Dr. Sara Suliman is an infectious disease immunologist and an assistant professor in the Division of Experimental Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. She has extensive experience in biomarker discovery and clinical trials of candidate TB vaccines. Her lab uses multiple approaches to understand risk of progression to active TB disease and to identify candidate TB risk pathways and their role in TB pathogenesis. 

Dr. Carlene Moore’s overarching professional career goal is to uncover disease mechanisms that relate to nervous system function and dysfunction. In her current position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Neurology at Duke University School of Medicine, her journey has been marked by a series of academic accomplishments, collaborative initiatives, and a steadfast commitment to nurturing the next generation of researchers. Currently, her research endeavors, supported by grants from NIH-NINDS and AbbVie, Inc. are concentrated on deciphering the molecular and cellular mechanisms of TRP channels in migraine pathophysiology and underscore dedication to advancing our comprehension of pain disorders. In line with her commitment to diversity and mentorship, she actively engages in training the next generation of scientists, inspiring underrepresented minorities to pursue careers in these fields, through teaching, research, and public engagement.

Jacqueline Williams is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the Biological and Medical Informatics program at UCSF. Her research interests focus on investigating the role of genetic variation and its impact on human health, predominantly in the field of immunogenetics and rare disease. She is currently studying under Dr. Jill Hollenbach, where her thesis work focuses on characterizing genetic variation in complex regions of the genome. Her thesis is titled ‘Characterizing natural killer cell receptors in the context of multiple sclerosis (MS)’, in which the goal is to elucidate genetic variation of killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) genes, which encode highly polymorphic natural killer cell receptors, and their potential association with MS, a complex autoimmune disorder.

Dr. Cellas A. Hayes is a postdoctoral fellow and Propel scholar in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at Stanford University School of Medicine. With a background in basic neuroscience, Dr. Hayes has shifted his postdoctoral focus to population health research. His current work centers on biomarkers, cerebrovascular and cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer's disease, and age-related cognitive outcomes. His long-term goal is to establish an interdisciplinary laboratory that uses advanced epidemiological and biostatistical research methodologies with high-dimensional biological data to elucidate the concomitance of vascular and AD pathologies on aging outcomes. 

Jason K. Sello is a full professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). Prior to his appointment at UCSF, Prof. Sello was a professor in the department of chemistry at Brown University where he rose through ranks from assistant to tenured full professor in 13 years. He earned a Ph.D. in biophysics from Harvard University in 2002 and B.S. in biology, magna cum laude, from Morehouse College in 1997. In his independent career, Prof. Sello has been synergistically using experimental methods from chemistry, biophysics, biochemistry, and genetics to study biological phenomena and to develop new therapeutics for infections, cancer, and neurological disorders.

Dr. Karine A. Gibbs studies the social behaviors of tiny organisms. Her team wants to know how bacteria recognize one another, engage in collective behaviors like territory formation, and cause disease. They use molecular biology, biochemistry, and live-cell imaging to examine shapeshifting, fast-moving residents of humans and animals. Dr. Gibbs (A.B., Harvard University; Ph.D., Stanford University) is an Associate Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology at the University of California, Berkeley, and received a David and Lucile Packard Foundation Fellowship for Science and Engineering in 2012. Dr. Gibbs, a Jamaican American, enjoys running, biking, and skiing with family and friends.