Moderator
Frank Doyle, PhD, is a professor in the Department of Engineering and the fourteenth provost of Brown University. As the University’s chief academic officer and chief budget officer, Doyle works closely with the president to advance the University’s mission of teaching, research, and service.
Panelists
Victor J. Dzau, MD, is president of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), formerly the Institute of Medicine (IOM). In addition, he serves as vice chair of the National Research Council. Dzau is chancellor emeritus and James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Duke University and the past president and CEO of the Duke University Health System. Previously, Dzau was the Hersey Professor of Theory and Practice of Medicine and chairman of medicine at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, as well as Bloomfield Professor and chairman of the Department of Medicine at Stanford University.
Dzau is an internationally acclaimed physician-scientist and leader whose work has improved health and medicine in the United States and globally. His seminal work in cardiovascular medicine and genetics laid the foundation for the development of the class of lifesaving drugs known as ACE inhibitors, used globally to treat hypertension and heart failure. Dzau pioneered gene therapy for vascular disease and was the first to introduce DNA decoy molecules in humans in vivo. His pioneering research in cardiac regeneration led to the Paracrine Hypothesis of stem cell action, and his recent strategy of direct cardiac reprogramming using microRNA. He maintains an active NIH-funded research laboratory.
As a visionary leader, Dzau has set an inspiring example, leading efforts to transform health and medicine and devoting his career to scientific innovation, global health, and equity. He believes in the importance of discovery and translational research and the need for emerging science and technology to benefit all of society. Under his tenure, the NAM has launched important initiatives, including the Commission on a Global Health Risk Framework, the International Human Gene Editing Initiative, the Action Collaborative on Translating Emerging Science, Technology, and Innovation and the State of US Biomedical Enterprise. The National Academies recently released the consensus study Charting a Future for Sequencing RNA and Its Modifications, which proposes a roadmap of innovation and advances to study RNA in biological systems and human diseases.
Dzau has held numerous national leadership roles in biomedical research. He previously chaired the NIH Cardiovascular Disease Advisory Committee and currently chairs the NIH Cardiovascular Progenitor Cell Translational Consortium. He also served on the NIH Advisory Committee to the Director and the NHLBI Council. He chairs scientific advisory boards of biomedical research councils and institutes in UK, Singapore, Japan, Qatar, Canada, and elsewhere.
Among his many honors and recognitions are the Max Delbrück Medal from Charité, Humboldt, and Max Planck, Germany, the Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Heart Association, Ellis Island Medal of Honor, the Henry Freisen International Prize, and Order of the Rising Sun (Japan). In 2019, he was named an Honorary Citizen of Singapore, the highest level of honor bestowed to a foreign citizen. He has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, the UK Academy of Medical Sciences, the Japan Academy and others. He has received 21 honorary doctorates.
Subra Suresh, PhD, is an engineer, materials scientist, and academic leader. He began his academic career at Brown in 1983 before moving to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993. He led MIT’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering from 2000 to 2006, and served as dean of its School of Engineering. In 2010, he was appointed director of the National Science Foundation by President Barack Obama and was confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate. He served as NSF director until 2013, when he became president of Carnegie Mellon University.
Suresh is one of a very small number of Americans to be elected to three branches of the U.S. National Academies (Science, Medicine, and Engineering), and the first and only university president to hold this distinction. He was awarded the National Medal of Science, the highest honor accorded to a U.S. scientist, by President Joseph R. Biden in 2023.