Plenary Speakers
Qiu Anqi
Plenary Speaker
Dr. Qiu is a global STEM scholar and professor at the Department of Health Technology and Informatics at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. Her past roles include Deputy Head for Research & Enterprises at the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Director for the BME Center at the NUS Suzhou Research Institute, a part of the National University of Singapore.
In 2007, Dr. Qiu joined the National University of Singapore as an Assistant Professor, where she founded the Laboratory for Medical Image Data Sciences. Her remarkable contributions to the field have earned her multiple accolades, including the Faculty Young Research Award and the 2016 Young Researcher Award of NUS. In recent recognition of her outstanding research achievements, she was bestowed with the prestigious “Dean’s Chair” Associate Professorship
Specializing in computational analyses, Dr. Qiu is deeply committed to understanding the origin of individual health differences throughout a lifespan. She leverages complex and informative datasets that include disease phenotypes, neuroimaging, and genetics to further her research.
Dr. Qiu has held significant positions in professional organizations, serving as the Treasurer for the Council of the Organization for Human Brain Mapping and contributing as an editor for esteemed scientific publications such as Neuroimage and Frontiers in Neuroscience.
Caroline Chung, M.D., M.Sc.
Plenary Speaker
Dr. Chung is the Vice President, Chief Data Officer, and Director of Data Science. Development and Implementation of the Institute of Data Science in Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center. She is a clinician-scientist associate professor in Radiation Oncology and Diagnostic Imaging with a clinical practice focused on CNS malignancies, and a computational imaging lab focused on quantitative imaging and modeling to detect and characterize tumors and toxicities of treatment to enable personalized cancer treatment.
Motivated by challenges in her clinical and research pursuits, Dr. Chung has developed and led institutional efforts to enable quantitative measurements for clinically impactful utilization and interpretation of data through a collaborative team science approach, including the Tumor Measurement Initiative (TMI) at MD Anderson. Internationally, Dr. Chung leads several multidisciplinary efforts to improve the generation and utilization of high-quality, quantitative data to drive research and impact clinical practice, including her role as Vice Chair of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)Quantitative Imaging Biomarker Alliance (QIBA), Co-Chair of the Quantitative Imaging for Assessment ofResponse in Oncology Committee of the International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements (ICRU) and National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM)-appointed committee addressing Foundational Research Gaps and Future Directions for Digital Twins. Beyond her clinical, research, and administrative roles, Dr. Chung enjoys serving as an active educator and mentor passionate about supporting the growth of diversity, equity, and inclusion in STEM, including as Chair of Women in Cancer (http://www.womenincancer.org/). This not-for-profit organization is committed to advancing cancer care by encouraging the growth, leadership, and connectivity of current and future oncologists, trainees, and medical researchers.
Stefan Harrer
Plenary Speaker
Stefan joined IBM Research at the IBM T. J. Watson Research Center, New York, in 2008, working in partnership with Roche 454 on novel DNA-sequencing technologies. In 2015, he founded IBM Research’s Brain-Inspired Computing Research Program. As IBM Senior Technical Staff Member, Global Lead of Epilepsy Research, Technical Assistant to the VP of Cognitive Computing, and Member of the Neuroethics Working Group of the Director of IBM Research, he developed IBM’s R&D strategy for AI in Health and the Life Sciences as well as ethical frameworks for the responsible design and use of AI and neurotechnology in health and medicine. From 2020 to 2023, Stefan managed the data and AI portfolio of Australia’s largest digital health incubator and investor, the $200M Digital Health CRC Ltd., as its Chief Innovation Officer. In 2023, Stefan became the inaugural Director of the AI for Science Program at Australia’s National Science Agency CSIRO. Stefan is a Scientific Advisor to Harvard Medical School at Mass General Brigham and a member of the Advisory Board of European neurotech startup Myelin-H. He holds 71 granted US and international patents in AI, bionanotech, and MedTech and has authored over 70 peer-reviewed scientific articles, books, and book chapters. He holds a BSc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a major in Biomedical Engineering, an MSc in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a major in Computational Chemistry, a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science with a major in Nanotechnology (Technical University Munich and Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and an Honours Master’s Degree in Technology Management (Ludwig Maximilians University Munich and UC Berkeley). Stefan is an Adjunct Professor at the University of Technology Sydney, a member of the New York Academy of Sciences and the Forbes Technology Council, and a Senior Member of the IEEE.
Vivek Natarajan
Plenary Speaker
Prior to Google, Vivek worked on multimodal assistant systems at Facebook AI Research and published award winning research, was granted multiple patents and deployed AI models to products at scale with hundreds of millions of users.
Natalia A. Trayanova
Plenary Speaker
Dr. Trayanova holds the Murray B. Sachs Professorship in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is also a Professor of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a Professor of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at Johns Hopkins University. Trayanova is the Director of AI Research in Health and Medicine in the AI-X Foundry, a university-wide initiative to bring AI into all aspects of research and scholarship at Johns Hopkins. She also directs the Alliance for Cardiovascular Diagnostic and Treatment Innovation (ADVANCE), a research center aimed at bringing innovative engineering and AI approaches to cardiovascular health directly into the clinic. Trayanova also directs the Computational Cardiology Laboratory. Using personalized simulation and machine learning approaches, her lab has developed new methodologies for predicting the risk of cardiac arrest and improving the accuracy and outcome of atrial and ventricular catheter ablation therapies. Through our first-of-their-kind personalized virtual hearts and AI technologies, her team is advancing personalized medicine for patients with cardiovascular disease to influence clinical decision-making and the delivery of patient care.
In 2019, Trayanova was inducted into the Women of Technology International Hall of Fame. She has been awarded the Distinguished Scientist Award (2019), followed by the Zipes Distinguished Lectureship Award (2022) from the Heart Rhythm Society. In 2023, she was awarded the Gordon Moe lectureship by the Cardiac Electrophysiology Society. Trayanova was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in recognition of her innovations. She is a Fellow of all American and European cardiology societies: American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, Heart Rhythm Society, European Society of Cardiology, and European Heart Rhythm Association. She is also a Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Biomedical Engineering Society, and International Academy of Medical and Biological Engineering.
Matthew Wipperman
Plenary Speaker
Dr. Matthew Wipperman joined Regeneron in 2019 on the Quantitative Translational Sciences team in Precision Medicine, part of Early Clinical Development & Experimental Sciences. Across biomarker studies, he leads strategy, design, and exploratory data analyses, specifically focusing on clinical, demographic, omics, imaging, and digital biomarkers for Regeneron’s clinical development programs (from early experimental phase 0 to late-stage phase 4 trials). This work drives the discovery and validation of innovative biomarkers and clinical trial endpoints, the elucidation of mechanisms of action and drug pharmacodynamics, identification of sub-populations where pharmaceutical interventions will be effective, and exploration of alternative indications for approved drugs. His academic interests and work at Regeneron include the use of data science, statistics, and AI/ML to elucidate fundamental mechanisms of human biology, immunology, and physiology. This approach is especially crucial when dealing with deeply phenotyped individuals in small clinical studies (large P small N), allowing for more precise and meaningful insights into patient-specific characteristics and outcomes.
Matthew actively initiates and leads collaborations with diverse teams across clinical, research, regulatory, and external functions, to ensure scientific and clinical success of projects. He holds a BA and PhD in Chemistry, and an MSc in Clinical and Translational Science, with 15 years of experience in laboratory, computational, and basic scientific domains. Prior to Regeneron, he worked in clinical biomarker research at Sloan Kettering, where he led clinical biomarker and immunology work in infectious disease clinical research. He also continues to sit on the faculty in the Department of Medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine as a courtesy appointment, reflecting his ongoing connection to academic medicine.