leading researcher in diet, chronic disease prevention, and healthy aging. He is the Fredrick J. Stare Professor of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His pioneering work has shaped the understanding of how diet and lifestyle influence cardiometabolic diseases and healthy aging. He has published over 1,000 scientific papers and is among the top 10 most cited researchers in medicine and public health in the world (H-index 320). His research has been instrumental in advancing precision nutrition, dietary biomarkers, and global efforts to combat chronic disease. His work has significantly influenced national and international dietary guidelines, including his role on the 2015 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. His contributions to nutrition science and policy have been recognized with numerous honors, including the Kelly West Award for Outstanding Achievement in Epidemiology by the American Diabetes Association, the American Heart Association’ Ancel Keys Memorial Lecturer, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.

Donald E. Ingber, MD, PhD is the Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, and Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He received his B.A., M.A., M.Phil., M.D. and Ph.D. from Yale University. Ingber is a pioneer in the field of biologically inspired engineering, and at the Wyss Institute, he currently leads scientific and engineering teams that cross a broad range of disciplines to develop and commercialize breakthrough bioinspired technologies to advance healthcare and to improve sustainability. Ingber is a member of the National Academies of Medicine, Engineering, and Inventors, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was named one of the Top 20 Translational Researchers world-wide in 2012, 2019, and 2020 and has received numerous other national and international honors. Ingber has made great strides in translating his innovations into commercial products and many are now either in clinical trials or currently being sold. One of his most recent breakthrough is the development of human Organ Chip microfluidic culture devices lined by living human cells that are being used to replace animal testing for drug development, disease modeling, and personalized medicine. His Organ Chip technology was named one of the Top 10 Emerging Technologies by the World Economic Forum and Design of the Year by the London Design Museum. It was also acquired by the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City for its permanent design collection. Ingber also has authored more than 600 publications and almost 200 patents, and founded 9 companies, including Emulate Inc., the leading manufacturer of Organ Chip systems.

In July 2010, Dr. Ana Langer joined the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health as a Professor of the Practice of Public Health (Department of Global Health and Population), and lead of the Women and Health Initiative. Dr. Langer, a physician specializing in pediatrics and neonatology and a reproductive health expert, has conducted research in low and middle-income countries and published extensively on women and health: maternal health; unsafe abortion; contraception; strategies to improve quality of reproductive health care; integration of maternal and newborn health care; and maternal health in humanitarian settings. Dr. Langer retired from HSPH in December 2022 and was appointed as Professor of the Practice, Emerita at Harvard University.

Shruthi Mahalingaiah, MD, MS, FACOG is an associate professor of environmental, reproductive, and women’s health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She serves clinically as a physician at the Massachusetts General Hospital in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, where she specializes in ovulation disorders, reproductive endocrinology, and infertility. Her research seeks to understand the links between environmental and modifiable risk factors on human reproduction and gynecological diseases. Dr. Mahalingaiah is the creator of the Ovulation and Menstruation Health (OM) Study and she is a principal investigator for the Apple Women’s Health Study.

JoAnn E. Manson, MD, MPH, DrPH, MACP, is Professor of Medicine and the Michael and Lee Bell Endowed Professor of Women’s Health at Harvard Medical School, Professor in the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Chief of the Division of Preventive Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH). Dr. Manson is a physician epidemiologist, endocrinologist, and Principal Investigator (PI) or co-PI of several research studies, including the Women’s Health Initiative Clinical Center In Boston, the cardiovascular component of the Nurses’ Health Study, the VITamin D and OmegA-3 TriaL (VITAL); the COSMOS trial, and the VItamin D for COVID-19 (VIVID) trial.

Miguel A. Martínez-González, MD, PhD is Professor of Public Health (University of Navarra, Spain), and Adjunct Professor at Harvard TH School of Public Health (Nutrition). Founder of the Department of Public Health at his University. Principal Investigator of large cohorts and trials (SUN, PREDIMED, PREDIMED-Plus and UNATI). He has published more than 1200 articles indexed in Web of Science and has been mentor of a large group of Professors of Epidemiology and Public Health. He is one of the most cited Spanish researchers. Doctor Honoris Causa by Almeria University and recipient of the 2023 “Gregorio Marañón” Award.

Stacey Missmer

Emily Oken, MD, MPH is Professor and Chair of the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, and Professor of Nutrition at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research examines how nutrition and other modifiable factors during pregnancy and early childhood influence long‑term health, including cardiometabolic outcomes and child development. She leads major longitudinal studies such as Project Viva and collaborates on global cohorts. A leader in developing nutrition guidelines, she is an ASCI inductee and an award‑winning mentor with clinical training in internal medicine and pediatrics.

Dr. Okereke is a Board-certified geriatric psychiatrist and Chief of the Division of Geriatric Psychiatry and Aging and Director of the Psychiatry Center on Disparities at the Mass General Brigham Academic Medical Centers Department of Psychiatry. She is the Terry and Jean de Gunzburg MGH Research Scholar 2021-2026, the Olga Danieli Associate Professor of Psychiatry in the Field of Depression at Harvard Medical School, and Associate Professor in Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her research focuses on modifiable risk factors and prevention of adverse mental aging, including late-life depression and cognitive decline, and reduction of health disparities in aging. She has published over 175 peer-reviewed journal articles, and her Google Scholar H-index is 62. Her expertise in aging has been recognized with invitations to national and international meetings and expert panels.  She contributes to the next generation of scholars in aging and mental health through PI, mentoring, and/or steering leadership roles on multiple NIH T32, R25 and P30 grants with a specific focus on training for early-career scientists. Dr. Okereke has been extensively involved in organizational leadership, community education and service over the past 20 years, and her roles have included membership on the Board of Directors of the Alzheimer’s Association MA/NH Chapter, Chair of the Chapter Medical and Scientific Advisory Committee and Chair of the Annual Meeting; election to the Board of Directors of the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) and two-terms of service on the American Psychiatric Association (APA) Council on Geriatric Psychiatry. She has been recognized by both the AAGP and the American Psychiatric Association with the Distinguished Fellow honor, by the Massachusetts Psychiatric Society with the Outstanding Psychiatrist Award for Research, and by the Women in Medicine Legacy Foundation.

Dr. Kathryn Rexrode is the Chief Academic Officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Chief of the Division of Women’s Health in the Department of Medicine at Mass General Brigham, and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Rexrode has broad and deep research experience in women’s health, with a focus on the impact of metabolism and female-specific risk factors on the risk of heart disease and stroke in women. As Chief of the Division of Women’s Health she oversees the Gretchen and Edward Fish Center for Women’s Health which provides comprehensive women’s health services.  Building on its core mission of leading the field in state-of-the-art care for women, the Division of Women’s Health conducts translational women’s health research and leads innovative education programs for medical students, residents, and faculty to advance the health of women.
 

ERIC RIMM, SCD is professor of epidemiology and nutrition and director of the program in cardiovascular epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and professor of medicine at the Harvard Medical School. He also serves as the Director of the PhD Program in for the 180+ doctoral students in the Populations Health Sciences Program at the Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University. He is internationally recognized for his extensive work in the study of the health effects of moderate alcohol consumption, whole grains, micronutrients, and polyphenols. He also studies the impact of local and national nutrition policy as it relates to the improvement of diets of school children, the 1 in 8 Americans on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other federal nutrition assistance programs. He served on the National Academy of Sciences’ food policy advisory committee for the USDA’s Economic Research Service and previously served on the scientific advisory committee for the 2010 U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. He is also a nutritional advisor to the Boston Red Sox and the Liverpool Football Club in the English Premier League. He has published more than 1000 peer-reviewed publications during his 30 years on the faculty at Harvard. Eric has received several awards for his work including the American Society for Nutrition Innovation Award.

Dr. Romanos-Nanclares is a nutritional and cancer epidemiologist. Her research focuses on understanding the role of diet in breast cancer prevention and survival. As a recipient of the K99/R00 grant from the National Cancer Institute, she is leading a project to investigate the role of chronic inflammation—specifically related to diet—in breast cancer development, focusing particularly on estrogen receptor-negative breast cancer. Using a multi-omics approach, she is combining metabolomics of pro-inflammatory dietary patterns, plasma proteomics, and tumor tissue transcriptomics, drawing on the extensive resources of the Nurses’ Health Studies. Her long-term goal is to integrate diet and lifestyle factors with multi-omics biomarkers to understand the biological pathways underlying aggressive breast tumors and extend this work into cancer survivorship. 

Professor Chong Yap Seng is Dean of the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, Deputy Chief Executive (Education and Research) at the National University Health System, and Pro-tem Executive Director of Singapore’s RIE Grand Challenge on Maximising Healthy and Successful Longevity. He is also the Chief Clinical Officer at A*STAR’s Institute for Human Development, lead principal investigator of the GUSTO and S-PRESTO birth cohort studies, and a practicing obstetrician. A recipient of multiple research accolades, including the National Outstanding Clinician Scientist Award (2017), he was conferred the ATOM Lifetime Achievement Award for Healthcare.

Meir Stampfer earned his MD from NYU School of Medicine and his DrPH from Harvard School of Public Health, where he is Research Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition; he previously served as Epidemiology Department Chair. He also serves as Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes and cognitive decline. He is consistently identified among the most highly cited scientists. Dr. Stampfer has been closely involved with the Nurses’ Health Study since 1979, and has served as PI and co-PI for part of that time.

Dr. Deirdre Tobias is an Associate Professor and epidemiologist at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and HSPH, leading research in nutrition, obesity, and chronic disease prevention. Dr. Tobias’s work focuses on the long-term health impacts of diet and lifestyle, and the advancement of rigorous and reproducible research methods. Dr. Tobias is the PI of NIH-funded research, including investigating the metabolic link between obesity and cancer. She is the Academic Editor for the top-ranked American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and recently served as a member of the scientific committee for the 2025-2030 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Michelle A. Williams, ScD, Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health, Stanford University, School of Medicine, Adjunct Professor of Epidemiology, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health, Former Dean of the Faculty, Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. Dr. Williams is a renowned epidemiologist, an award-winning educator, and a widely recognized academic leader. She is a tenured Professor of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University. Her research places special emphasis in the areas of reproductive, perinatal, pediatric, and molecular epidemiology. She has published more than 550 scientific articles and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2016. She has an undergraduate degree in biology and genetics from Princeton University, a master’s in civil engineering from Tufts University, and master’s and doctoral degrees in epidemiology from the Harvard Chan School. Her book, “The Cure for Everything: The Epic Struggle for Public Health and a Radical Vision for Human Thriving,” was published by Penguin Random House on February 3, 2026.

Dr. Walter Willett is a physician and epidemiologist and Professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. He served as Chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard for 25 years. Much of his work has been on the development of methods, using both questionnaire and biochemical approaches, to study the effects of diet on the occurrence of major diseases. He has published over 2,200 research papers, primarily on lifestyle risk factors for heart disease and cancer, and has written the textbook, Nutritional Epidemiology. He also has four books for the general public. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the recipient of many national and international awards for his research.

Dr. Cuilin Zhang is a Chair Professor in Medicine  at the National University of Singapore (NUS) Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine,  the Founding Director of the Global Centre for Asian Women’s Health, and the Lead for Population Health Study program of  NUS Asian Centre for Reproductive Longevity and Equity (ACRLE). Dr. Zhang is also directing  the NUS Master of Science Program of Nutrition and Lifestyle Medicine.  Dr. Zhang holds an Adjunct Professorship of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.  

Associate Professor Juan Helen Zhou is Director of the Centre for Translational MR Research and an Associate Professor at the Centre for Sleep and Cognition, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore. Her research focuses on selective brain network vulnerability in ageing and neuropsychiatric disorders, leveraging multimodal neuroimaging and machine learning to advance precision neurology and psychiatry. She serves as an editor or board member for leading journals. She is also an OHBM Fellow and serves on the Council, Program Committee, and Area Chair of ISMRM, OHBM, MICCAI, and KDD.