About APM 2025

Pradeep K. Khosla became UC San Diego’s eighth chancellor on August 1, 2012. As UC San Diego’s chief executive officer, he leads a campus with more than 45,000 students within 11 academic, professional and graduate schools and eight undergraduate residential colleges. UC San Diego is also home to the prestigious Scripps Institution of Oceanography and the UC San Diego Health System. With annual revenues of USD 9.1 billion in fiscal year 2024, UC San Diego is an academic and research powerhouse, with faculty, researchers and staff attracting more than USD 1.73 billion in sponsored research funding in 2024. UC San Diego is recognized as one of the top 20 research universities in the world and is the largest civilian employer based in San Diego County.

Khosla initiated and led UC San Diego’s first-ever Strategic Plan and the ambitious 10-year, USD 2 billion Campaign for UC San Diego. The Campaign raised USD 3.05 billion, exceeding its original goal by more than USD 1 billion, and making UC San Diego the youngest institution ever to complete a multi-billion-dollar fundraising campaign. UC San Diego and UC San Diego Health are currently undergoing a USD 5 billion construction boom to expand healthcare services, classrooms, research space and double the number of on-campus housing units.

Khosla has significantly expanded college access and affordability for underserved populations, initiated interdisciplinary research initiatives to foster collaboration and solve societal challenges, and strengthened university and community relationships and partnerships.

An internationally renowned electrical and computer engineer, Khosla previously served as Dean of the College of Engineering and Philip and Marsha Dowd University Professor at Carnegie Mellon University. He spent the majority of his early career at Carnegie Mellon, rising through the ranks from his first position as Assistant Professor in 1986 to his appointment as Dean in 2004. From 1994 to 1996, he also served as a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Program Manager in the Software and Intelligent Systems Technology Office, Defense Sciences Office and Tactical Technology Office, where he managed advanced research and development programs.

Khosla is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, National Academy of Engineering and the American Society for Engineering Education. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, the American Association for Advancement of Science, the American Association of Artificial Intelligence, the Indian Academy of Engineering and the National Academy of Inventors, and the Indian National Science Academy. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Indian Academy of Science. Khosla is also the recipient of numerous awards for his leadership, teaching, and research, including the 2012 Light of India Award, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and the George Westinghouse Award for contributions to improve engineering teaching. In 2012, he was named one of the 50 most influential Indian-Americans by SiliconIndia.

Professor Freshwater is a globally recognised leader, having worked in world-class universities for almost two decades. She became the University of Auckland’s first female Vice-Chancellor in March 2020, after serving at the University of Western Australia as Vice-Chancellor and Chair of the Go8 in Australia.  She is Chair for Asia Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Steering Committee, and Presidential Champion for the Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL), Deputy Chair of Research Australia, Chair of Universities New Zealand Research Committee, and recent Chair of World University Network (WUN).  Dawn has been elected to the Academia Europaea (MAE), is a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, Ireland (FRCSI) and Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing (FRCN). She was listed in the top 2% of researchers in Stanford-Elsevier List 2024 in Public Health, Clinical Psychology and Nursing.

Prof. Schneider was elected as APRU’s 5th Chief Executive and took up the role from January 2023. A native of Germany, Prof. Schneider studied at the University of Zurich, the University of Basel and the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. He earned his degrees (Lizentiat 1990; Dr. phil. 1996; Habilitation 1999), all in Egyptology, from the University of Basel. Throughout his career, he has held academic and administrative positions in four global regions – North America; Asia; Europe; the Middle East. He was a Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of Zurich (2000-3), a Junior Research Professor of the Swiss National Science Foundation at the University of Basel (2001-5), Professor and inaugural holder of the Chair in Egyptology at Swansea University, Wales (2005-7), before joining the University of British Columbia. He held Visiting Professorships at the University of Vienna (1999), the University of Heidelberg (2003-4) and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2018). He was a Visiting Scholar at New York University (2006), the University of California, Berkeley (2012), the Institute of Archaeology of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing (2016) and Shanghai University (2018, International Masters Program). And from 2018-20, Prof. Schneider served the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) in Shenzhen, China’s fastest-rising new STEM university, as Associate Vice President (International), spearheading its internationalization efforts. Recently, Prof. Schneider has founded PALAC – a new consortium of liberal arts colleges focused on experimental learning in the liberal arts across multiple economies in Asia and North America.

In addition to his Executive Directorship of the PALAC consortium and the Associate Vice President position at SUSTech (in which functions he has engaged with a large number of APRU member institutions), Prof. Schneider has acquired significant leadership experience at the departmental level (Acting Department Chair; Director of Graduate Studies; Chair of Egyptology) and university level (Senator on the UBC Senate, 2014-8). He oversaw specific strategic projects and initiatives as Special Advisor to the Vice-Provost and Dean, Graduate & Postdoctoral Studies, at UBC (2015-7) and as Advisor to the President at Quest University Canada (2016-17).

Prof. Schneider has acquired a broad knowledge of the spectrum of disciplines represented by APRU member institutions, as a humanities scholar who has also worked for a STEM research university. He has been a consultant, adjudicator and reviewer for universities, funding agencies and publishers in North America, China, Europe, Israel, and Australia, as well as an executive editor of academic periodicals. His own scholarship (160 publications, among which 7 authored books and 7 edited books) focuses on cultural and linguistic interconnections in the Near East, the environmental history of Egypt, and the history of the humanities in Nazi Germany.

Joy Johnson is president and vice-chancellor of Simon Fraser University, and professor in its Faculty of Health Sciences.

As president, Joy is committed to carrying out SFU’s vision to be a leading research university, advancing an inclusive and sustainable future.

Prior to her appointment as president, Joy served as SFU’s vice-president, research and international, and oversaw the evolution of cutting-edge research, innovation, and international engagement across eight faculties.

Under her leadership, SFU’s achieved the fastest growth of any Canadian university research income of any university in Canada, with a focus on mobilizing knowledge to enhance the social, economic and environmental wellbeing of its communities.

Prior to SFU, Joy had a distinguished career in academics and research. She is an elected Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and has co-authored more than 180 peer-reviewed articles.

Joy is a director and current vice-chair on the Universities Canada board.

Tamara Cunningham is a visionary leader in higher education, renowned for over two decades of driving innovation, fostering inclusion, and delivering transformative global impact. As the inaugural Assistant Vice Chancellor for Global Initiatives at UC San Diego, she is redefining the university’s global engagement strategy, building bridges across cultures, and she is actively positioning UC San Diego as a global powerhouse.

Tamara’s leadership spans a dynamic portfolio, including international partnerships, global research, study abroad programs, and international student and scholar services. In just two years, her strategic vision has achieved groundbreaking milestones: securing a USD1 million grant for global internships and fulfilling the Chancellor vision to establish the first U.S. institutional presence in Gujarat International Financial Technology (GIFT) City with the 2025 launch of the International Financial Technology Institute in India. 

Before joining UC San Diego, Tamara spearheaded the global strategy at New Jersey City University, where she successfully completed the American Council on Education’s (A.C.E.) Internationalization Lab. Her expertise in integrating diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice (DEIJ) into internationalization initiatives led to her co-authoring a pivotal A.C.E. framing guide and contributing to the Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities’ Committee on Internationalization, focusing on DEIJ and community engagement.

Tamara holds a master’s degree in Communications and Information Studies from Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in English from New Jersey City University. Currently pursuing her doctorate in Educational Leadership at St. Peter’s University, her research focuses on creating pathways to global education for Black male students.

With a career defined by innovation, inclusion, and impact, Tamara Cunningham is working alongside a dynamic generation of senior international officers shaping the future of global higher education.

Teck Hua Ho is the president of Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore, where he is a distinguished university professor. He is the founding executive chairman of AI Singapore, president of the Academy of Engineering, Singapore, an academician of Academia Sinica, and a fellow of the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences. Dr Ho has a PhD in decision sciences from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He has been awarded the 2023 Public Administration Medal (Gold) and the 2024 President’s Science and Technology Medal by the government of Singapore.

Corinne Peek-Asa, Ph.D., joined UC San Diego in 2022 as the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation, and Distinguished Professor in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science. In her role as VCRI, she supports UC San Diego’s USD 1.76 billion research and innovation portfolio and works extensively with internal and external partners to support the campus and region. She has successfully expanded innovation activities in climate, national security, health, and broadening EDI programs for entrepreneurs. She is the Principal Investigator on grants from the Office of Naval Research and the State of California to expand UC San Diego’s research-to-innovation pipeline.

Dr. Peek-Asa’s research focuses on the epidemiology and prevention of traumatic injuries and violence. She is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and co-chairs the National Academies Accelerating Research in Traumatic Brain Injury Forum. She directs one of six National Institutes of Health-funded International Trauma Training Programs to build capacity in trauma and violence research. She is a founding member and past President of the Society for the Advancement of Violence and Injury Research and was named a ResearchAmerica! Public Health Hero.

Dr. Kiana Aran is an Associate Professor of Bioengineering and Medicine at the University of California San Diego, where she pioneers the fusion of biology and semiconductor electronics to advance multi-omics studies for precision medicine and aging research. She holds a joint appointment with Jacob school of engineering and the UC San Diego School of Medicine. She is also founder of two San Diego-based biotech companies with one successful exit. 

Dr. Aran also serves as Co-Director of the Center for Technologies for Healthy Aging at UC San Diego, where she is catalyzing cross-sector collaboration between academia, industry, and venture capital to build a thriving innovation ecosystem focused on extending health span and improving quality of life.

Dr. Aran has been recognized globally for her scientific and entrepreneurial impact. In February she received the global inaugural Sony and Nature Award for Top Women in Technology. She was also named a Senior Member of the National Academy of Inventors and Distinguished Engineer of the Year by the San Diego Society of Engineers in 2024. 

She is a member of  New Voices in Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2023), Inc. USA’s Top 200 Female Founders (2023), Recipient of Distinguished Engineer Medal of Excellence from Rutgers (only the 2nd woman to win this award since 1960), Nature Research Award for Inspiring Women in Science (2021), the NSF CAREER Award, Athena Pinnacle Award in scientific category, 10 under 40 in clinical omics and more.

At UC San Diego, Dr. Aran is not only leading cutting-edge research—she’s building bridges between departments, faculty and the bigger San Diego industry ecosystem to ensure scientific breakthroughs translate into real-world solutions for healthy aging.

President Kohei Itoh graduated from Keio University and received his MS and PhD in Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He joined Keio as a faculty member in 1995 and became a full professor in 2007. He was the dean of the Faculty and Graduate School of Science and Technology between 2017 and 2019, and is the current chairperson of the Japanese government’s Quantum Technology Innovation expert panel.

His main research area is quantum computing, quantum sensing, and quantum physics, leading to over 360 journal publications. He is an executive member of the Council for Science, Technology and Innovation (CSTI) as well as a council member of the Science Council of Japan. He has served on numerous executive boards including the Physical Society of Japan and the Japan Society of Applied Physics. He leads various quantum information projects as the program director of Quantum Information Technology in the MEXT Quantum Leap Flagship Program.

He received the Japan IBM Prize in 2006 and the JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Prize in 2009.  He is also a fellow of American Physical Society and a fellow of the Japan Society of Applied Physics.

LU Yanqing is the Vice president of Nanjing University and also Professor of Optics at NJU’s College of Engineering and Applied Sciences. He is a Distinguished Professor of Changjiang Scholars Program, a winner of the National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars, and the principal investigator at the National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures. Prof. LU received his bachelor’s degree in 1991 and doctorate in 1996 from Nanjing University’s Department of Physics and started to teach at the university after graduation. In 2000, he went to the United States and started to work on applied engineering technology. He accumulated much experience in the development and manufacturing of optoelectronic products before he rejoined Nanjing University at the end of 2006. Prof. LU’s research focuses on nanophotonics, fiber optics, and liquid crystal photonics. His expertise has led to important roles in scientific societies, including the fellow and executive director of the Chinese Optical Society (COS), fellow and executive director of the Chinese Society for Optical Engineering (CSOE), director of the Chinese Physics Society (CPS), director of the International Liquid Crystal Society (ILCS) and the fellow of Optica (formerly OSA, the Optical Society of America).

Nancy Ip is the President of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and the Morningside Professor of Life Science. Taking office in October 2022, she is the first female president of a publicly funded university in Hong Kong.

Ip received her PhD degree in Pharmacology from Harvard University, after which she held the position of Senior Staff Scientist at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. in New York. Since joining HKUST in 1993, she has served as the Vice-President for Research and Development, Dean of Science, and Head of the Department of Biochemistry.

Ip is world-renowned for her significant contributions to the field of neuroscience. Her major research interests are in understanding the complex mechanisms that underlie proper brain functions, as well as drug discovery for neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. Her outstanding research has resulted in over 336 scientific papers and holds 70 patents. A distinguished neuroscientist, Ip was elected to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the US National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, among other academies, and is a recipient of numerous awards, including the National Natural Science Awards and the L’OREAL-UNESCO for Women in Science Award.

Professor Peter Høj AC has more than 25 years’ senior leadership experience in higher education and research and commenced his term as the 24th Vice-Chancellor and President of the University of Adelaide in February 2021.

During his term and under his leadership since 2021, the University has embarked on an historic merger with the University of South Australia to create a new entity – Adelaide University – which will open its doors to students from 1 January 2026. In March 2024, Professor Høj was additionally appointed as co-Vice Chancellor of Adelaide University.

Professor Høj is currently Deputy Chair of the Group of Eight, a coalition of Australia’s leading research-intensive universities. He also serves on the Australian Government’s University Foreign Interference Taskforce.

He was Vice-Chancellor and President of The University of Queensland (2012 – 2020) and The University of South Australia (2007 – 2012).

Professor Høj is a Fellow of Academies in Australia, the USA and Denmark, and has been awarded honorary doctorates from institutions including the University of Adelaide, University of South Australia, University of Queensland, La Trobe University, and University of Copenhagen.

He was awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) in 2019 for “eminent service to higher education and to science, particularly to the commercialisation of research, and to policy development and reform”.

Professor Xiang Zhang is currently the President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Hong Kong. He is also member of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and US National Academy of Engineering (NAE).

Professor Zhang received his PhD from University of California, Berkeley; MS from University of Minnesota and MS/BS from Nanjing University. Professor Zhang’s research focuses on materials physics, metamaterials and nano-photonics. He has published over 400 journal papers including over 90 publications in Science and Nature family series. He has given over 350 Keynote, Plenary and Invited talks at international conferences and institutions. He was a Co-Chair of the NSF Nano-scale Science and Engineering Annual Grantee Conferences in 2004 and 2005, and has served as Chair of the Academic Advisory Board for the Research Center for Applied Science (RCAS), Academia Sinica.

In 2008, Professor Zhang’s research was selected by Time Magazine as one of the “Top Ten Scientific Discoveries of the Year” and “50 Best Inventions of the Year”, Discover Magazine’s “Top 100 Science Stories” in 2007, and R&D Magazine’s top 25 Most Innovative Products of 2006. In 2019, his research team’s work on “Casimir effect” was selected as one of the Top 10 Breakthroughs for 2019 by Physics World.

Dr. Carethers joins UC San Diego from a 13-year tenure at the University of Michigan, where he served as the C. Richard Boland Distinguished University Professor and the John G. Searle Professor and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine. Prior to that, Dr. Carethers spent nearly 15 years at UC San Diego School of Medicine, eventually serving as chief of the Division of Gastroenterology.

One of his many accomplishments as division chief was securing the inaugural National Institutes of Health-funded Gastroenterology Center Grant that allowed the division to grow scientifically and partner with other local institutions, such as the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, Scripps Research Institute and Sanford Burnham Prebys. Dr. Carethers earned his medical degree from Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1989, completed his residency in Internal Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1992 and his gastroenterology fellowship at University of Michigan in 1995.  

On the national scene, Dr. Carethers has served as the president for both the Association of American Physicians and the American Gastroenterological Association. He served as chair of the Minorities in Research Council of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), developed and co-chaired the programming for the eighth and 10th Science of Cancer Health Disparities conferences, and commenced and contributed to the inaugural (2020) and subsequent (2022) AACR Cancer Health Disparities Report and its presentation to the United States Congress. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. 

As vice chancellor, Dr. Carethers drives the overarching strategy for all of Health Sciences, working with the chancellor, campus and health system leadership on expanding UC San Diego Health’s clinical enterprise, fostering research collaborations, enhancing educational opportunities and expanding philanthropic participation. His collaborative approach, deep expertise and leadership continue to expand and diversify the global prestige and distinction of our university’s health sciences.

Aladdin H. Shadyab, PhD is a tenured Associate Professor of Public Health and Medicine at the University of California San Diego. He holds a joint appointment in the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science and the Division of Geriatrics, Gerontology, and Palliative Care within the Department of Medicine. Dr. Shadyab is an internationally recognized expert in the science of human longevity, the epidemiology of aging, and biomarkers of aging. He has authored over 290 publications in leading scientific journals, including JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, Alzheimer’s & Dementia, Annals of Internal Medicine, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, Journals of Gerontology: Medical Sciences, and the American Journal of Epidemiology. His work has been cited more than 6,400 times, with an h-index of 41 and an i10-index of 144. His seminal research has made significant contributions in identifying determinants of exceptional longevity and exceptionally healthy aging as well as risk factors for major chronic conditions among older adults. His work has received national and international recognition, with features in prominent media outlets including New York Times, TIME, Reuters, Washington Post, and BBC. He holds several national leadership positions, including Associate Editor of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences, among the world’s leading scientific journals focused on aging and longevity.

As Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global and Research Engagement), Professor Belov has responsibility for pivotal areas of the University’s Research Portfolio related to academic research partnerships, centres and institutes. She leads the Office of Global Engagement, oversees the University’s multidisciplinary initiatives and stewards relations and agreements with the University’s affiliated research institutes. She also focuses on developing the University’s national and international partnerships to address the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Dr Erik Lithander is Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Strategic Engagement) at the University of Auckland, having previously held Pro Vice-Chancellor roles at the University of Bristol in the UK and at the Australian National University. He holds a BSc from the London School of Economics and an MPhil and PhD from the University of Cambridge, and is an alumnus of the executive education programmes at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the LH Martin Institute at the University of Melbourne. Erik is originally Swedish but is also a New Zealand citizen.

Erik leads the University of Auckland’s external relations portfolio, which includes alumni relations and development, internationalisation, marketing and communications, civic and government relations, domestic and international student recruitment and sustainability. He also has oversight of the Auckland Confucius Institute, chairs the Advisory Board of the New Zealand Centre at the Indian Institute of Technology (Delhi) and sits on the Board of Education New Zealand.

On Sept. 1, 2013, Pisano joined the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering as Professor and Dean. He holds the Walter J. Zable Chair in Engineering. On Jan. 1, 2024, Pisano took on the dual role as Special Adviser to the Chancellor for Campus Strategic Initiatives and as Dean of the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering.  Pisano is a highly accomplished mechanical engineer who, in 2001, was elected to the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to the design, fabrication, commercialization, and educational aspects of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). A self-described technology polymath, Pisano’s research is driven by his passion for developing, mastering and advancing technologies in order to solve problems. At the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering, Pisano holds faculty appointments in the departments of mechanical and aerospace engineering and electrical and computer engineering.

Rob Knight is the founding Director of the Center for Microbiome Innovation and Professor of Pediatrics, Bioengineering, Computer Science & Engineering and Halıcıoğlu Data Science Institute at UC San Diego.  He is the Wolfe Family Endowed Chair in Microbiome Research at Rady Children’s.  He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 2024.  He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Microbiology. He was honored with the 2019 NIH Director’s Pioneer Award for his microbiome research and received the 2017 Massry Prize, often considered a predictor of the Nobel. He is the author of “Follow Your Gut: The Enormous Impact of Tiny Microbes” (Simon & Schuster, 2015), coauthor of “Dirt is Good: The Advantage of Germs for Your Child’s Developing Immune System (St. Martin’s Press, 2017), and written over 800 scientific articles. He spoke at TED in 2014 which is viewed over 2.3 million times. His lab has produced many of the software tools and laboratory techniques that enabled high-throughput microbiome science, including the QIIME pipeline (cited over 50,000 times as of this writing) and UniFrac (cited over 12,000 times including its web interface). He is co-founder of the Earth Microbiome Project, the American Gut Project, and the company Biota, Inc., which uses DNA from microbes in the subsurface to guide oilfield decisions. His work has linked microbes to a range of health conditions including obesity and inflammatory bowel disease, has enhanced our understanding of microbes in environments ranging from the oceans to the tundra, and made high-throughput sequencing techniques accessible to thousands of researchers around the world. Dr. Knight can be followed on Twitter (@knightlabnews) or on his web site http://knightlab.ucsd.edu/.

Sung-Min Park received his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., in 2001 and 2006, respectively. His doctoral research focused on biomedical electromagnetic modelling and MRI compatible implantable medical devices.

From 2006 to 2014, he was with Medtronic (Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.) as an R&D Manager, where he led the award-winning effort in developing the world’s first MRI-conditional pacemaker, a breakthrough that significantly expanded treatment options for patients requiring both pacemaker therapy and MRI diagnostics.

From 2014 to 2016, he served as Director at Samsung Electronics (Suwon, South Korea), spearheading the development of healthcare-centric mobile devices and mobile health service platforms, integrating cutting-edge digital health technologies into consumer electronics.

Since 2016, Dr. Park has been a Professor in the Department of Convergence IT Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), where he has been actively engaged in research at the intersection of bioelectronics, bioinformatics, and digital healthcare. In recognition of his research achievements, he has been endowed with the title of Mu-Eun-Jae Distinguished Professor. His work focuses on next-generation medical devices and intelligent health monitoring systems. As a key outcome of his research, he founded Curestream, a company dedicated to the commercialization of a fully automated artificial pancreas system, aiming to revolutionize diabetes management through closed-loop insulin delivery technology.

Currently, he serves as the Vice President of External Affairs at POSTECH, where he is leading strategic global partnerships to strengthen the university’s international collaborations. Additionally, he is directing a large-scale multidisciplinary research project called “Autonomous Neural Reset”, which aims to restore homeostatic functions through advanced neurotechnology and biomedical engineering.

Professor Chi-Hung Lin is the President of National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (NYCU) in Chinese Taipei. He holds a Ph.D. in Biology from Yale University and an M.D. from the School of Medicine at National Yang-Ming University. Prof. Lin has an extensive background in medical research and education, having held various positions at National Yang Ming University, including Director of the Institute of Microbiology & Immunology and Vice Dean of the Office of Research and Development. His administrative expertise is highlighted by his roles as Commissioner of the Department of Health for both Taipei City and New Taipei City Governments. Prof. Lin has also contributed significantly to academic and healthcare advancements as a professor in multiple institutes at NYMU and as a researcher in national laboratories. His work spans across numerous disciplines including biophotonics, anatomy, clinical medicine, and health risk assessment.

Professor Dennis Lo is the ninth Vice-Chancellor and President and the Li Ka Shing Professor of Medicine of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). He is also the President of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences. His research interests focus on the biology and diagnostic applications of cell-free nucleic acids in plasma. He discovered the presence of cell-free fetal DNA in maternal plasma in 1997 and pioneered non-invasive prenatal diagnosis using this technology which has since been adopted globally, creating a paradigm shift in prenatal medicine. He has also made many innovations using circulating nucleic acids for cancer detection, including the screening of early-stage nasopharyngeal cancer.

In recognition of his research achievements, Professor Lo has been elected as a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Founding Member of the Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, Fellow of the Royal Society, and Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Sciences. Professor Lo has won numerous awards, including the 2014 King Faisal International Prize in Medicine, the 2016 Future Science Prize in Life Science, the 2019 Fudan-Zhongzhi Science Award, the 2021 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, the 2021 Royal Medal, the 2021 ESHG Mendel Award, the 2022 ISPD Pioneer Award, the 2022 Lasker~DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award, the 2023 inaugural Tengchong Science Prize and the 2024 Jiménez Díaz Lecture Award.

Julio Frenk became UCLA’s seventh chancellor on January 1, 2025, and holds an academic appointment as distinguished professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management within the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. An accomplished leader and global health expert, he previously served as president of the University of Miami and dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. As Mexico’s federal secretary of health (2000–06), he led a major health reform that expanded care to over 55 million people. Frenk has held roles at the WHO and Gates Foundation, authored nearly 200 scholarly articles, and written five novels for young people explaining the functions of the human body. He is a member of leading academies in the U.S. and Mexico and has earned honors including the Clinton Global Citizen Award and TIME’s 2024 Latino Leader recognition.

Courtney Giordano is Senior Director of Strategic Global Initiatives, providing leadership for international partnership and program development, external engagement supporting campus internationalization efforts, strategic communication for Global Initiatives and the Study Abroad office. 

Courtney’s career in international affairs spans 20 years, where she is known for developing multi-constituent, broad regional engagement strategies. Courtney has developed collaborative and dual degree programs, global internship programs, and bilateral exchanges with partners in Taiwan, Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Europe and Latin America, and is working with partners in Singapore and India to develop multilateral endeavors. 

Courtney Co-Chaired UC San Diego’s participation in the American Council on Education’s Internationalization Laboratory where she authored the final report that serves as the foundation of the working Strategic Internationalization Plan for the university.  

Courtney began her career in Washington, D.C. administering professional exchange programs under the auspices of the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State. She is a graduate from UC San Diego, where she earned bachelor’s degree in political science and history and received a master’s degree in history from San Diego State University.

Professor Dr. Yvonne Lim Ai Lian is the Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International) at Universiti Malaya and a Senior Professor in the Department of Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine. She is also a member of the University Senate. A Fellow and former Council Member of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia (ASM), she co-chairs the APRU Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Program and serves on the APRU International Advisory Committee.

Her research focuses on deciphering the intricate relationships between hosts, parasites, and environmental factors that contribute to diseases in indigenous and underserved communities, with the goal of developing multi-targeted solutions. Additionally, she explores the diversity of gut and skin microbiomes across populations spanning diverse socioeconomic and ecological backgrounds, from traditional to industrialized societies.

Her work is supported by numerous national and international grants, including the prestigious NIH R01 grant in collaboration with researchers in the United States. She has authored over 250 peer-reviewed scientific articles, contributed to nine book chapters, and written three books. As a dedicated mentor, she has successfully guided more than 40 postgraduate students to completion and hosted researchers through extensive international collaborations.

A recipient of numerous accolades, Professor Lim is deeply passionate about her engagement with indigenous communities. She remains committed to inspiring and empowering her colleagues and students to realize their fullest potential.

Professor Song Gao is now the President of Sun Yat-sen University. He holds a doctoral degree in science, and is now professor, and academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. From 1981 to 1991, Professor Gao studied in the Department of Chemistry of Peking University for his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree and doctoral degree. Since 1999, he has been a professor in the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering of Peking University. Professor Gao has been to RWTH Aachen in Germany, the University of Hong Kong and the National University of Singapore as a visiting scholar for academic exchange and collaborative research.

Professor Gao was elected an academician of the Division of Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in the United Kingdom in 2007. In 2013, he was elected an academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World. His main research interests are coordination chemistry and molecular magnetism. In 2013, he received the Science and Technology Progress Award from Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation. He has won three second-class National Natural Science Awards. From 2013 to 2018, Professor Gao served successively as Vice President and Executive Vice President of Peking University. Since May 2016, Professor Gao has held a concurrent post as the Vice Chairman of the 9th and 10th National Committees of the China Association for Science and Technology. From October 2018 to July 2022, he was the President of South China University of Technology. Professor Gao has been the President of Sun Yat-sen University since November 2021.

Christian Gonzalez-Billault holds the position of Vice President for Research and Development at the Universidad de Chile. He is also a Professor in the Department of Biology within the Faculty of Sciences, serves in the Department of Neuroscience at the Faculty of Medicine, and contributes to the Public Nutrition Unit at the Institute for Nutrition and Food Technologies. Furthermore, he is an Adjunct Professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in the United States. With over 20 years of experience in leading research projects and initiatives at the Universidad de Chile, Dr. Christian González-Billault previously served as the President of the Society of Biology of Chile and currently holds the title of Past President of the Chilean Society of Neurosciences. On an international level, he is a Council Member of the International Society for Neurochemistry (ISN) and was recently elected as an International Member of the American Society for Cell Biology (ASCB) Council. Notably, he is the first scientist based in Chile to achieve the distinction of being elected as an EMBO Associate Member. In addition, he is a member of the executive committee of the Declaration for Research Assessment (DORA), which is a global initiative aimed at reforming academic evaluation mechanisms.

Dr. Gonzalez-Billault’s research interests include critical areas such as brain development, neurodegeneration, and aging—fields essential for understanding and enhancing the quality of life as individuals age. He has played a pivotal role as the Director of the Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism (GERO), which is a pioneering facility in Latin America dedicated to advancing research in aging studies. These initiatives receive support from the FONDAP program of Chile’s National Agency for Research and Development (ANID), underlining a commitment to innovation in research. Recently, he has directed his efforts towards human studies that investigate the molecular mechanisms regulating aging within the Chilean population, with the aim of uncovering insights that could transform our approach to aging and health in the region.

President Scholz is in his second year at the University of Oregon (UO). He previously worked at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was an economics professor, served as the dean of the College of Letters & Science and directed the federally funded Institute for Research on Poverty. In his last several years at Wisconsin he was the provost and briefly, interim Chancellor. President Scholz has also served as an economic advisor in two presidential administrations, first at the President’s Council of Economic Advisors and then as a political appointee in the Treasury Department.

Dr. Mandy Bratton serves as the Executive Director of the UC San Diego Center for Global Sustainable Development.  The Center is home to the award-winning Global Ties program and the National Academy of Engineering’s (NAE) Global Changemaker Scholars Program. These programs inspire students to collaborate with communities to co-create innovative solutions to urgent adaptive challenges, such as those represented by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the NAE Grand Challenges. Mandy also serves as a Director of the UC San Diego Changemaker Institute.  She is an Ashoka U Change Leader and was instrumental in making UC San Diego an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus – one of only 45 worldwide.  She served as the Principal Investigator for SISTERS, a National Science Foundation-funded project to design and study the impact of an after-school STEAM program for 5th and 6th-grade girls facilitated by undergraduate mentors majoring in STEM. Before coming to UC San Diego, Mandy earned a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin and served as a senior faculty member in Psychology and Human Development and Interim Associate Dean at Prescott College for the Liberal Arts, the Environment, and Social Justice. Mandy has sailed around the world three times with the Semester at Sea Global Studies Program and serves as president emeritus of its alumni association. She holds an academic appointment as a Continuing Lecturer and her primary interests as a scholar, teacher, practitioner, and global citizen include sustainable development, gender equality, leadership, ethics, and creating positive social and environmental change.

Diego has led the research and international programs at USFQ for over 10 years. His vision contributed to make USFQ accomplish Number 1 post in Latin America in internationalization (Times Higher Education). His most recent position was Dean of Research and International Affairs as well as Co-Director of the Galapagos Campus in San Cristóbal, Galapagos.

Diego obtained his PhD in Anthropology of University of Illinois at Urbana, Champaign. His research focus is Urban Ecology, Political Ecology and Medical Anthropology in the Galapagos, Amazon basin y the Andes. Diego has been working constantly in biodiversity and vulnerability research as well as traditional medicine in the region. Diego believes that the role of universities is to be a part of the innovation ecosystem and that it should be tied to the community needs to develop public policy and support the private sector. His work philosophy is based in Liberal Arts, which promote inter disciplinary groups of work where each person contributes with its area of expertise to go forward in research.

Minseok Kang is currently a third-year undergraduate student majoring in Biotechnology at Yonsei University in Seoul, Republic of Korea. His academic and research interests focus on immunology and regenerative medicine, with a particular fascination for how cells interact with their mechanical environments in both health and disease.

Kang joined the ISRP program to gain hands-on research experience in an international setting and to further develop my skills in interdisciplinary biomedical science. He was especially excited to be matched with the Engler Lab at UC San Diego, which is renowned for its pioneering work in mechanobiology and tissue engineering. Through this opportunity, he looks forward to learning advanced techniques in stem cell biology and biomaterials, while contributing to ongoing research on how physical forces influence cell fate and tissue regeneration.

Leanne is a final year PhD candidate at the University of Sydney. Her research explores ways to improve dietary assessment methods using technology, with a particular emphasis on young adults and their unique temporal eating patterns. Leanne joined the ISRP lab because of its innovative, community-driven approach to public health research. As her PhD work is quite focused, she was keen to broaden her perspective and explore the bigger picture of how social and environmental factors influence not just diet, but overall health. Through the ISRP lab, she hopes to contribute to research that amplifies community voices to support more equitable health interventions.

Joongi Park is in the senior year of Materials Science and Engineering program at Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) in South Korea. His research interests lie in the development of next-generation semiconductors, particularly two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors and organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). He is especially fascinated by the integration of biocompatible polymers into bioelectronic devices for applications in health monitoring and neural interfaces.

Park applied to the ISRP program to explore advanced fabrication methods and flexible electronics in a globally renowned research environment. He is excited to join the lab of Professor Tse Nga Tina Ng at UC San Diego, whose work in printed electronics and flexible sensing systems aligns closely with my academic interests. Her innovative approach using additive printing and low-temperature processing provides a powerful platform to realize wearable and implantable bioelectronic devices—areas Park hopes to contribute to through this research opportunity.