2021 WORLDSymposium™ MEETING HIGHLIGHTS

Ellen Sidransky, MD received the 2021 Roscoe O. Brady Award for Innovation and Accomplishment

Dr. Ellen Sidransky is the Branch Chief of the Medical Genetics Branch and is a pediatrician and geneticist in the National Human Genome Research Institute at National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Sidransky received her B.A. from Brandeis University and her M.D. from Tulane University. She trained in pediatrics at Northwestern University, and in Clinical Genetics at the NIH. Dr. Sidransky has been a tenured NIH investigator and Section Chief since 2000. Her research interests include both clinical and basic aspects of Gaucher disease and Parkinson disease, studies of genotype/phenotype correlation and genetic modifiers, insights from mouse models, and novel treatment strategies. She played a lead role in establishing the association between glucocerebrosidase and parkinsonism. The author of over 200 publications, she continues to focus on the complexity encountered in “simple” Mendelian disorders, the role of lysosomal pathways in parkinsonism, and the development of small molecule chaperone therapy for Gaucher disease and for parkinsonism.
Dr. Ellen Sidransky received the 2021 WORLDSymposium Roscoe O. Brady Award for Innovation and Accomplishment on Monday, February 8, 2021 at 8:45 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST). 

Terri L. Klein received the WORLDSymposium 2021 Patient Advocate Leader (PAL) Award

Terri Klein, NPGC is the President and CEO at the National MPS Society, USA. Her undergraduate work was in Human Resources and her graduate work was in Nonprofit Management. She is currently completing her MPA from North Carolina State University. Her expertise is in organizational development, multi-tier fund development, and technology development. Her portfolio includes over 36 million in secured corporate prospects, and nonprofit gifts. Terri began her nonprofit career in 2004 and became the first Executive Director of the ISMRD after leaving her corporate career.
Since 2002, the Society has funded $17 million in research and family support programs. She has worked to increase the membership of the Society by over 310% and has expanded the Society Team to include science, social services, and communication. Her focus is on diseases with no treatment, bridging bench and translational research to clinical application, the newborn screening program, patient secured data, and access to therapies. In addition, she administers patient advocacy with NIH, NCATS, NINDS, FDA, RDCRN, HRSA, and the ACHDNC.
She is the co-Chair of the International MPS Network (IMPSN) and COPA, part of the LDN. The IMPSN focuses on global humanitarian efforts for MPS. She is a member of the North Carolina Rare Disease Coalition, and mentors’ other patient communities to strengthen their voice, and advocates at both the federal and state level.
Terri is a founding member of the Mucolipidosis Research Collaborative Network. Recently formed in 2019, this novel group of scientists, researchers, clinicians, and patient advocates are working in tandem to discover the scientific answers to provide therapies for ML II/III. She is a wife and mother of four, including Jennifer (28), her youngest that suffers from ML III.
Terri was presented with the WORLDSymposium 2021 Patient Advocate Leader Award on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 9:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST).

Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, Delivered Keynote Address on Wednesday, February 10, 2021

The WORLDSymposium Planning Committee is excited to announce Michael T. Osterholm, PhD, MPH, will provide the Keynote Address on Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at the 17th Annual WORLDSymposium Scientific Meeting.
Dr. Osterholm is Regents Professor, McKnight Presidential Endowed Chair in Public Health, the director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), Distinguished Teaching Professor in the Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, a professor in the Technological Leadership Institute, College of Science and Engineering, and an adjunct professor in the Medical School, all at the University of Minnesota. From June 2018 through May 2019, he served as a Science Envoy for Health Security on behalf of the US Department of State. He is also on the Board of Regents at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa.
He is the author of the 2017 book, Deadliest Enemy: Our War Against Killer Germs, in which he not only details the most pressing infectious disease threats of our day but lays out a nine-point strategy on how to address them, with preventing a global flu pandemic at the top of the list.
In addition, Dr. Osterholm is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM) and the Council of Foreign Relations. In June 2005 Dr. Osterholm was appointed by Michael Leavitt, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), to the newly established National Science Advisory Board on Biosecurity. In July 2008, he was named to the University of Minnesota Academic Health Center’s Academy of Excellence in Health Research. In October 2008, he was appointed to the World Economic Forum Working Group on Pandemics.
From 2001 through early 2005, Dr. Osterholm, in addition to his role at CIDRAP, served as a Special Advisor to then–HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson on issues related to bioterrorism and public health preparedness. He was also appointed to the Secretary’s Advisory Council on Public Health Preparedness. On April 1, 2002, Dr. Osterholm was appointed by Thompson to be his representative on the interim management team to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). With the appointment of Dr. Julie Gerberding as director of the CDC on July 3, 2002, Dr. Osterholm was asked by Thompson to assist Dr. Gerberding on his behalf during the transition period. He filled that role through January 2003.
Previously, Dr. Osterholm served for 24 years (1975-1999) in various roles at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), the last 15 as state epidemiologist and chief of the Acute Disease Epidemiology Section. While at the MDH, Osterholm and his team were leaders in the area of infectious disease epidemiology. He has led numerous investigations of outbreaks of international importance, including foodborne diseases, the association of tampons and toxic shock syndrome (TSS), the transmission of hepatitis B in healthcare settings, and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in healthcare workers. In addition, his team conducted numerous studies regarding infectious diseases in child-care settings, vaccine-preventable diseases (particularly Haemophilus influenzae type b and hepatitis B), Lyme disease, and other emerging infections. They were also among the first to call attention to the changing epidemiology of foodborne diseases.
Dr. Osterholm was the Principal Investigator and Director of the NIH-supported Minnesota Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance (2007-2014) and chaired the Executive Committee of the Centers of Excellence Influenza Research and Surveillance network.
Dr. Osterholm has been an international leader on the critical concern regarding our preparedness for an influenza pandemic. His invited papers in the journals Foreign Affairs, the New England Journal of Medicine, and Nature detail the threat of an influenza pandemic before the recent pandemic and the steps we must take to better prepare for such events. Dr. Osterholm has also been an international leader on the growing concern regarding the use of biological agents as catastrophic weapons targeting civilian populations. In that role, he served as a personal advisor to the late King Hussein of Jordan. Dr. Osterholm provides a comprehensive and pointed review of America’s current state of preparedness for a bioterrorism attack in his New York Times best-selling book, Living Terrors: What America Needs to Know to Survive the Coming Bioterrorist Catastrophe.
The author of more than 315 papers and abstracts, including 21 book chapters, Dr. Osterholm is a frequently invited guest lecturer on the topic of epidemiology of infectious diseases. He serves on the editorial boards of nine journals, including Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology and Microbial Drug Resistance: Mechanisms, Epidemiology and Disease, and he is a reviewer for 24 additional journals, including the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the AmericanMedical Association, and Science. He is past president of the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE) and has served on the CDC’s National Center for Infectious Diseases Board of Scientific Counselors from 1992 to 1997. Dr. Osterholm served on the IOM Forum on Microbial Threats from 1994 through 2011. He has served on the IOM Committee on Emerging Microbial Threats to Health in the 21st Century and the IOM Committee on Food Safety, Production to Consumption, and he was a reviewer for the IOM Report on Chemical and Biological Terrorism. As a member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM), Dr. Osterholm has served on the Committee on Biomedical Research of the Public and Scientific Affairs Board, the Task Force on Biological Weapons, and the Task Force on Antibiotic Resistance. He is a frequent consultant to the World Health Organization (WHO), the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Department of Defense, and the CDC. He is a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology and the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
Dr. Osterholm has received numerous honors for his work, including an honorary doctorate from Luther College; the Pump Handle Award, CSTE; the Charles C. Shepard Science Award, CDC; the Harvey W. Wiley Medal, FDA; the Squibb Award, IDSA; Distinguished University Teaching Professor, Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, UMN; and the Wade Hampton Frost Leadership Award, American Public Health Association. He also has been the recipient of six major research awards from the NIH and the CDC. Dr. Osterholm presented “The COVID Pandemic: The Evolving Reality” as the Keynote Address on Wednesday, February 10, 2021 at 9:00 AM EST.

Peter Marks Delivered Keynote Address on Thursday, February 11, 2021

The WORLDSymposium Planning Committee is excited to announce Peter Marks, MD, PhD, will provide the Keynote Address on Thursday, February 11, 2021 at the 17th Annual WORLDSymposium Scientific Meeting.
Dr. Marks is the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The center is responsible for assuring the safety and effectiveness of biological products, including vaccines, allergenic products, blood and blood products, and cellular, tissue, and gene therapies.
Dr. Marks received his graduate degree in cell and molecular biology and his medical degree at New York University. Following this, he completed an Internal Medicine residency and Hematology/Medical Oncology fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where he subsequently joined the attending staff as a clinician-scientist and eventually served as Clinical Director of Hematology.
He then moved on to work for several years in the pharmaceutical industry on the clinical development of hematology and oncology products prior to returning to academic medicine at Yale University where he led the Adult Leukemia Service and served as Chief Clinical Officer of Smilow Cancer Hospital. He joined the FDA in 2012 as Deputy Center Director for CBER and became Center Director in 2016.  Dr. Marks is board certified in internal medicine, hematology and medical oncology, and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.
Dr. Marks is a renowned speaker and expert in numerous areas, including the current issues facing gene therapy research not only in the Unites States, but also from a global perspective. Dr. Marks presented “Trailblazing a Regulatory Framework for Individualized Therapies” as the Keynote Address on Thursday, February 11, 2021 at 8:45 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST).

WORLDSymposium Young Investigator Awards Announced

Congratulations to the ten individuals selected who received the WORLDSymposium Young Investigator Award for 2021. The award is a partial scholarship towards attendance at WORLDSymposium 2021. 45 investigators-in-training submitted an application for the award, and the review process was difficult due to the excellent caliber of all the applicants. WORLDSymposium would like to congratulate all of the applicants for their hard work. The following individuals received the WORLDSymposium Young Investigator Award at the 2021 Scientific Meeting on Tuesday, February 9, 2021 at 9:00 AM Eastern Standard Time (EST):

• Su Jin Choi, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina, USA
• Jason Glanzman, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
• Tyler Harm, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
• Jane Kinsella, Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Manchester, United Kingdom
• Stephanie Newman, Western University, London, Ontario, Canada
• Allegra Quadri, Ann & Robert Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA
• Allen Seylani, National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, USA
• Miles Smith, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
• Brianna Yund, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
• Wei Zhu, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA