Event Description
On July 14 2020, Chris P. Austin, M.D., director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) joined us for a conversation about leveraging data analytics to advance our understanding and treatment of COVID-19. Dr. Austin and his team at the NIH recently launched the National COVID Cohort Collaborative—N3C for short—a centralized database to store and study medical record data from patients around the country diagnosed with the novel coronavirus. This innovative national data enclave is designed to allow clinicians and scientists to study large amounts of data to determine the best evidence-based protocols and treatments for COVID-19 patients. During this pre-recorded session, Dr. Austin introduced us to the open science initiatives going on at the NIH and shared how lessons from COVID-19 may transform clinical research in the future.
Keynote Speaker
Christopher P. Austin, M.D., Director, National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, National Institutes of Health
Christopher P. Austin, M.D., has served as director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences at the National Institutes of Health since 2012. Prior to this role, he was NCATS’ scientific director, focusing on translating basic science discoveries into new treatments and technologies to improve the efficiency of therapeutic/diagnostic development. He founded several initiatives, including the NIH Chemical Genomics Center, the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases program, and the Toxicology in the 21st Century program. Before joining NIH in 2002, he led genomic-based target discovery, pharmacogenomic, and neuropsychiatric drug-development programs at Merck. From 2016 to 2018, he served as chair of the International Rare Disease Research Consortium (IRDiRC); Dr. Austin is also a member of National Academy of Medicine. He earned an A.B. from Princeton University, an M.D. from Harvard Medical School, and completed training in internal medicine and neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Moderator
Sarah J. Dash, MPH, President and Chief Executive Officer, Alliance for Health Policy
This keynote was part of our Summit, a program of our 2020 Signature Series.