UH Clinical Update - June 2017
World leaders in science, medicine and academia gathered in Cleveland in late May to learn from and inspire their colleagues during the Harrington Discover Institute’s Fifth Annual Scientific Symposium, one capped with keynote lectures by the Nobel Prize-winning physician Joseph L. Goldstein, MD, and FDA Commissioner from 2016-2017 Robert M. Califf, MD, MACC. Over 400 people attended the lecture at the Cleveland Museum of Art’s Gartner Auditorium, followed by Dr. Califf’s remarks at dinner.
Along with his colleague Michael S. Brown, Dr. Goldstein won the Nobel Prize in 1985 for discovering the low-density lipoprotein (LDL) receptor and determining how the receptor controlled cholesterol homeostasis.
Among other presenters at the symposium were Andrew I. Schafer, MD, Weill Cornell Medical College, and Roger Stein, PhD, Financial Engineer, MIT Sloan School of Management. Many leaders of American medicine were also at the symposium, including members of the Harrington Scientific Advisory Board: David Ginsburg, MD; William G. Kaelin, MD; Solomon H. Snyder, MD, DSc, DPhil; Andrew Marks, MD; and Michael Welsh, MD; as well as two of the three 2017 Harrington Prize winners, Daniel J. Drucker, MD, and Joel F. Habener, MD.
The Harrington Discovery Institute has grown significantly since its 2012 launch, and has aligned with several major pharmaceutical companies to accelerate new medical therapies from concept to reality. In the past five years, HDI has selected 14 classes of Harrington Scholars, supported 79 scientists at 41 institutions in the U.S. and U.K, established ten companies, advanced four discoveries into clinical use and licensed five technologies to big pharma.
Thirty-five Harrington Scholars from across the U.S. and the U.K. were among the guests attending the two-day symposium.
David B. Lombard, M.D., Ph.D., University of Michigan, Harrington Scholar-Innovator 2017, noted after attending the symposium for the first time, “It was the most enjoyable conference I have ever attended - the depth and breadth of the speakers, and the other participants, was incredibly impressive. I am not sure that I have personally seen so many HHMI investigators assembled in one place.”
The purpose of the annual symposium is to create a sense of community and provide the Harrington Scholars with the opportunity to connect with other scholars, members of the Harrington Scientific Advisory Board, the pharma experts from Harrington’s Innovation Support Center, and BioMotiv and UH leadership.