January 30, 2026
Reclaiming Science: The People's NIH
A landmark round table convening senior NIH leadership and independent scientists to discuss the future direction of the National Institutes of Health. This session explores how to restore public trust in government-funded research, prioritize the American people's health needs, and ensure scientific integrity across all NIH-funded programs.
Speakers
Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D
NIH Director
Matthew Memoli, M.D.
NIH Principal Deputy Director
Nicole Kleinstreuer, Ph.D
NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives
Anthony Letai, M.D., Ph.D
National Cancer Institute Director
Jeffery Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D
Acting NIAID Director
John Powers, M.D.
Principal Senior Advisor to the NIAID Director
NIH: Then & Now + Q&A
Moderator: Justin Santopietro
Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D
NIH Director
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya took the helm as 18th director of the National Institutes of Health April 1, 2025. A renowned doctor, researcher, and health economist with a tenured professorship at Stanford University, his research has focused on population aging and chronic disease, particularly among vulnerable populations. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed papers in medicine, epidemiology, health policy, economics, statistics, and science policy, as well as public health and a leading health economics textbook. He coauthored the Great Barrington Declaration, calling for opening schools and lifting lockdowns while protecting older, vulnerable populations. A longtime NIH grantee, he has been a standing member of multiple NIH review committees. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Stanford University. He then completed medical school and earned a Ph.D. in economics also from Stanford University.
Matthew Memoli, M.D.
NIH Principal Deputy Director
Dr. Matthew J. Memoli is the Principal Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health. He served as Acting NIH Director from January 22, 2025, to March 31, 2025. Dr. Memoli has worked at NIH for more than 20 years, most recently serving as director of the Clinical Studies Unit within the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (LID), part of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He previously served as a staff clinician in the same laboratory. An internationally known expert in respiratory viruses, he has won multiple awards, including two NIH Director's Awards, multiple NIAID Merit Awards, and a National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Director's Award. He received the 2017 NIAID Outstanding Mentor Award for his work training clinical fellows and trainees. He also served on the Governor of Virginia's Medical Advisory Board from 2022 through 2024. Dr. Memoli is a graduate of the College of William and Mary with a Master of Science in microbiology from Thomas Jefferson University. He completed medical school at St. George's University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Georgetown University's program at Washington Hospital Center. Dr. Memoli joined NIH in 2005 to complete his fellowship in infectious diseases.
Nicole Kleinstreuer, Ph.D
NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives
Dr. Nicole C. Kleinstreuer is the NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives. She leads the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) within the NIH Office of the Director, overseeing trans-NIH programmatic research and strategic policy initiatives. Internationally recognized for her leadership in developing innovative, human-relevant research strategies that advance public health protection, in her prior roles she led interagency and international efforts promoting new approach methodologies (NAMs), reducing animal testing, and integrating computational modeling, artificial intelligence, and systems toxicology into regulatory science. Her work spans translational bioinformatics, predictive modeling, and quantitative risk assessment. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications and received numerous honors. Dr. Kleinstreuer holds B.S. degrees in biomedical engineering and applied mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Canterbury. She completed postdoctoral training in computational toxicology at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and holds adjunct faculty appointments at Yale University and UNC Chapel Hill. She is deeply committed to mentorship, public health protection, and scientific innovation that enhances the translation of biomedical research to real-world impact.
Cancer and Chronic Disease + Q&A
Moderator: Patriek Karayil
Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D
NIH Director
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya took the helm as 18th director of the National Institutes of Health April 1, 2025. A renowned doctor, researcher, and health economist with a tenured professorship at Stanford University, his research has focused on population aging and chronic disease, particularly among vulnerable populations. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed papers in medicine, epidemiology, health policy, economics, statistics, and science policy, as well as public health and a leading health economics textbook. He coauthored the Great Barrington Declaration, calling for opening schools and lifting lockdowns while protecting older, vulnerable populations. A longtime NIH grantee, he has been a standing member of multiple NIH review committees. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Stanford University. He then completed medical school and earned a Ph.D. in economics also from Stanford University.
Anthony Letai, M.D., Ph.D
National Cancer Institute Director
Dr. Anthony Letai joined NCI as the 18th director on September 29, 2025. He previously served as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a medical oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. A physician-scientist whose work has transformed cancer treatment and advanced functional precision medicine, in 2019, the Web of Science Group named Dr. Letai in its list of Highly Cited Researchers, whose papers rank in the top 1% by citations for their field and year of publication, showing significant impact on their research area. His career has focused on researching and treating hematological malignancies. His pioneering work in functional precision oncology helped advance therapies such as BCL-2 inhibitors—drugs that are now standard treatment for many adults with leukemia. Dr. Letai received his Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from Princeton University, his M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago, completed his residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and a fellowship in hematology and oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
NIAID's New Leadership + Q&A
Moderator: Paul Thacker
Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D
NIH Director
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya took the helm as 18th director of the National Institutes of Health April 1, 2025. A renowned doctor, researcher, and health economist with a tenured professorship at Stanford University, his research has focused on population aging and chronic disease, particularly among vulnerable populations. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed papers in medicine, epidemiology, health policy, economics, statistics, and science policy, as well as public health and a leading health economics textbook. He coauthored the Great Barrington Declaration, calling for opening schools and lifting lockdowns while protecting older, vulnerable populations. A longtime NIH grantee, he has been a standing member of multiple NIH review committees. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Stanford University. He then completed medical school and earned a Ph.D. in economics also from Stanford University.
Matthew Memoli, M.D.
NIH Principal Deputy Director
Dr. Matthew J. Memoli is the Principal Deputy Director of the National Institutes of Health. He served as Acting NIH Director from January 22, 2025, to March 31, 2025. Dr. Memoli has worked at NIH for more than 20 years, most recently serving as director of the Clinical Studies Unit within the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases (LID), part of NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He previously served as a staff clinician in the same laboratory. An internationally known expert in respiratory viruses, he has won multiple awards, including two NIH Director's Awards, multiple NIAID Merit Awards, and a National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Director's Award. He received the 2017 NIAID Outstanding Mentor Award for his work training clinical fellows and trainees. He also served on the Governor of Virginia's Medical Advisory Board from 2022 through 2024. Dr. Memoli is a graduate of the College of William and Mary with a Master of Science in microbiology from Thomas Jefferson University. He completed medical school at St. George's University School of Medicine. He completed his residency in internal medicine at Georgetown University's program at Washington Hospital Center. Dr. Memoli joined NIH in 2005 to complete his fellowship in infectious diseases.
Jeffery Taubenberger, M.D., Ph.D
Acting NIAID Director
Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger was named the Acting Director of NIAID in April 2025. He oversees a $6.6 billion budget supporting research to advance the understanding, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of infectious, immunologic, and allergic diseases. A Senior Investigator in the intramural research program, he serves as Chief of the Viral Pathogenesis and Evolution Section, and Deputy Chief of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. He has published over 300 papers and book chapters and is a frequent speaker at national and international meetings. Prior to coming to NIAID in 2006, Dr. Taubenberger served as Chief of Molecular Pathology at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology (AFIP) in Washington, DC, a position held since 1994. He received his B.S. in Biology from George Mason University in 1982, and his M.D. in 1986 and Ph.D. in 1987 from the Medical College of Virginia of Virginia Commonwealth University. He did his residency in anatomic pathology at the National Cancer Institute.
John Powers, M.D.
Principal Senior Advisor to the NIAID Director
Dr. Powers is currently serving as the Principal Senior Advisor to the Acting Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health. He is also Director of Collaborative Research with Leidos Biomedical Research in NIAID/NIH. His prior position was Lead Medical Officer for Antimicrobial Drug Development at the US Food and Drug Administration. He was previously on the faculty in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He currently holds academic positions as Professor of Clinical Medicine at George Washington University School of Medicine and Professor (affiliate) in the Department of Pharmaceutical Health Services Research, University of Maryland School of Pharmacy. He actively cares for patients and attends on the infectious diseases service at the NIH clinical center. He has been an investigator on over 60 clinical trials and has authored over 150 peer reviewed manuscripts. He is a recipient of US Public Health Service and US Veteran's Administration service medals. He received his bachelor's degree and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania. He received his medical degree and residency training from Temple University School of Medicine, where he served as Chief Resident. He completed his infectious diseases training at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
Open Data & The Replication Crisis + Q&A
Moderator: Patriek Karayil
Jay Bhattacharya, M.D., Ph.D
NIH Director
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya took the helm as 18th director of the National Institutes of Health April 1, 2025. A renowned doctor, researcher, and health economist with a tenured professorship at Stanford University, his research has focused on population aging and chronic disease, particularly among vulnerable populations. He has published over 170 peer-reviewed papers in medicine, epidemiology, health policy, economics, statistics, and science policy, as well as public health and a leading health economics textbook. He coauthored the Great Barrington Declaration, calling for opening schools and lifting lockdowns while protecting older, vulnerable populations. A longtime NIH grantee, he has been a standing member of multiple NIH review committees. He earned his bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Stanford University. He then completed medical school and earned a Ph.D. in economics also from Stanford University.
Nicole Kleinstreuer, Ph.D
NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives
Dr. Nicole C. Kleinstreuer is the NIH Deputy Director for Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives. She leads the Division of Program Coordination, Planning, and Strategic Initiatives (DPCPSI) within the NIH Office of the Director, overseeing trans-NIH programmatic research and strategic policy initiatives. Internationally recognized for her leadership in developing innovative, human-relevant research strategies that advance public health protection, in her prior roles she led interagency and international efforts promoting new approach methodologies (NAMs), reducing animal testing, and integrating computational modeling, artificial intelligence, and systems toxicology into regulatory science. Her work spans translational bioinformatics, predictive modeling, and quantitative risk assessment. She has authored over 150 peer-reviewed publications and received numerous honors. Dr. Kleinstreuer holds B.S. degrees in biomedical engineering and applied mathematics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of Canterbury. She completed postdoctoral training in computational toxicology at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and holds adjunct faculty appointments at Yale University and UNC Chapel Hill. She is deeply committed to mentorship, public health protection, and scientific innovation that enhances the translation of biomedical research to real-world impact.
Panel 1: Body Literacy + FemTech
Moderator: Emma Waters, The Heritage Foundation
Laura Delano
Author, Unshrunk and Founder, Inner Compass Initiative
Laura Delano is the founder of Inner Compass and a leading voice in the global movement away from the medicalized mental health system. After 13 years on 19 psychiatric drugs and being labeled 'treatment-resistant,' she began questioning whether her suffering was caused by the treatment itself—and ultimately healed by leaving behind the diagnoses and medications. Now a writer, speaker, and consultant, she supports others on their psychiatric withdrawal and recovery journeys; more at her website or in her memoir, Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance.
Sarah E. Hill
Hormone Health Researcher & Author
Dr. Sarah E. Hill is an award-winning researcher and professor, as well as a sought-after speaker, consultant, and media expert. Sarah has also authored two paradigm-shattering books that uncover the hidden truths about women's sex hormones, including This is Your Brain on Birth Control and The Period Brain, which is coming out in September 2025. Sarah's groundbreaking research has resulted in 100+ research publications and her work has been featured in The New York Times, The Washington Post, Scientific American, The Economist, and on television shows like Good Morning and Today.
Katie Vidmar
Body Literacy & Fertility Awareness Educator; Director at Natural Womanhood
Katie E. Vidmar, MTS is a Body Literacy and Fertility Awareness educator who created Elevate, a root-cause training program that helps healthcare professionals address menstrual-health disparities in underserved communities. As Director of Programs for Natural Womanhood and founder of the forthcoming Body Literacy Project, she champions nationwide access to cycle-informed education for every young person.
Teresa Kenney
Nurse Practitioner, Author & Co-Host of The Hormone Genius Podcast
Teresa Kenney, WHNP, MC, is a Women's Health Nurse Practitioner and certified Naprotechnology Medical Consultant at Sancta Familia Medical in Omaha, NE. She specializes in working cooperatively with a woman's natural cycle to treat root causes of health issues and restore quality of life through holistic care. She is the author of The Happy Girl's Guide to Being Whole: What You Never Knew About Your Natural Body and co-host of The Hormone Genius Podcast.
Clare Morell
Fellow at Ethics and Public Policy Center; Author, The Tech Exit
Clare Morell is a Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, where she focuses on protecting children from the harms of pornography, social media, and smartphones. She is the author of The Tech Exit: A Practical Guide to Freeing Kids and Teens from Smartphones (thetechexit.com), and shares her writing at eppc.org and claremorell.substack.com.
Panel 2: Lifestyle + Metabolic Health
Moderator: Emma Waters, The Heritage Foundation
Dr. Andrea Salcedo
OBGYN Specializing in Women's Reproductive & Metabolic Health
Dr. Andrea Salcedo, DO, MPH, FACOG, is a board-certified obstetrician-gynecologist at Loma Linda University, where she specializes in comprehensive women's health and complex gynecologic conditions. Her clinical and research interests focus on the metabolic roots of diseases like fibroids, PCOS, and endometriosis, and she promotes lifestyle-based, integrative approaches through her YouTube channel Conscious Gynecologist and telehealth practice. Fluent in English and Spanish, she is also a dedicated wife, mother, and advocate for patient-centered care.
Victoria Peck Gray
Functional Medicine Dietitian & Founder, Wonderfully Made Nutrition
Victoria Peck-Gray is a functional medicine dietitian who works with women to help them get pregnant, lose weight and optimize metabolic health, and heal gut issues and manage autoimmunity. She is available for virtual nutrition coaching across the USA.
Ginny Noce
The Women's Health RN
Ginny Noce, MS, RN is a registered nurse, Certified FEMM Instructor, and functional nutrition practitioner specializing in hormone health and fertility. After years of navigating her own hormonal imbalance, she founded The Women's Health RN to help women address root causes through cycle charting and a food-first, functional medicine approach. Ginny holds a Master's in Human Nutrition & Functional Medicine and combines clinical experience with advanced training in hormone health, blood chemistry, and fertility awareness.
Pam Schoenfeld
Restorative Reproductive & Prenatal Nutrition Specialist
Adequate essential nutrition is key to female (and male) fertility and optimal pregnancy and birth outcomes. Consumption of nourishing traditional foods (organ meats, whole eggs, full fat dairy) that supply critically important nutrients, including vitamin A in the form of retinol, should be encouraged for women (and men) in their reproductive years.
Panel 3: Root Causes, Restorative Treatment + Informed Consent
Grace Emily Stark
Editor-in-Chief at Natural Womanhood; Fertility Awareness Advocate & Instructor
Natural Womanhood is a nonprofit magazine dedicated to women's health and fertility awareness, advocating for body literacy as essential to informed consent and true reproductive empowerment. Through educational content, programming, podcasts, and real-life stories, they promote natural family planning and restorative reproductive medicine as alternatives to birth control and IVF—highlighting the often-overlooked risks of hormonal contraception, sterilization, and assisted reproductive technologies. Their mission is to help women reclaim their cycles as a source of power, health, and freedom.
Dr. Marguerite Duane
Family Physician, FACTS about Fertility
Dr. Marguerite Duane, a board-certified family physician, is co-founder and Executive Director of FACTS about Fertility, an organization dedicated to educating medical professionals and students about the scientific evidence supporting fertility awareness-based methods (FABMs). She also serves as an Adjunct Associate Professor at Georgetown University, and as the Director of the Center for Fertility Awareness Education and Research at Duquesne University College of Osteopathic Medicine. Dr. Duane is trained as a Creighton, FEMM and NeoFertility Medical Consultant and she cares for patients via a direct primary care house-calls based practice, MD for Life.
Dr. Patrick Yeung
Founder & Surgeon, RESTORE Center for Endometriosis
Dr. Patrick Yeung, a fellowship-trained expert in Minimally Invasive Gynecologic Surgery, spent 15 years in academic medicine at Duke University and Saint Louis University, performing on nearly 4,000 cases and contributing to multiple landmark publications. He founded the RESTORE Center for Endometriosis to pay forward what helped his own wife relieve debilitating pain and regain natural fertility—and to stand as the only endometriosis center that does not offer or refer to IVF.
Dr. Tracey Parnell
Physician & Global Director, International Institute for RRM
Dr. Tracey Parnell is a restorative reproductive medicine (RRM) physician and researcher who serves as Global Director of Communications and Development for the International Institute for Restorative Reproductive Medicine. She is also a managing editor for the Journal of Restorative Reproductive Medicine, with a focus on PCOS and endometriosis, and serves as Medical Director for RRMed, a training group for RRM professionals.
Panel 4: Pregnancy, Birth + Informed Consent
Moderator: Debra Sheldon, MAHA Institute
Sally Fallon Morell
President and Founder of Weston A. Price Foundation
Sally Fallon Morell is the founding president of the Weston A. Price Foundation, which promotes the dietary principles of healthy traditional cultures, emphasizing nutrient-dense foods like liver, raw milk, cod liver oil, bone broth, and fermented vegetables. She is the author of the bestselling cookbook Nourishing Traditions and co-author (with Dr. Tom Cowan) of The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care. She also founded A Campaign for Real Milk to advocate for access to safe, raw dairy products.
Dr. Stuart Fischbein
Midwifery-Aligned OB/GYN, Global Birth Educator & Co-Host of Birthing Instincts
Stuart Fischbein is a board-certified OB/GYN who spent over two decades attending hospital births and more than a decade supporting home births alongside midwives. Now retired from clinical practice after nearly 40 years, he brings a unique perspective on maternity care shaped by his collaborative work across settings. He continues to advocate for informed decision-making, physician–midwife collaboration, and physiological birth, and travels internationally to teach breech and twin delivery skills. Dr. Fischbein is also the co-host of the Birthing Instincts podcast and author of several peer-reviewed publications and the book Fearless Pregnancy.
Kallie Fell
Executive Director, Center for Culture and Bioethics
The Center for Bioethics and Culture is an educational non-profit committed to protecting women's health and human dignity, particularly through education around assisted reproductive technologies (ART), including egg "donation", egg freezing, and surrogacy.
Adelaide Meadow
Female Physiology Educator & Homebirth Attendant
Adelaide Meadow is a biomechanist, women's health advocate, and lay homebirth midwife. In addition to perinatal care, she supports women in healing a variety of pelvic health concerns, focusing on the role our physical structure plays in our health and birth outcomes. Her professional work centers on bringing the worlds of exercise physiology and human biomechanics into the work of midwifery, perinatal, and well-woman care.
Claire Dooley
Documentary Filmmaker and Health Freedom Advocate
Claire Dooley is a documentary filmmaker known for exposing corruption in the pharmaceutical industry and amplifying grassroots movements for bodily autonomy and personal freedom. She co-produced Infertility: A Diabolical Agenda with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mary Holland, revealing evidence of non-consensual sterilization by the WHO in Kenya, and directed Peace and War, which documents the American trucker protest against vaccine mandates. Now focused on building solutions, Claire is part of the Mothers2b team, creating a free, comprehensive resource for women through every stage of motherhood.