Moderator

• Diane Bovenkamp, PhD – Vice President of Scientific Affairs, BrightFocus Foundation
  Diane Bovenkamp, PhD, Vice President of Scientific Affairs, is the chief scientist at BrightFocus Foundation, overseeing global operations of the organization’s research programs. She serves as the scientific liaison in local, national, and international forums, and identifies and develops new research initiatives, partnerships, and funding policies consistent with the mission of BrightFocus.

Speakers

• Sindy Escobar Alvarez, PhD – Program Director for Medical Research, Doris Duke Foundation
  Sindy Escobar Alvarez directs the Doris Duke Foundation’s Medical Research Program, where she drives efforts to reimagine how medical research can fairly and rigorously advance better health outcomes. Under her leadership, the program has evolved to focus on high-impact initiatives, including transforming how race is considered in clinical research and forging pathways to support novel research aimed at preventing and treating disease while prioritizing patient impact.

• Bianca Frogner, PhD – Professor and Interim Chair, Dept of Family Medicine Director, School of Medicine at University of Washington
  Bianca K. Frogner, PhD, is Professor and Interim Chair of the Department of Family Medicine (DFM) in the School of Medicine at University of Washington (UW).  She is the Director of the UW Center for Health Workforce Studies and the Director of the UW Primary Care Innovation Lab (PCI-Lab), both housed in DFM. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Health Systems and Population Health Department of the UW School of Public Health. She serves on the Coordinating Core of Rural PRO-CARE, a Rural Health Equity and Research Network (HERN) funded by the American Heart Association. Dr. Frogner also serves on the leadership team of the UCSF Advancing Workforce Analysis and Research for Dementia (AWARD) Network. Dr. Frogner is a Governor-appointed member of the Washington state Health Care Cost Transparency Board and is the Chair of the Data Issues Advisory Committee of the Board. She has served on National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine committees, including most recently as co-chair of a workshop on the affordability of health professional education. She is on the Editorial Boards of Milbank Quarterly, Health Services Research, and Medical Care Research and Review. Dr. Frogner’s has produced about 200 publications including peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, and reports. She has delivered over 250 scholarly presentations and has appeared in media outlets including CNN, NPR, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Vox, and Politico. She has received awards recognizing her excellence in both mentorship and research.
• Alycia Halladay, PhD – Chief Science Officer, Autism Science Foundation
  Alycia Halladay is the Chief Science Officer for the Autism Science Foundation, where she oversees all of the scientific activities, grant programs, funding projects and scientific initiatives of ASF including the Baby Sibs Research Consortium, the Alliance for the Genetic Etiologies of Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Autism, the Next Gen Sibs project. Prior to joining ASF in 2014, she served as the Senior Director of Clinical and Environmental Sciences at Autism Speaks. She has authored over two dozen peer-reviewed papers in science journals around autism spectrum disorder, with a focus on the needs of the underserved and underrepresented in scientific research. Alycia also served on Board of Directors for the Phelan McDermid Syndrome Foundation and the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, and currently serves on the board of the Health Research Alliance and the Rare Epilepsy Network. Alycia leads and produces a weekly podcast about the newest scientific information relevant to autism families called the Autism Science Foundation Weekly Science Podcast. She is on the editorial boards of Neurotoxicology and Frontiers in Pediatrics. She received a PhD in biopsychology from Rutgers in 2001 and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of NJ in 2004.  She still holds a faculty appointment at Rutgers. She is the parent to a 15 year old daughter with ASD.
• Jon Retzlaff, MBA, MPA – Chief Policy Officer and Vice President, Science Policy and Government Affairs, American Association for Cancer Research
  As Chief Policy Officer, and Vice President, Science Policy and Government Affairs, Mr. Retzlaff directs and oversees the government affairs, science policy, and patient advocacy activities for the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) in Washington, D.C. In this role, Mr. Retzlaff (and his team of ten) works closely with the AACR Science Policy and Government Affairs Committee to devise and implement strategies to influence important biomedical research-related public policy issues with the goal of accelerating the prevention and cure of all cancers. The staff also communicates with legislators, regulators, scientists, and the public.