JCI's Conversations with Giants in Medicine: Elizabeth Jaffee

In this episode, Ushma Neill interviews Elizabeth Jaffee, the Johns Hopkins–based oncologist and immunologist who led the clinical development of a first-gen cancer vaccine for pancreatic cancer and continues to use innovative approaches to identify the complex signaling pathways in tumor cells, the microenvironment, and the immune system toward the generation of cancer immunotherapies. All the while she's been a leader at the local, national, and international level, and currently is the chair of President Biden's Cancer Panel.

JCI’s Conversations with Giants in Medicine: Katherine High

In this episode, Ushma Neill interviews the physician scientist and gene therapy, pioneer Dr. Katherine High. After a long career as an academic hematologist, first at the University of North Carolina, then at the University of Pennsylvania and HHMI, Kathy transitioned to a role in industry, first at Spark Therapeutics, then at ASK Biopharma where she led the first FDA approval for gene therapy for a genetic disease.

JCI's Conversations With Giants in Medicine: Jeffrey Whitsett

Neonatologist and pulmonary biologist Jeffrey Whitsett of the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital provided understanding of pulmonary surfactant biochemistry and structural biology that underpins the widespread application and usage of surfactant replacement therapy in neonatal respiratory distress.

JCI's Conversations with Giants in Medicine: Yuk Ming Dennis Lo

 Lo is often called the father of noninvasive prenatal testing. After discovering fetal DNA in maternal blood, Lo catalyzed a medical revolution that has saved millions of pregnant people from having to undergo invasive tests like amniocentesis. With Lo’s pioneering technical advances, those who are pregnant can easily and reliably be screened for Rh factor mismatch, trisomies, and genetic disorders, and the implications of his work have and may go further in cancer testing, transplantation, and perhaps beyond.

JCI’s Conversations with Giants in Medicine: Vishva Dixit

On any given day, over 50 billion of the cells in your body will die. The question of how we live while our cells are continuously dying has captivated Dr. Vishva Dixit. After a long career in academia, Dixit rose through the ranks at Genentech and currently serves as the Vice President of Early Discovery Research. His scientific work has focused on the elucidation of the mechanisms of apoptosis, including the discovery of caspases.