Keynote Lectures

Innovative and inspiring lectures

Brace yourselves and prepare to be inspired by four unique and inspiring personalities of the Medicine and Scientific World. Adding up to our three thematic modules, these talks will broaden your horizons unravelling some of the most hot topics of today. You will also be able to learn from the best by witnessing a lifelong passion and dedication to science in our Nobel Lectures.

In 2023 we welcome

Leland Hartwell, PhD

Former President and Director of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research in 1998

Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001

Professor Leland Hartwell was laureated with the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001. His work in the field of genetics has proved essential in understanding the promotion and regulation of the cell cycle. As cell division is the basis of life, the discovery of these genes is one of the greatest contributions to science, enabling the study of this biological process on which the life and reproduction of living beings depends.

Moderator

Sérgio Dias, PhD

Leading Researcher at Instituto de Medicina Molecular since 2012

Organic Unit Director at Instituto de Medicina Molecular since 2014

Invited Associate Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon and Universidade Nova de Lisboa

Leading researcher (2002-2012) and Coordinator (2003-2012) of the Molecular Pathobiology Department at Instituto Português de Oncologia in Lisboa

Post-Doctoral Fellow from Cornell University, New York

PhD in Tumor Immunology from the University College London, UK

Sérgio Dias is a frequent publisher in the magazine Visão. Last year, he wrote an article about the fascinating Venn Diagram intersection between yeast, cancer and the cell cycle. The first researcher to draw this apparently chaotic Venn Diagram was Leland Hartwell in the 1970s, who used s.cerevisae to identify mutants of proteins that regulate the cell cycle and cell division.

Joan Steitz, PhD

Sterling Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry at Yale University

Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Member of the National Academy of Sciences

Royal Society of London

Lasker-Koshland Award for Special Achievement in Medical Science in 2018

Professor Joan Steitz is a pioneer in RNA research, who contributed to the discovery of the splicing process, essential for protein formation and other biological activities. These studies raise significant clinical potential, particularly in the diagnosis and treatment of immune diseases. Her outstanding work earned her the Lasker Prize in 2018.

Moderator

Maria Carmo-Fonseca, MD PhD ComSE

President of the Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM) in Lisboa since 2014

Leading Researcher at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (IMM) in Lisboa since 2002

Professor at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL)

Post-Doctoral Fellow from EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany

MD and PhD in Cellular Biology from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Lisbon (FMUL)

Honorary Title by the Portuguese Republic – Comendadora da Ordem Militar de Sant’Iago da Espada

Maria Carmo-Fonseca has authored more than 150 original research articles, review articles and book chapters about RNA, understanding how these molecules contribute to the regulation of gene expression and how this research can lead to the study of disease biomarkers and therapies. It’s fascinating how a single molecule can unite a constellation of illustrious minds, like Joan Steitz and Maria Carmo-Fonseca, in finding and sharing knowledge that will save countless lives.

CUF Academic Center

Rohin Francis, MD

Consultant Cardiologist

Doctoral Researcher at the Uniersity College London

Dr. Rohin Francis is a Consultant Cardiologist and a Doctoral Researcher at the University College London, currently undertaking a PhD on the use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging as a means of imaging acute myocardial infarction.

His passion for science communication and medical education has crystallized into his YouTube channel Medlife Crisis, which has collected a following of over 500,000 since 2015. In this platform, he covers a spectrum of health related topics, like recovering forgotten chapters in medical history, defending evidence based medicine, as well as showcasing the shortcomings of modern medicine. He achieves all this with his idiosyncratic humor, making him a unique science communicator.

Dean Burnett, PhD

Neuroscientist

Honorary Research Associate at Cardiff Psychology School

Visiting Industry Fellow at Birmingham City University

Dean Burnett is a neuroscientist, lecturer, author, blogger, podcaster, pundit, science communicator, and comedian.

Besides all this, he is an honorary research associate at Cardiff Psychology School, as well as a Visiting Industry Fellow at Birmingham City University.

Dean’s science blog, “Brain Flapping” had more than 11 million views in two yearsand his first book, “The Idiot Brain”, achieved enormous international success, selling hundred of thousands of copies.

Moderator

Diana Prata, BSc+MSc PhD

PhD in Philosophy from King’s College London

BSc+MSc in Biology from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon

Principal Investigator and Lecturer at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon

Co-founder and CSO of NeuroPsyAINeuroPsyAI

Post-Doctoral Fellow from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) in London

Lecturer and Visiting Lecturer at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience in London

Diana Prata has dedicated her career to the study of the human mind in Lisbon and London. Both Diana and Dean are minds who study the mind, and the mysteries that lie within each sulcus and gyrus of this grayish organ which appears unremarkable to the naked eye, but on closer look opens the door to a fascinating universe within.