Speaker Biographies

Dr Nahla Maher Afifi earned her MBBCh with honors from Ain Shams University, Egypt. She received her Master of Anatomy & Embryology, and a Diploma of Gynecology and Obstetrics from the same university. She received her Ph.D. of Anatomy & Embryology in 1996 from Ain Shams University under a joint supervision with University of Medicine and Dentistry, New Jersey, USA. Dr Afifi started her academic career as a Medical Researcher in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. She then served as Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Embryology at Ain Shams University, and Dubai Medical College for Girls, UAE. Dr Afifi joined Qatar University's Biomedical Sciences Program in 1999 and was promoted to Associate Professor of Anatomy and Embryology and to Full Professor in 2007. She was assigned as a Head of Dept. of Health Sciences from 2007-2009. In December 2013 she joined QF as Education and Scientific Manager obtained Certificate Principles in Biobanking form Luxembourg University and in 2017 was appointed as Qatar Biobank Director. Dr Nahla Afifi has numerous grants and published research in her field of expertise. She is a member in several International societies’ AAA, ASIP, ISBER & ESBB.

As Chief Scientific Officer, James Beck, PhD, sets the strategic direction for the Parkinson’s Foundation research vision. Dr. Beck oversees a portfolio which has guided more than $360 million in research to explore what causes Parkinson’s disease (PD) and how to improve treatments, working towards a world without Parkinson’s disease. He has played an integral role in positioning the organization as a world’s leader in accelerating Parkinson’s research. Dr. Beck launched PD GENEration: Mapping the Future of Parkinson's Disease, a national study started by the Parkinson’s Foundation in 2019 that offers genetic testing for Parkinson’s-related genes and genetic counseling at no-cost for participants with a confirmed PD diagnosis. Additionally, he led the team that updated the estimated prevalence of PD in the U.S. and globally and collaborated with several organizations to develop the economic burden of Parkinson’s disease. Dr. Beck has been published in many leading journals including npj Parkinson’s Disease, Movement Disorders, Journal of Parkinson’s Disease, Annals of Clinical & Translational Neurology and more. He is currently an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Department of Neuroscience and Physiology at the New York University Grossman School of Medicine. He holds a BS from Duke University and a PhD from the University of Washington, Seattle.

Biobank Scientist with PhD in Medical Biophysics. Facilitator of high priority translational research who thrives in a dynamic, collaborative environment. Educator, co-author and invited speaker internationally with research interest on the impact of specimen quality on molecular analysis. Excited by the promise of innovative prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies to improve patient care.

Brittany Chirinos, MPH, is the project coordinator for Audubon Bioscience. She spent two years at the Louisiana Cancer Consortium consenting patients and collecting tissue, blood, and urine from oncological patients to provide to researchers. Now, she is in charge of managing client requests for high quality biospecimens to aid in their research.

Zuanel Diaz is a translational research expert with knowledge and proficiency in biospecimen management, biobank operations and scientific analysis. She has a broad background in oncology coupled with experience in managing multidisciplinary studies with biomarker identification endpoints. During the last 15 years Dr. Diaz has established infrastructures to advance clinical and translational research in Canada and the US. She created the first metastatic biobank in Quebec that served to initiate the Quebec-Clinical Research Organization in Cancer (Q-CROC) Translational Program. Under this program, she oversaw the collection and distribution of biospecimens from patients who underwent biopsies before and after metastatic treatments to identify predictive biomarkers associated to experimental anticancer drugs. She led efforts and secured funds to establish the Pan-Canadian Colorectal Cancer Consortium, an inter-institutional network that embraced the entire spectrum of colorectal cancer care with a molecular-based approach. She managed the consortium day-to-day operations, patient recruitment strategies, biospecimen collection plans, and provided functional oversight to 46 members (clinicians, pathologists, radiologists, surgeons, epidemiologists, basic researchers and clinical coordinators) located in six Canadian provinces. The methods her team developed were adopted by the World Innovative Network Therapeutic Trial (WINTHER), for which she defined and oversaw the individual collection and processing of biospecimens at 5 hospitals in Israel, US, Canada, France and Spain as well as the centralized tissue quality assurance needed for downstream profiling platforms. Dr. Diaz is the founding Director of the Protocol Support Laboratory and Biospecimen Research Facility at the Miami Cancer Institute. She oversees 26 employees working in several aspects of clinical trials and numerous research collaborations.

Kate has more than 20yrs of industry and academic experience in research-based sample management. Her expertise spans project management, IT, scientific knowledge, vendor management, business strategy, and customer success. Most recently Kate joined BMS as the Head of the Specimen Library and Data Analytics. Prior to that she worked at Covance/Global Specimen Solutions for 4yrs and Merck for 9yrs. Her focus has been on creating innovative integrative solutions to enable in-life actionable decisions to drive commercial success and advance pipeline management by operationalizing Precision Medicine through process transformation and technology platforms. As a trained scientist, she holds a B.S. in Biology from Widener University and a M.S. in Molecular Pharmacology from Thomas Jefferson University with a focus on Genetics.

Tatiana Foroud has been a faculty member at Indiana University School of Medicine since 1994 and is the chair of the Department of Medical and Molecular Genetics and the Executive Associate Dean for Research Affairs at Indiana University School of Medicine. Trained as a statistical geneticist, her research is focused on the genetics of neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Through her research it was clear that the uniform collection and handling of specimens was critical and she expanded her research program to encompass biobanking for a wide range of fluid based specimens. She now leads multiple NIH and foundation supported biorepositories focused on neurodegenerative and neurological disorders that implement uniform protocols and focus on the broad sharing of samples and the resulting data generated from their use.

Mrs. Garrison has over ten years of experience in biobanking, leading the clinical collection team of the Cornell Veterinary Biobank (CVB). During that time, she has helped develop the CVB signature post-mortem collection program based on best practices for rapid research autopsies published by the National Cancer Institute, allowing for the rapid collection and preservation of over a 100 tissue specimens from a single animal within one hour of death. With over 20 years of experience as a licensed veterinary technician with a focus on anesthesia and medical genetics, Mrs. Garrison is skilled in animal handling, aseptic technique, and biospecimen collection and preservation in a clinical setting, as well as training clinical specialists in new biobanking processes. She is a member of the management team that prepared the CVB for accreditation to ISO 20387 – General Requirements for Biobanking, and ensures continued compliance to this standard, including the training of new biobank team members. Mrs. Garrison is an instructor at the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation (A2LA) WorkPlace Training for the ISO 20387 training course.

PhD in biological sciences. She is a researcher, microbiologist. She completed post-graduate studies of "Commercialization and knowledge transfer manager" and "Management of Healthcare Organizations". She started her professional career as an academic teacher. With biobanking of human biological material associated since 2013. She is co-creator of the project of creating a network of Biobanks in Poland within the Research Infrastructure for Biobanks and Biomolecular Resources BBMRI-ERIC. Expert, Lead Auditor and Trainer of QMS in the project BBMRI.pl and at the Wroclaw Medical University. For four years she has been working with BBMRI-ERIC as a member of working groups in the field of QMS. She is a technical expert in the BBMRI-ERIC group - BBMRI.QM Services. She is a representative of the Wroclaw Medical University at the Polish Committee for Standardization (PKN) at KT 287 for Biotechnology and Expert at ISO TC 276 Biotechnology, WG 2 Biobanking and Bioresources. She is also co-author of Quality Standards for Polish Biobanks and the Handbook for the Auditor.

Tom has over 20 years of industry experience in various roles within clinical trial supply and execution. Nearly half of this time has focused on the clinical supply chain—including raw materials, investigational supplies, lab kits, and biospecimens. When not concentrating on optimizing global logistics, Tom enjoys spending time with his family, boating, and music.

As a Research Assistant with Sunnybrook Biobank, Toronto, Canada, I have been involved in facilitating translational research through the Hematology Biobank. I recently earned an HBSc in Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology from the University of Toronto and have a particular interest in cancer immunology. I look forward to sharing our Hematology Biobank experience so that we can learn from one another.

As an independent consultant acting as the Lupus Nexus Operations Manager at the Lupus Research Alliance, Melissa is currently leading the effort to develop a registry and biorepository to drive lupus research forward. Prior to joining the LRA, Melissa was the Executive Director of Biospecimen Operations at Celgene for close to 2.5 years and Head of BioBank at Pfizer for 3 years. The majority of her career has been spent in clinical trials and biospecimen management in academia, Pharma and the non-profit space. Melissa was an Associate Editor for the 2018 release of the ISBER Best Practices. She serves as Co-Chair of the Registry and Biorepository Working Group for the Health Research Alliance and as the Chair of the Regulatory Task Force for the Industry-Pharmacogenomics Working Group (I-PWG). She earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida, and a Master of Arts Degree in Psychology from Wake Forest University.

Dr. Sheldon received his B.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D. from SUNY at Stony Brook. During his research career, he has accumulated more than 20 years’ experience in the study of the biochemistry of transcriptional regulation and the molecular mechanisms governing the development of the mammalian brain. Dr. Sheldon joined the faculty in Genetics at Rutgers University in 2007 and served as Director of Sample Processing Services for 13 years. In 2020, RUCDR became Infinity Biologix (IBX) and he continued in the role of Senior Director of IBX Sample Processing Services, with operational oversight of all sample processing including isolation of primary cells from blood and other tissues, creation of cell lines, extraction and quality control of nucleic acids and storage and global distribution of biomaterials.

Jay A. Tischfield is Duncan and Nancy MacMillan Distinguished Professor of Genetics, Pediatrics and Psychiatry at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and Executive Director of the Human Genetics Institute of New Jersey. Jay was the Founder, CEO and Scientific Director of RUCDR Infinite Biologics®, now Infinity BiologiX, LLC (IBX), a privately owned company. As CEO, Jay was responsible for the scientific direction, funding and mission of one of the world’s largest sample processing and genetic analyses labs. It was also a primary provider of genomics services and induced pluripotent stem cells to biotech and large Pharma. RUCDR Infinity Biologics pioneered the world’s first coronavirus saliva test in April 2020 and, in May, was granted emergency use authorization by the FDA for a home collection version of the Rutgers saliva test. Jay leads the world-wide NIMH Center for Collaborative Genomic Studies on Mental Disorders as well as similar centers for NIDA and NINDS and various large foundations (e.g., Simons, Autism Speaks). His over 315 publications describe the genetics of complex diseases such as alcoholism, inherited kidney stone diseases and autism and, most recently, Tourette syndrome and related disorders. Jay is one of the founders of the TIC (Tourette International Collaborative) Genetics Research group, an international study whose goal is to understand the genetic architecture of TS. He is among the top five percent of National Institutes of Health-funded researchers for over 40 years, with over $450 million in total funding during the past 20 years. Jay has American Board of Medical Genetics certification in two sub-specialties and is a Founding Fellow of the American College of Medical Genetics. He received the Distinguished Alumnus Medal from Brooklyn College, the City University of New York, and was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He also served Singapore as a biomedical infrastructure advisor for nearly two decades. He has held professorial appointments at five U.S. Schools of Medicine and came to Rutgers in 1998. He is a frequent consultant to both academia and business and has founded companies in biomedicine.

Ms. Kerry Wiles has been the Program Director of the Cooperative Human Tissue Network (CHTN), Western Division at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC) for the past 19 years. The CHTN is a prospective procurement facility funded by the National Cancer Institute. CHTN at VUMC is one of six sites, located throughout the country to assist investigators (academic and commercial entities) in obtaining remnant human tissue biospecimens for basic research and discovery. Before moving to VUMC, Kerry worked for Dr. Francis Collins at the National Institutes of Health on the FUSION project (Finland/United States Investigation of NIDDM), advancing the genotyping efforts of a multi-center collaborative effort to map and identify susceptibility genes for NIDDM and for the intermediate quantitative traits associated with NIDDM. Kerry started her scientific career at the University of Iowa, where she focused her research efforts on building the genetic map of the X Chromosome, association studies and creating libraries highly enriched for the presence of specific tandem repeat elements (STRPs) for use in genome-wide linkage and association studies for the Cooperative Human Linkage Core funded as part of the National Human Genome Project. Kerry is Six Sigma Black Belt and has integrated her management, business, and scientific background into the CHTN VUMC business practices to streamline processes and minimize waste. When Kerry isn’t working, you can find her feeding Nashville’s Homeless population, for which she was awarded the Dove Everyday Hero Award.