Title: Translational Bioinformatics Program at NIA

Biography: Jean Yuan, M.D., Ph.D., is the Program Director overseeing program in Translational Bioinformatics and Data Science at the National Institutes on Aging (NIA) at NIH. She manages research programs that develop/apply computational and analytical methods on multiple-platform biodata (-omics, EHRs, mobile sensors, drugs etc.) to understand disease etiology and translate the knowledge from basics to clinical studies, aimed to identify new interventions that can prevent, slow down and treat diseases like Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Prior to joining the NIA, Dr. Yuan led the scientific review panels that review NIH proposals in Biomedical Computing and Health Informatics and Small Business. Prior to that she worked at Georgetown University, and GSK pharma company where she led multiple bioinformatics projects and clinical trials for precision medicine in cardiovascular and cancer therapeutics. Dr. Yuan obtained her graduate training in Computer Science (M.S.), Computational Biology (Ph.D), and Clinical Pathology (M.D.).

Title: Supporting the NIH Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADX) Initiative by the Data Coordination Centers

Biography: Dr. Yanli Wang was trained in Chemistry and Bioinformatics, she obtained a Ph.D. degree in Computational Biology from the Beijing University, China. Dr. Wang went to the National Cancer Institute of NIH as a postdoctoral fellow in 1995. She joined the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI), a division of the National Library of Medicine in 1997. Her research areas at NCBI included algorithm developing with a focus on small molecule drug and protein target interaction analysis, and information system development that she led the development of the PubChem BioAssay resource. Dr. Wang is currently a Program Director at the National Library of Medicine. Her portfolio includes clinical informatics, data science, and informatics training. Dr. Wang is the Program Officer of the RADx-rad Data Coordination Center (DCC).

Abstract: SARS-CoV-2 is a novel coronavirus that has been identified as the causative agent of COVID-19, a respiratory disease that exhibits a wide range of clinical outcomes and has led to the loss of lives. To combat the world-wide pandemic outbreak, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) launched the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics (RADx) initiative to speed innovation in the development, commercialization, and implementation of technologies for COVID-19 testing. The RADx initiative is a national call for scientists and organizations to bring their innovative ideas for new COVID-19 testing approaches and strategies. Data Coordination Centers (DCCs) are set up by this NIH initiative to provide overarching support and guidance to the RADx awardees. Coordinated efforts among the DCCs across the multiple RADx programs for data collection and harmonization by leveraging on data science workforce across the country will be described.

Title: Opportunities at NSF for Research on Smart Health and Bioinformatics

Biography: Georgia-Ann Klutke is NSF Program Director in the cross-directorate Smart Health team from Operations Engineering in the CMMID and Engineering Directorate. She joined NSF in September 2016 after 30 years in academia, where she was most recently Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Texas A&M University. Her previous appointments were to the faculties of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and The University of Texas at Austin, and as an IPA, she directed the Operations Research and Production System programs at NSF. She holds a Ph.D. from the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, B.S. (Mathematics) and M.S. (Biostatistics) degrees from the University of Michigan, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Industrial and Systems Engineers.