VCR's Distinguished Lecture Series
The VCR's Distinguished Lecture Series was created in an effort to educate and help the research community stay abreast on the world’s most pressing research topics.
During each of their visits, invited lecturers will meet with UTHSC administration, faculty and staff to share ideas and foster collaborative efforts centered on education, research and entrepreneurial ventures. They will also deliver a scientific lecture to the UTHSC community.
Upcoming Dates
February 16, 2023
Mitch J. Weiss, MD, PhD
Arthur Nienhuis Endowed Chair in Hematology
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
May 18, 2023
Ralph Baric, PhD
William R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor, Department of Epidemiology
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Recorded Presentations
Below is a listing of past VCR Distinguished Lecture presentations and links to view them. When prompted, please login with your UT NetID and password to view the recording.
Rachel Tyndale, Ph.D.
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Departments of Pharmacology & Toxicology, and Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
"Genetics of Smoking: Impact on Smoking Behaviors, Health Consequences and Cessation" - November 14, 2019
Mark Zylka, Ph.D.
W.R. Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor in the Department of Cell Biology & Physiology and Director of the Neuroscience Center at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
“Advancing a CRISPR / Cas Gene Therapy for Angelman Syndrome” - October 17, 2019
Mark I. Ryder, DMD
Earl Robinson Professor of Periodontology at the University of California, San Francisco School of Dentistry
“Alzheimer’s Disease and Periodontitis: New Connections, New Therapies”- September 19, 2019
Scott Weaver, PhD
John Sealy Distinguished University Chair in Human Infections and Immunity; Director, Institute for Human Infections and Immunity; Scientific Director, Galveston National Laboratory; The University of Texas Medical Branch.
"Urban Arboviruses: Evolution and Mechanisms of Emergence" - August 8, 2019
Lihong Wang, PhD
Bren Professor of Medical Engineering and Electrical Engineering, Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering, Department of Electrical Engineering, Division of Engineering and Applied Science, California Institute of Technology
"World’s Deepest-Penetration and Fastest Cameras: Photoacoustic Tomography and Compressed Ultrafast Photography”- March 14, 2019
Vasilis Ntziachristos, Prof. Dr.
Director, Institute of Biological and Medical Imaging; Director, Munich School of Bioengineering; Technische Universität München and Helmholtz Zentrum München; München, Germany
"Advances in Optical and Optoacoustic Imaging"- February 7, 2019
György Buzsáki, MD, PhD
Biggs Professor of Neuroscience, Physiology and Neurology, New York University
"Space, Time and Memory"- April 4, 2019
Frederick G. Hayden, MD, FACP
Consultant, World Health Organization; Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Stuart S. Richardson Professor Emeritus of Clinical Virology, University of Virginia School of Medicine
"Advances in Influenza Therapeutics" - December 6, 2018
Emily Y. Chew, MD
Deputy Clinical Director Chief, Clinical Trials Branch, The National Eye Institute; Director, Division of Epidemiology and Clinical Applications; Medical Officer, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, NEI/NIH
"Age-related Macular Degeneration, Environment, Nutrition and Genetics" - November 15, 2018
C. Robert Cloninger, MD, PhD
Wallace Renard Professor of Psychiatry; Professor of Genetics and Psychology; Director, Sansone Family Center for Well-Being, Washington University School of Medicine
"The Psychobiology and Genetics of Human Personality" - October 18, 2018
Richard A. Gibbs, PhD
Director, Baylor Human Genome Sequencing Center; Wofford Cain Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics; Professor, Department of Molecular and Human Genetics, Baylor College of Medicine
"Genomics in the Adult Clinic: Landing on Mars" - September 6, 2018
John F. Cryan, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, University College Cork, Ireland; and Principal Investigator, APC Microbiome Ireland
"A Gut Feeling About the Brain: The Microbiome Modulates Behaviour Across the Lifespan" - February 26, 2018
Audio Only | Presentation Slides
Aaron Ciechanover, MD, DSc
Distinguished Research Professor, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology; 2004 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
"The Ubiquitin Proteolytic System: From Basic Mechanisms Thru Human Diseases and on to Drug Targeting" - January 16, 2018
Alexander Hoffmann, PhD
Professor, Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of California Los Angeles
"Learning How to Predict Innate and Adaptive Immune Responses" - November 30, 2017
David D. Ussery, PhD
Helen G. Adams and Arkansas Research Alliance Chair; Professor of Bioinformatics; Director, ArC-GEM, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
"What is Life? Conserved Functional Domains from a Hundred Thousand Bacterial Genomes" - November 16, 2017
John D. Carpten, PhD
Chair and Visiting Professor in the Departments of Translational Genomics and Urology; Director of the Institute for Translational Genomics, University of Southern California
"Comprehensive Somatic Interrogation in Diverse Cancer Cohorts" - Oct. 19, 2017
Susan A. Murphy, PhD
Professor of Statistics, Radcliffe Alumnae Professor at the Radcliffe Institute; Professor of Computer Science at the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, all at Harvard University
"Mobile Health Intervention Optimization" - September 14, 2017
David T.W. Wong, DMD
Felix and Mildred Yip Endowed Professor; Associate Dean of Research, University of California Los Angeles
"Saliva Liquid Biopsy" - March 16, 2017
Peter Stambrook, PhD
Distinguished Research Professor; Professor of Molecular Genetics, Biochemistry, and Microbiology, University of Cincinnati
"Preservation of Genomic Integrity in Somatic and Embryonic Stem Cells" - February 16, 2017
John Wikswo, PhD
Gordon A. Cain University Professor, Vanderbilt University
"Organs-on-chips, Metabolomics, Systems Biology, and Closing the Hermeneutic Circle of Biology" - December 15, 2016
William Slikker, Jr., PhD
Director of the National Center for Toxicology Research/FDA
"What Animal Models Predict About the Safe Use of Anesthetics in Children" - October 20, 2016
Betty Pace, MD
Tedesco Distinguished Chair in Pediatric Hematology/Oncology; Professor of Pediatrics, Section of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology; Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Georgia Regents University
"Sickle Cell Disease: Novel Drug Therapy Focused on Clinical Phenotypes" - March 3, 2016