2025 Annual Symposium Overview
The Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund for Medical Research community reconvened from May 7th – 9th in Chicago for the 2025 Annual Symposium. In this blog we’ll give an overview for the entire Symposium; keep an eye out for a few additional blogs in the near future covering a couple Symposium events in more detail.
Keynote Speaker: Marcia McNutt, Ph.D.
Following a cocktail hour and dinner Wednesday evening, Anita Pepper, Ph.D., welcomed the JCC community to the symposium.
Next, John D. Childs, Chair of the Board of Managers, gave an introduction to the Symposium. Childs acknowledged the challenging current situation for US biomedical research, and provided a historical context spanning the history of the Childs Fund. In short, his message was that challenging times have come before, and that JCC remains as committed as ever to supporting biomedical research, especially by training and supporting the next generation of scientists.
Sue Biggins, Ph.D., Chair of the Board of Scientific Advisors, introduced our keynote speaker: Marcia McNutt, Ph.D., President of the National Academy of Sciences. McNutt presented a broad overview of the current state of scientific research in the United States, and provided her roadmap for bolstering this institution for the future. We’ll discuss McNutt’s keynote lecture in more detail in a forthcoming blog.
Fellows’ presentations and poster session
Thursday was jam packed full of excellent science presentations from 3rd year Fellows and intense discussions during poster presentations from 1st and 2nd year Fellows.
After dinner we listened to a panel discussion featuring Andres Leschziner, Ph.D. and Kevan Shokat, Ph.D. Samara Reck-Peterson, Ph.D., a JCC Board Member and Leschziner’s close collaborator and spouse, was also scheduled to take part in the panel discussion, but unfortunately missed the Symposium due to illness. They shared how a collaboration sprung out of a conversation between Reck-Peterson and Shokat at the 2023 Annual Symposium.
As much as the panel discussion was about the science of their collaboration, it was just as much – if not more – about how the science happened. How the collaboration started, how they faced and overcame roadblocks, and lessons they learned from this unplanned connection. We’ll also cover this panel discussion in more detail in a later blog, so stay tuned!
Science talk winners: Caroline Doherty, Ph.D., Phi Nyugen, Ph.D., and Leo Yan, Ph.D.
Friday featured a few more sessions of science presentations by 3rd year Fellows. Phi Nyugen, Ph.D., Caroline Doherty, Ph.D., and Leo Yan, Ph.D., won top science presentations, and Xinyu Ling, Ph.D., Pablo Villar, Ph.D., and Zhuoning Zou, Ph.D., garnered best poster presentations.
Poster presentation winners: Xinyu Ling, Ph.D., Pablo Villar, Ph.D., and Zhuoning Zou, Ph.D.
Town Hall Lunch
The Symposium concluded with a town hall during lunch. JCC Fellows gave a “boots on the ground” view of the current financial situation at their institutions and/or labs. Fellows and Staff brainstormed how an emergency fund might best be used to assist Fellows in particularly dire situations. If you’re a Fellow and think that JCC may be able to help with your current situation – funding, legal, or otherwise – please don’t hesitate to reach out to JCC Staff.
Thanks to all JCC Fellows, Members of the Boards, and Staff who contributed to the excellent 2025 Annual Symposium! Mark your calendar for next year’s symposium: April 29th – May 1st, 2026 in Seattle.