Last Call Speakers

Andrea Webb

Andrea Webb

Last Call Speaker

Monday, July 20 10:30 – 12:00

Dr. Andrea Webb is Principal Scientist for Human Centered Solutions and a Principal Member of Technical Staff at Draper where she leads several efforts related to understanding and quantifying human signals.  Her research interests are in the psychophysiology of mental health, credibility assessment, dyadic interaction, and emotional state.  Dr. Webb’s work is focused on the identification of objective, quantitative metrics of human state, with the ultimate goal of guiding the development of usable systems for monitoring and improving end user performance and outcomes.

Christopher Khoury

Christopher Khoury

Last Call Spreaker

Monday July 20 16:30 – 18:00

Christopher Khoury is vice president of environmental intelligence and strategic analytics at the American Medical Association (AMA). The unit focuses on assessing and interacting with emerging elements across health care, business and policy sectors. He also oversees market research, strategic partnerships and innovation initiatives at the AMA.

He has worked in the healthcare sector for 18 years. Prior to joining AMA, he was senior manager at PwC’s Health Research Institute (HRI), where he developed thought leadership and provided strategic guidance to clients on biopharmaceuticals, life sciences, health reform, and consumer issues. He began his career in medical device R&D and product development, and subsequently in health data analytics at an academic medical center.

Christopher is the author of several publications and a frequent presenter on business issues across healthcare. He also holds patents covering biotechnology subjects. He earned an M.B.A. from The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business magna cum laude. Christopher received his B.S. and M.S. from the University of Illinois in Electrical and Computer Engineering and holds an M.S. in biomedical engineering from the University of Wisconsin.

 

Alan M. Weinstein

Alan M. Weinstein

Last Call Speaker

Wednesday, July 22 16:30 – 18:00

My professional effort includes both renal transport physiology and clinical nephrology.  My medical training was at Harvard and my modeling training was in the Section on Theoretical Biophysics at NIH.  Since 1981, I have worked at Weill Medical College of Cornell, and been PI of RO1-DK29857, “Theory of solute and water transport across epithelia”.  The principal aim of that project has been the creation of mathematical models and computer simulation of renal function, and at this point, my published models of kidney tubules now comprise a complete collection of nephron segments, as single entities and concatenated to form a complete nephron.  Most recently, the project has achieved its objective of a full kidney simulation, in which renal medullary vasculature is included, and interstitial solute concentrations emerge as model predictions.  In conjunction with this modeling project there have been several productive collaborations with experimental labs.  The most sustained effort has been with Dr. Tong Wang (Yale) to examine flow-dependent transport in proximal tubule, as the mechanism underlying glomerulotubular balance.  That work identified proximal tubule microvilli as flow sensors, provided an equation for their activation, and examined cellular signals that modulated the impact of flow on transport.  Additional collaborations have been with Dr. Susan Wall (Emory) to investigate intercalated cell-principal cell interactions in cortical collecting duct transport, with Dr. David Ellison (Oregon) to examine the impact of peritubular potassium to modulate distal tubule sodium reabsorption, and most recently, with Dr. Lawrence Palmer (Weill) to understand distal nephron potassium secretion during periods of sodium deprivation.  My practice as a clinical nephrologist provides a translational sensibility, namely a practical knowledge of fluid and electrolyte disorders and of diuretic effects, which can guide and prioritize the simulations.