Our Team

Leadership

Francesca Vacante, PhD Founder & President

Wenjuan Zhu, PhD Director Event Manager

Nerea Jimenez Tellez, PhD Social Network Manager

Themis Tsarouchas, PhD Director Outreach Programs

Zehra Yildirim, PhD Chair

Silvia Natale, PhD Social Network Manager

Sushrima Gan, PhD Director of Communications

News & Views Directory

Hansen Chen, PhD

Luise Avenila Seeker

Marketing & Communications Directory

Lia Talozzi

Rohita Roy, PhD

Education & Outreach

Kristina Zdantsevich, MD Education Coordinator

Gurpreet Bharj, PhD

Jingshan Gao, PhD

Ravi Venkateshappa, PhD

Diane Cruz Manjarrez, LSRP

Events Directory

Anurendra Kumar, PhD

Kadir Yildirim, QCE

Francesca Tongco, MS-HCA

Mentors

Joseph Wu, MD, PhD

Victor J. Dzau, MD President of the National Academy of Medicine

Victor Dzau is the President of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM), vice chair of the National Research Council, chancellor emeritus of Duke University, and former CEO of the Duke Health System. Previously, he served as chairman of medicine at both Harvard and Stanford Universities. Dzau is celebrated globally for his exceptional contributions as a physician-scientist, administrator, and innovator. His pioneering research laid the foundation for ACE inhibitors, lifesaving drugs that have transformed the treatment of cardiovascular disease. Dzau has made women’s health a priority for NAM. Under his leadership, the National Academies have produced landmark studies on women’s health, including Improving Representation in Clinical Trials and Research: Building Research Equity for Women and Underrepresented Groups (2022) and A New Vision for Women's Health Research: Transformative Change at the National Institutes of Health (2024). In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, Dzau convened the NAM Committee on Reproductive Health, Equity, and Society to provide expert advice on reproductive health services delivery, workforce needs, innovation, and population impacts. The NAM launched the NAM Scholars in Global Women's Health Research Program in 2025, to support developing country-based scientists and clinicians in becoming research leaders. Dzau also serves on the steering committee of the Milken Institute Women’s Health Network (chaired by Dr. Jill Biden) and the board of directors of the World Economic Forum’s Global Alliance for Women’s Health.

Jade Chao, MPH, JD

Advisory Committee

Joni L. Rutter, PhD Director National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences National Institutes of Health

Joni L. Rutter, Ph.D., is the director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). She oversees the planning and execution of the center’s complex, multifaceted programs that aim to overcome scientific and operational barriers slowing the development and delivery of new treatments and other health solutions.

Under Rutter’s direction, NCATS supports new tools and approaches to make each step in the translational process more effective and efficient. A key goal is to speed research across a range of diseases, with a particular focus on rare diseases. By advancing the science of translation, NCATS helps turn promising research discoveries into real-world applications that improve people’s health.

In her prior role as the NCATS deputy director, Rutter worked with colleagues from government, academia, industry and nonprofit patient organizations to create robust interactions with NCATS programs.

Before joining NCATS, Rutter was the director of scientific programs within the All of Us Research Program. She led scientific programmatic development and implementation efforts to build a national research cohort of 1 million or more U.S. participants to advance precision medicine.

While at NIH, she also led the Division of Neuroscience and Behavior at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). In this role, she developed and coordinated research on basic and clinical neuroscience, brain and behavioral development, genetics, epigenetics, computational neuroscience, bioinformatics, and drug discovery. Rutter also coordinated the NIDA Genetics Consortium and biospecimen repository.

During her career, Rutter has earned a national and international reputation for her diverse and unique expertise via her journal publications. She has received several scientific achievement awards, including the 2022 Rare Disease Legislative Advocates–RareVoice Award for Federal Advocacy and the 2022 FedHealthIT–Women in Leadership Impact Award.

Rutter received her Ph.D. from the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, and completed a fellowship at the National Cancer Institute within the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics.

Maria Kontaridis, PhD Executive Director, Director of Research Gordon K. Moe Professor and Chair, Biomedical Research and Translational Medicine

Oscar Abilez Co-Founder and President of Bullseye Biotechnologies

Oscar Abilez is Co-Founder and President of Bullseye Biotechnologies and Senior Scientist at Stanford University. His work combines human pluripotent stem cells, developmental biology, and tissue/organoid engineering to model and control the earliest stages of cardiac development and vascularization. He previously trained in surgery at Stanford where he also received his PhD in bioengineering. He received his MD from Cornell University and BS in Mechanical Engineering from UT-Austin.

Nancy Brown CEO, American Heart Association

Jennifer Cauble, MBA Director, Stanford Medical Alumni Relations

Jennifer serves as the Director of Alumni Relations for Stanford’s Medical Center and Executive Director of the Stanford University Medical Center Alumni Association where, for the last 12 years, she has engaged a constituency of 25,000 medical school alumni in a variety of programs to connect alumni to the School of Medicine and to enhance the student experience of MD, PhD and postdoctoral candidates. Her work has been recognized by Stanford Associates with the 2020 Award of Merit for contributions to Stanford University, and with the 2024 Oscar Salvatierra Award for Exceptional Service to Stanford Medical Students and the Stanford School of Medicine.

Trained in classical marketing Jennifer has over 35 years of experience in the private sector building teams and marketing programs for nationally recognized brands and consumer electronics start-ups. In the non-profit sector, Jennifer has worked at a variety of universities creating multidimensional programs that increase awareness, enhance engagement and help organizations deliver exceptional value. She is the past Director of Marketing and Membership for Stanford’s Alumni Association, former consultant to the International Business School at Brandeis University, and also served as Associate Vice President of Marketing and Communications at San Jose State University.

Based in the Silicon Valley, Ms Cauble is an ongoing consultant for investors, analysts, and management teams on issues of branding, product development and consumer-driven marketing.

Ms. Cauble received her B.A. from Stanford University and an M.B.A. with Honors from UCLA’s Anderson School of Management.