Dedicated to fostering the scientific and professional growth of nurses in genomics and precision health worldwide. |
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Keynote Speakers
| Margaret A. Pericak-Vance, PhD, FACMG Presentation Title: The Global Genetics of Alzheimer Disease: Pathway to Prevention and Treatment Dr. Pericak-Vance serves as Director of the John P. Hussman Institute for Human Genomics and holds the Dr. John T. Macdonald Foundation Chair of Human Genetics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Board certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties in Medical Genetics, she is a founding fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics and an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Pericak-Vance and colleagues made the seminal discovery of the first association between a common genetic risk variant, the apolipoprotein E4 allele (APOE4)—and late-onset Alzheimer disease, followed closely by their identification of the APOE2 allele as a genetic protective variant for Alzheimer disease. In 2018 Dr. Pericak-Vance’s team made the seminal discovery that the decreased risk for Alzheimer disease in individuals with African ancestry was due to the ancestral background the APOE gene was on. This groundbreaking discovery put APOE4 back in the spotlight as one of the most promising therapeutic targets in decades. Much of Dr. Pericak-Vance's research focuses on a global approach to Alzheimer disease research, which is crucial for advancing our understanding of the disease. She participates in international collaborative efforts across Africa, South America, and the Caribbean. She believes that addressing critical gaps across populations will enhance our understanding of Alzheimer disease risk and provide the foundation for identifying prevention strategies and druggable targets. In 1997, Newsweek Magazine named her "The Century Club" as one of the "100 people to watch" entering the new millennium. Dr. Pericak-Vance has received numerous prestigious awards, including the international Louis D Scientific Prize from the Institut de France's Académie des Sciences for her Alzheimer disease research, the Bengt Winblad Lifetime Achievement Award from the Alzheimer's Association, and the Snow and Ming Tsuang Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Society of Psychiatric Genetics (ISPG) for her lifelong contributions to psychiatric disease research. Dr. Pericak-Vance is also the recipient of the 2024 American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of her outstanding achievements and contributions to human genetics. In 2026 she received the John J. Ryan Distinguished Medal from the Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland for her outstanding achievements in genetic research. |
| Dr. Marco Brotto, BSN, MPharm, PhD Dr. Marco Brotto is the George W. & Hazel M. Jay Endowed Professor and Director of the Bone Muscle Research Center at the University of Texas at Arlington. A clinician scientist whose work bridges muscle physiology, cell biology, and translational therapeutics, he is an established NIH investigator with a long history including an NIA Program Project and has authored >200 peer reviewed publications (Scopus H-Index >62). He serves as Editor in Chief of Frontiers in Physiology-Skeletal Physiology, and Co Editor in Chief of Glucolipid Metabolic Disorders and sits on the editorial boards of Scientific Reports, Frontiers in Physiology, and Nature and Cell Journals. Dr. Brotto has mentored over 100 trainees, from undergraduate researchers to junior and senior level faculty, many of whom now hold independent positions worldwide. His laboratory pioneers multi scale experimental platforms: from intact muscle and single fiber mechanics to FDA aligned targeted lipidomics/metabolomics pipelines that quantify circulating and tissue derived mediators of muscle–bone crosstalk. Dr. Brotto’s current focus is decoding the lipid and metabolic signatures of osteosarcopenia-the convergent loss of bone and muscle with aging, to deliver clinically qualified biomarkers for early risk stratification and therapeutic monitoring. He will present how these omics approaches, integrated with functional phenotyping, are revealing actionable pathways in osteoporosis, sarcopenia, and related musculoskeletal pathologies.
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