Shrikanth (Shri) Narayanan, Ph.D.
Shrikanth (Shri) Narayanan is University Professor and Niki & C. L. Max Nikias Chair in Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC), where he is VP for Presidential Initiatives, Professor of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Linguistics, Psychology, Neuroscience, Pediatrics, and Otolaryngology—Head & Neck Surgery, Director of the Ming Hsieh Institute and Research Director of the Information Sciences Institute. Prior to USC, he was with AT&T Bell Labs and AT&T Research. He is a Visiting Faculty Researcher with Google DeepMind. His interdisciplinary research focuses on human-centered sensing/imaging, signal processing, and machine intelligence centered on human communication, interaction, emotions, and behavior. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America, IEEE, ACM, International Speech Communication Association (ISCA), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Association for Psychological Science, the Association for the Advancement of Affective Computing, the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and the National Academy of Inventors. He is a recipient of awards for research and education including the 2025 IEEE James L. Flanagan Speech and Audio Processing Award, 2024 Edward J. McCluskey Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Computer Society, the 2023 Claude Shannon-Harry Nyquist Technical Achievement Award from the IEEE Signal Processing Society, 2023 ISCA Medal for Scientific Achievement from the International Speech Communication Association, the 2023 Richard Deswarte Prize in Digital History and a 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship. He has published widely and his inventions have led to technology commercialization including through startups he co-founded: Behavioral Signals Technologies focused on AI based conversational assistance and Lyssn focused on mental health care and quality assurance.
Title of the talk: Machine Intelligence and Possibilities for Human Health and Wellbeing
Abstract: Converging developments across the machine intelligence ecosystem-from multimodal sensing and signal processing to computing-are enabling new human-centered possibilities both in advancingscience and in the creation of technologies for societal applications including in human health and wellbeing. These technologies create unprecedented opportunities for acquisition, analysis and sharing of diverse, information-rich data that allow causal and multimodal characterization of an individual’s physical and psychological state with granularity, context, and scale not possible before. This includes behavioral machine intelligence - approaches for quantitatively and objectively understanding human behavior - with a specific focus on multimodal communicative, affective and social behavior; this can be additionally enriched with direct observations of physiology and neural activity. These have applications in screening, diagnostics and treatment, including mapping progression. Using examples drawn from varied domains such as depression, suicide, autism spectrum disorder, dementia, addiction to workplace health and wellbeing, this talk will highlight some advances and possibilities in this realm in creating trustworthy human centered AI approaches.
Mohamed Elmeliegy, Ph.D.
Senior Director Clinical Pharmacology (Pfizer)
Dr. Mohamed Elmeliegy holds a position as a Director, Oncology Clinical Pharmacology department at Pfizer. Prior to joining Pfizer, he held several positions in the Oncology Clinical Pharmacology Department in Novartis. Dr. Elmeliegy leads a team that provides clinical pharmacology and pharmacometrics input for different phases of development for CD3 bispecifics, small molecules, monoclonal antibodies, and ADCs.
As an Affiliate Faculty in the University at Buffalo SUNY, Buffalo, New York and the University of California San Diego, he administers workshops on clinical pharmacology and collaborates on scientific research with faculty members. He received his PhD from St. Jude Children Research Hospital and the University of Tennessee (Memphis, TN) and completed a post-doctoral fellowship with Dr. Wojciech Krzyzanski and Dr. William J. Jusko at the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences at SUNY Buffalo. He chaired the clinical pharmacology programming at AAPS Scientific Programming Committee for 2 years. He chaired the clinical pharmacology programming at AAPS Scientific Programming Committee for 2 years. He is the vice chair of the Life Cycle Management Community in ASCPT, and a member of the ASCPT Biologics committee and the ACCP Public Policy Committee. He is an Associate Editor for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. He authored more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific publications, book chapters, conference presentations, and abstracts
Title of the talk: Commanding the Dose: MIDD Strategies for Optimized T Cell Engager Development
Prashant Dogra, Ph.D
Assistant Professor of Clinical Pharmacy and Associate Director of the Center for Quantitative Drug and Disease Modeling
Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy
Prashant Dogra is an Assistant Professor in the Titus Family Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Associate Director of the Center for Quantitative Drug and Disease Modeling at the USC Alfred E. Mann School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. With a broad background in pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences, expertise in mathematical modeling, and data science, he has led collaborative translational research with clinicians, engineers, and scientists. His lab develops New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) that combine multiscale mechanistic modeling, quantitative systems pharmacology (QSP), and artificial intelligence (AI) to address challenges in drug and vaccine development. Supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), his current projects include AI-guided rational nanoparticle design for improved safety and targeting, systems modeling for experimental cancer therapeutics and personalized oncology, and modeling-based strategies to optimize vaccination for enhanced immunogenicity.
Title of the Talk: From Models to Medicines: Combining Mechanistic Modeling and Machine Learning for Clinical Translation
Abstract: Computational approaches are increasingly central to modern medicine, offering opportunities to improve safety, efficacy, and personalization of therapies. Mechanistic models provide interpretable, biology-based insights into drug disposition and treatment response, while machine learning enables pattern recognition from complex clinical and experimental datasets. Each has distinct strengths, and their combination offers a practical path toward translational impact. In this talk, I will highlight three case studies where mechanistic modeling and machine learning are combined to address real-world challenges: (1) predicting safety and biodistribution of nanoparticles using preclinical data, (2) modeling and forecasting vaccine immune responses from clinical trial data, and (3) predicting patient response in radiation oncology through retrospective clinical data analysis. Together, these examples demonstrate how combining mechanistic modeling and machine learning can yield hybrid frameworks that are stronger than either approach alone, ultimately informing the design and optimization of therapeutic strategies.
Jason Coloma, Ph.D.
Chief Executive Officer of Maze Therapeutics
Dr. Jason Coloma is the CEO of Maze Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MAZE) and an investment partner on the a16z Bio + Health team. Before he was appointed CEO at Maze, he was a venture partner at Third Rock Ventures, where he was instrumental in the founding and launch of the company. As a venture partner at Third Rock, Jason focused on new company creation and held chief business officer roles at portfolio companies, including Celsius Therapeutics (acquired by AbbVie). As an entrepreneur, he was on founding teams including Tidal Therapeutics (acquired by Sanofi) and HiBio (acquired by Biogen).
Before Third Rock, Jason held several management roles at Roche and Genentech, including vice president & global therapeutic area head of oncology and cancer immunotherapy partnering. Jason also worked as a research scientist at Cytokinetics. Jason holds a Ph.D. and M.P.H. from the University of California, Berkeley, an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, and a B.S. in biology from the University of San Francisco.
Title of the Talk: Novel Target Discovery and Therapeutic Development in Chronic Kidney Diseases (CKD)