Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D., is the Incoming Acting Director at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). Dr. Rutter is responsible for planning and executing the Center’s complex and multifaceted pre-clinical and clinical programs. Before joining NCATS, she served as the Director of Scientific Programs within the All of Us Research Program of the Precision Medicine Initiative (NIH), and prior to that as Director of the Division of Neuroscience and Behavior at the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Dr. Rutter received her Ph.D. from Dartmouth Medical School and completed a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.  She is recognized for her work in basic and clinical research in human genetics and in the study of genetic and environmental risk factors focusing on the fields of cancer and addiction.  Her primary scientific objective is in applying translational science approaches to basic discoveries and getting more treatments to more people more efficiently.

Michael Lauer, M.D., is the Deputy Director for Extramural Research at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where he serves as the principal scientific leader and advisor to the Director of the NIH on all matters relating to the substance, quality, and effectiveness of the NIH extramural research program and administration. He received education and training at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Albany Medical College, Harvard Medical School, Harvard School of Public Health, and the NHLBI’s Framingham Heart Study.  He spent 14 years at Cleveland Clinic as Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Biostatistics.  During his tenure at the Clinic, he led a federally funded internationally renowned clinical epidemiology program that applied big data from large-scale electronic health platforms to questions regarding the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular disease.  From 2007 to 2015 he served as a Division Director at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), where promoted efforts to leverage big data infrastructure to enable high-efficiency population and clinical research and efforts to adopt a research funding culture that reflected data-driven policy.  He has received numerous awards including the NIH Equal Employment Opportunity Award of the Year and the Arthur S. Flemming Award for Exceptional Federal Service in recognition of his efforts to grow a culture of learning and accountability. 

Christa Wagner currently serves as a Senior Legislative Analyst at the AAMC where she is responsible for legislative and regulatory policy and advocacy in support of medical research and academic medicine’s partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Her work includes supporting and coordinating two coalitions convened by the AAMC, the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research which supports an enhanced federal investment in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research (FOVA) which is dedicated to supporting an increased federal investment in the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Prosthetic research program. Christa also serves as an editor of the AAMC’s weekly government relations newsletter, Washington Highlights. 

Prior to joining the AAMC, Christa served as the American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Genetics and Public Policy Fellow. In this role, she contributed to health and science policy efforts at a scientific member society, as well as in the executive and legislative branches of the US government, including Capitol Hill experience as a health fellow in the office of US Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Christa received her Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Oberlin College and her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Maria Lund Dahlberg is the study director for the Consensus Study on the Science on Effective Mentoring in STEMM for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, and a program officer with the Board on Higher Education and Workforce (BHEW) and the Committee on Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine (CWSEM). Her work with the National Academies spans topics ranging from equity, inclusion, and diversity in science, through science communications, to postdoctoral research experiences, health care, and innovation ecosystems. She came to the National Academies by way of a Christine Mirzayan Science and Technology Policy Fellowship, which she received after completing all requirements short of finalizing the dissertation for her doctorate in physics at Pennsylvania State University. Ms. Dahlberg holds a B.A. with high honors in physics from Vassar College and an M.S. in physics from Pennsylvania State University. 

Richard (Rick) McGee is the associate dean for professional development and a professor of medical education at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine. He also served as a member of the consensus committee for the National Academies’ report, the Science on Effective Mentoring in STEMM. His primary role at Northwestern is to mentor and coach junior faculty beginning their independent research programs. A primary element of this work is a unique grant-writing coaching group model he has created.  His career evolved to this role starting from 20 years as a basic scientist and merging into leadership of research training programs at multiple institutions. He has developed and tested a number of novel mentoring and group coaching approaches. These roles led to an evolution to actually studying career development of young scientists from the perspective of social science theories and models.  He currently leads a group of social and education researchers conducting a large-scale, longitudinal, largely qualitative research study of career development and decisions of several hundred biomedical Ph.D. students.  His group is also studying a novel group career coaching model in a randomized controlled trial, also with several hundred Ph.D. students. All of these and his previous efforts also focused on fostering diversity in academia.

Dr. Benya’s work focuses on ensuring that science, engineering, and medicine are ethical and socially responsible, both in their practice and in who gets to participate in the work. She recently served as the study director for the National Academies study “Sexual Harassment of Women: Climate, Culture, and Consequences in Academic Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.” Dr. Benya earned her M.A. in Bioethics and Ph.D. in History of Science, Technology, and Medicine from the University of Minnesota.

As leader of OSP, Dr. Wolinetz advises the NIH Director on science policy matters of significance to the agency, the research community, and the public, on a wide range of issues including human subjects protections, biosecurity, emerging biotechnologies ranging from stem cells to gene editing, data sharing, regenerative medicine, the organization and management of NIH, and the innovation polices related to NIH-funded research.  Prior to joining NIH, Dr. Wolinetz worked on biomedical research policy issues as the Deputy Director for Federal Affairs at the Association of American Universities (AAU) and the Director of Scientific Affairs and Public Relations at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). She also served as the President of United for Medical Research, a leading NIH advocacy coalition. Outside of NIH, Dr. Wolinetz teaches as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at Georgetown University in the School of Foreign Service’s program on Science, Technology & International Affairs. She has a BS in animal science from Cornell University, and she received her PhD in animal science from The Pennsylvania State University, where her area of research was reproductive physiology.

Dr. McKinney leads an array of AAMC programs that support all aspects of medical research and training. He also represents the AAMC nationally on issues related to research and science policy, administration, and workforce development, and education and training. Dr. McKinney joined the AAMC in 2016 after serving as a member of the Duke faculty since 1985. During his time at Duke, he was director of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, vice dean for research at Duke University School of Medicine, and director of the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and History of Medicine. Among his career highlights, Dr. McKinney was first author of the key Phase I and II studies on Zidovudine (AZT) use in children, and he conducted research on the natural history, prevention, and treatment of pediatric HIV disease. He received his bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College in 1975. He earned his medical degree from the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry and completed his internship and residency in Pediatrics, and fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases, at Duke University Medical Center.

Diana Lautenberger, M.A., directs research project related to faculty and staff workplace issues, specifically focused on diversity and inclusion, gender equity, and culture and climate. Ms. Lautenberger manages the AAMC’s women in medicine and science (WIMS) and gender equity portfolio as the co-lead of the AAMC’s Gender Equity Lab (GEL). The GEL portfolio includes research and projects related to gender equity to promote equitable working environments and developing resources for marginalized populations in academic medicine. In addition to leading these efforts, Ms. Lautenberger serves as a faculty member for the AAMC’s leadership development seminars for junior and mid-career women.

Ms. Lautenberger is part of the AAMC’s integrated team dedicated to unconscious bias training and education, trained and certified from the diversity and inclusion consulting firm, CookRoss®. She provides in-depth implicit bias, microaggressions, allyship and bystander intervention training to faculty, staff, and allied health professionals and is part of several efforts at the AAMC to integrate training into recruitment, advancement and operational systems at academic health centers.

Prior to her current role, Ms. Lautenberger led various leadership and workforce engagement initiatives aimed at faculty development for the AAMC. Responsible for curriculum design and implementation, she oversaw two leadership development programs for faculty aimed at aspiring leaders, department chairs, and associate deans to equip them with leadership skills needed to deal with the impending changes of the academic and healthcare environments. 

Ms. Lautenberger holds a master’s in art education with a focus on curriculum design and creative thinking as a driver of equity and solution to address systemic oppression. She is part of several organizations in the D.C. area who use artistic expression to explore concepts of racism, sexism, and social justice. 

As Senior Director of Public Policy and Strategic Outreach at the Association of American Medical Colleges, Tannaz Rasouli holds primary responsibility for the AAMC’s legislative advocacy in support of medical research, medical education, and public health funding and preparedness. In July 2016, she was named Executive Director of the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research, a coalition of more than 200 patient and voluntary health groups, medical and scientific societies, and academic and research organizations, supporting an enhanced federal investment in the biomedical, behavioral, and population-based research conducted and supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 

In addition to her current areas of responsibility, since joining AAMC’s Government Relations office in January 2006, Tannaz has been responsible for several legislative issues of interest to medical schools and teaching hospitals, including the health care workforce, health equity, and other federal health care programs. From 2007 – 2016, Tannaz served as co-executive director of the Health Professions and Nursing Education Coalition (HPNEC), an alliance of more than 60 national organizations representing schools, programs, health professionals, and students advocating continued support for federal health care workforce programs administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration. In this capacity, she provided strategic direction for the coalition’s advocacy activities, coordinating briefings, meetings, and correspondence with Congress and the administration. 
 
Tannaz received her bachelor’s degree from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, and her master of public health in health policy from George Washington University in Washington, D.C.  
 
Since 2013, she also has served as adjunct faculty at the Georgetown University School of Nursing and Health Studies. 

Christa Wagner currently serves as a Senior Legislative Analyst at the AAMC where she is responsible for legislative and regulatory policy and advocacy in support of medical research and academic medicine’s partnership with the Department of Veterans Affairs. Her work includes supporting and coordinating two coalitions convened by the AAMC, the Ad Hoc Group for Medical Research which supports an enhanced federal investment in the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Friends of VA Medical Care and Health Research (FOVA) which is dedicated to supporting an increased federal investment in the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical and Prosthetic research program. Christa also serves as an editor of the AAMC’s weekly government relations newsletter, Washington Highlights. 

Prior to joining the AAMC, Christa served as the American Society for Human Genetics (ASHG) and National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) Genetics and Public Policy Fellow. In this role, she contributed to health and science policy efforts at a scientific member society, as well as in the executive and legislative branches of the US government, including Capitol Hill experience as a health fellow in the office of US Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio. Christa received her Bachelor of Arts in Biochemistry from Oberlin College and her PhD in Cellular and Molecular Medicine from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Heather Pierce is Senior Director for Science Policy and Regulatory Counsel at the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC). She serves as AAMC's leader for scientific regulatory issues including human subject protections, clinical research, conflicts of interest, research data sharing, evidence-based regulation, and collaborations between industry, government, and academia in biomedical research. She is the subject matter expert for the AAMC's Forum on Conflict of Interest in Academe and for Convey, the AAMC's global financial interest disclosure system.  Ms. Pierce is Chair of the Board of Directors of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), where she has been a regular contributor to in-person programs and webinars for over a decade and has served on the Board since 2014. She regularly speaks at national forums on issues related to the protection of human subjects, regulatory burden, research ethics, biospecimens, scientific misconduct, legislation and policymaking related to research, and research compliance, and has published articles and commentaries on these topics in Nature, Science, The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The American Journal of Bioethics. She has served on committees, working groups and task forces of organizations including the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and the National Dialogue on Healthcare Innovation.  Prior to joining AAMC, Ms. Pierce was an attorney in the Health Care Group of the law firm of Ropes & Gray LLP in New York. Her regulatory practice focused on medical research and clinical care. She received her law degree from NYU School of Law and her MPH in Health Law from Boston University.

Associate Provost and Chief Diversity Officer
Associate Professor of Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine     
Northwestern University

Eliseo J. Pérez-Stable, MD, is Director of the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD), which seeks to advance the science of minority health and health disparities research through research, training, research capacity development, public education, and information dissemination. Dr. Pérez-Stable practiced general internal medicine for 37 years at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) before moving to NIH in September 2015. He was professor of medicine at UCSF and chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine for 17 years. His research interests include improving the health of racial and ethnic minorities and underserved populations, advancing patient-centered care, improving cross-cultural communication skills among clinicians, and promoting diversity in the biomedical research workforce. For more than 30 years, Dr. Pérez-Stable led research on Latino smoking cessation and tobacco control policy in the United States and Latin America, addressing clinical and prevention issues in cancer screening, and mentoring over 70 minority investigators. He has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2001.