a2 National Symposium

Peter Abadir, MD, is an associate professor of geriatric medicine and gerontology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, with a joint appointment in the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering. Dr. Abadir’s research interests include changes in the renin angiotensin aldosterone system with aging, and the development of new technologies that will improve the health and well-being of older adults. He has been recognized by the Hopkins Department of Medicine with the W. Leigh Thompson Excellence in Research Award and was selected as the 2021 Salisbury Family CIM/HAP Scholar. Dr. Abadir is co-director of the Johns Hopkins Human Aging Project Gerotech Incubator Program and serves as co-principal investigator for JH AITC.

Anna Barnacka, PhD, is the founder and CEO of MindMics, where she leads the development and commercialization of an AI-powered, in-ear infrasonic hemodynography platform for continuous cardiovascular monitoring using consumer in-ear devices. Trained as an astrophysicist, she holds PhDs in physics and astronomy and was a NASA Einstein Fellow at Harvard before transitioning into biomedical innovation. Beyond health technology, she is also a director of the Multiverse Concert Series and served as the scientific lead for Black Hole Symphony, interdisciplinary projects that bridge science, art, and music to make complex scientific ideas accessible to all.

Keith Camhi, MBA, MS, invests in and advises talented entrepreneurs at Techstars, where he is the managing director of the Techstars Healthcare Accelerator powered by Permanente Medicine in Washington, D.C. During his 7-year tenure at Techstars, he has led the global accelerator investment team, run accelerator programs with other prominent partners including Melinda Gates's Pivotal Ventures (Future of Longevity), Samvid Ventures (Economic Mobility), and J.P. Morgan (in Washington, D.C. and New York City), and has invested in nearly 80 startups.

Prior to Techstars, Camhi founded and scaled FitLinxx (securing over $50M in venture capital and reaching #20 on the Deloitte Fast 500) and Great Play (three-time Entrepreneur Franchise 500 honoree), and he served as an entrepreneur-in-residence for two funds focused on healthcare and early childhood development. He holds degrees from Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has been awarded multiple patents in sensor and machine vision technology.

Tony Chan, JD, is global co-leader of Orrick’s Life Sciences & HealthTech Sector. His practice focuses on representing private equity and strategic clients in the life sciences, healthcare, investment management and tech sectors on complex domestic and cross-border corporate transactions. Chan regularly advises on mergers and acquisitions (M&A), private equity, growth equity, and venture capital transactions, as well as on corporate governance, joint ventures, and corporate finance matters. He has been recognized for his life sciences and M&A work by a number of notable publications, including The Legal 500 US, Law360, IFLR1000, and Legal Media Group. In particular, Law360 highlighted his work in navigating the complex life sciences industry and key partnership negotiations between biotechnology and drug companies.

In addition, Chan sustains an active pro bono practice, serving as counsel to nonprofit organizations such as Aequitas, APAI Vote, Chefs Stopping Asian American Hate, Rebuilding Together Philadelphia, the Philadelphia Film Society, and the Harvard Asian American Alumni Alliance. Chan also serves as an adjunct professor at Georgetown Law School where he has taught Takeovers, Mergers, and Acquisitions since 2015.

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Rama Chellappa, PhD, is a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University (JHU). He serves as co-principal investigator for JH AITC and is the former interim director of the JHU Data Science and AI Institute. He is also a member of JHU’s Center for Imaging Science, Center for Language and Speech Processing, Institute for Assured Autonomy, and Mathematical Institute for Data Science.

Dr. Chellappa's work in computer vision, pattern recognition, and machine learning have had a profound impact on areas including biometrics, smart cars, forensics, and 2D and 3D modeling of faces, objects, and terrain, while his work in motion capturing and imaging shows promise for future use in health care and medicine. He is the author of Can We Trust AI?, a member of the National Academy of Engineering, and a Life Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). He completed his PhD in electrical engineering at Purdue University.

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I. Glenn Cohen, JD, is the deputy dean and James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and serves as faculty director of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. He is one of the world’s leading experts on the intersection of bioethics and the law, as well as health law. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and served as a faculty scholar for the Greenwall Foundation. He has spoken to NATO on biotechnology and human enhancement, addressed the OECD and members of the U.S. and the Korean Congress on medical AI policy, and advised former U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris on reproductive rights. He has provided bioethical advising and consulting to some of the largest healthcare companies in the world including Bayer, Otsuka, and Illumina. He has given grand rounds and lectured to medical and industry conferences across the world.

Cohen is the author of more than 300 articles and the author, co-author, editor, or co-editor of more than 20 books. His work has appeared in leading law, medicine, and science journals and has been frequently covered by or appeared in media venues such as PBS, NPR, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe. He received his JD from Harvard Law School.

Nora Connor, PhD, is a data scientist and federal health technology expert who serves as co-lead for the ACCESS Model at the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center. In this role, she oversees implementation of outcome-aligned payments for technology-enabled healthcare. She also facilitates data reporting, data sharing, and real-time patient status updates to support care coordination.

Previously, she served as the director of data science and AI at Abt Global, where she drove the organization’s AI strategy and technical delivery for federal clients. Her innovations included using discrete event simulations to inform policy decisions, leveraging generative AI to support CMS rulemaking, and creating machine learning models to manage U.S. trade logistics. She holds a PhD in computer science from the University of Colorado.

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Sudeshna Das, PhD, is an associate professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and director of the Mass General Hospital (MGH) Biomedical Informatics Core. She serves as MassAITC co-principal investigator and AD/ADRD Pilot Core co-lead. Her lab develops and applies computational, statistical, and AI methods to big data—from molecular omics to electronic health data—to advance research and clinical care. Her work centers around advancing brain research, with a focus on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (AD/ADRD). Dr. Das also serves as co-lead for the Data Management and Statistical Core of the Massachusetts Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (MADRC) and is a member of the National ADRC Clinical Task Force Technology subcommittee.

Prior to her appointments at HMS and MGH, Dr. Das managed a multidisciplinary team of scientists in the computational biology group at Millennium Pharmaceuticals and was senior program manager for life sciences with the Initiative in Innovative Computing at Harvard University. She is associate editor of two neurology journals and an ad hoc reviewer for 25+ journals spanning neuroscience and data science. She completed her PhD in biomedical engineering at Boston University.

George Demiris, PhD, is the Penn Integrates Knowledge Mary Alice Bennett University Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, with joint faculty appointments in Penn Nursing’s Department of Biobehavioral Health Sciences and the Perelman School of Medicine’s Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology, and Informatics. He also serves as associate dean for research and innovation at Penn Nursing and as co-principal investigator for PennAITech.

Dr. Demiris’s research focuses on the use of information technology to support older adults and their family caregivers and explore innovative solutions to promote independent aging and patient and family engagement. He is a co-founder of the Hospice Caregiver Research Network, an initiative led by researchers from various academic disciplines committed to designing and testing interventions to support family caregivers of patients at the end of life. Another area of his research includes the use of behavioral sensing, smart home, and Internet of Things technologies to promote independence for community-dwelling older adults and their families. He leads the Penn Community Collaboratory for Co-Creation (Penn4C).

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Amanda DiBattista, PhD, is the acting chief of the Neurobiology of Aging and Neurodegeneration Branch in the Division of Neuroscience at the National Institute on Aging (NIA). She leads initiatives focused on AI-based solutions to challenges in research and research administration, and her team oversees a multidisciplinary research portfolio on brain aging and Alzheimer’s disease.

Prior to joining NIA, Dr. DiBattista earned her PhD in neuroscience from Georgetown University. Her current research portfolio encompasses a broad range of fundamental mechanisms underlying the continuum from aging to neurodegenerative disease.

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Rafid Fadul, MD, MBA, joined ARPA-H in January 2026 and brings a unique combination of clinical expertise and healthcare innovation leadership to his role as the inaugural Chief Medical Officer (CMO) for ARPA-H. In this capacity, he reports to the agency’s Director.

After transitioning from bedside practice to healthcare technology entrepreneurship, Dr. Fadul has spent the past decade building and scaling companies at the intersection of clinical care delivery and digital health solutions. He joins ARPA-H from Zivian Health, a company he co-founded and led in developing comprehensive healthcare software platforms serving medical providers nationwide, addressing challenges in regulatory compliance, clinical workflow optimization, and data interoperability. Concurrently, Dr. Fadul served as an advisor to care delivery companies, where he oversaw clinical programs in longevity medicine and emerging therapeutics, maintaining direct connection to evolving patient care needs and clinical practice realities.  

Dr. Fadul is board-certified in internal medicine, pulmonary disease, and critical care medicine and holds an MD from the Georgetown Washington University, as well as an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

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Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD, is a geriatrician and epidemiologist whose work centers on uncovering the biological mechanisms that drive physical and cognitive decline in older adults. As scientific director of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) since 2011, he has advanced interdisciplinary research that integrates neuroimaging, physiology, genomics, and emerging AI-enabled methods to better understand the aging process.

Dr. Ferrucci’s career spans decades of pioneering research, including leadership of the Longitudinal Studies Section at NIA and the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging, as well as major contributions in the design of many epidemiological studies conducted in the United States and Europe.