Catalyzing Nobel-Caliber Science: Celebrating the Great Minds Behind Keystone Symposia

By Emma Wabel

As we launch our upcoming meeting season, we reflect on those who contribute to Keystone Symposia's place in the scientific community, positioning it as a place where new breakthroughs are forged in biomedical research and where intimate meetings link field leaders with trainees and early-career scientists.

Keystone Symposia is driven by the long-standing strength of its leadership – provided by prestigious scientific leaders and innovators on our Board of Directors (BOD) and Scientific Advisory Board (SAB), and as conference organizers and speakers. Learn more about these pillars of the Keystone Symposia community below, including the Nobel Laureates that are woven through our organizational fabric. 

Pioneers in Medicine: Celebrating Board of Director Accolades  

Our conference portfolio defines the cutting-edge in science and translational medicine because it is directed and refined by our esteemed BOD and SAB. Comprised of global leaders across academic and industry sectors, from basic biologists to clinician scientists, these cross-disciplinary boards of experts ensures that our meetings are as visionary as they are! 

The 70-member SAB draws experts from across four continents to collaboratively design our interdisciplinary conferences to generate innovative ideas and forge new scientific trajectories. Read more about how the SAB crafts our conference portfolio here. Of those 70, a select few are invited to serve on the BOD, stepping into a strategic governance position with the organization.  Their leadership supports Keystone Symposia’s continued position at the forefront of global scientific discourse. As world-renowned leaders in their fields, several BOD members have been recognized with major honors and awards for their outstanding contributions to science this year, and last. We proudly celebrate some recent distinctions earned by the brilliant minds guiding our organization:  

Margaret "Peggy" Goodell, PhD

Dr. Goodell finished her third and final term on the BOD in June after serving 10 years, with an additional 3 years on the SAB. During this time she served 8 years as Chair of the SAB and Secretary of the Board, while also contributing to the Finance, Nominating, Information/ Technology, and Executive Committees. Dr. Goodell is Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Director of the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Center and Vivian L. Smith Chair of Regenerative Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, in Houston, Texas.

• 2025 National Academy of Sciences Nomination – Dr. Goodell was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences—one of the highest honors in U.S sciences in recognition of distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.  
  
  

Tony Hunter, PhD

Dr. Hunter served on the SAB for 7 years before joining the BOD. He has been on the BOD as well as the Nominating Committee since 2018, and was in attendance at the first Keystone Symposia conference on Lake Tahoe back in 1972 when he was a postdoctoral fellow! He is currently a Professor and Principal Investigator of Molecular Cellular Biology at the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences.

• 2025 Szent-Györgyi Prize for Progress in Cancer Research – Honored for his discovery of tyrosine phosphorylation and its role in cancer, which paved the way for modern targeted cancer therapies like Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors (TKIs).  
• 2024 Prince Mahidol Award in Medicine – An annual award for outstanding achievements in medicine and public health worldwide, given by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation (founded by the Thai Royal Family). Photo below.

Lori Sussel, PhD

Dr. Sussel joined the SAB in 2018 and served two years before joining the BOD in 2020. In her five-year tenure she has served as Chair of the Development and Personnel Committees, and as a member of the Nominating and Executive Committees. Dr. Sussel is the Director of Research at the Basic and Translational Research Division of the Barbara Davis Center for Diabetes, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

• 2025 Charles H. Best Lectureship and Award – Recognized for her outstanding contributions to pancreatic islet biology and the investigation of regulatory factors in diabetes.  
• 2024 Albert Renold Prize from the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) – The award recognizes Dr. Sussel for outstanding contributions to better understand the function of the pancreas. See video here!

Joseph C. Wu, MD, PhD

Dr. Wu joined the SAB in 2014 and served 8 years before his nomination to the BOD. He has served on the BOD and as a member of the Development Board Committee for the past 3 years. Dr. Wu is Director of the Stanford Cardiovascular Institute at Stanford University.

• 2025 Schottenstein Prize in Cardiovascular Sciences – Honored for his leadership and foundational work using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to advance cardiovascular science.  
• 2024 American Heart Association Distinguished Leadership Award
• 2024 Louis & Artur Lucian Award for Research in Circulatory Diseases –

  Designed to honor outstanding research in the field of circulatory diseases by a scientific investigator whose contribution is deemed worthy of special recognition.

Juleen R. Zierath, PhD

Dr. Zierath joined the BOD in 2008 and has served a total of 18 years, after terming off in 2017 and being re-elected in 2018.  She has served many leadership roles on the BOD, including Chair of the Board, Secretary of the Board, Chair of the SAB, and Chair of the Executive and Nominating Committees. Dr. Zierath is a Professor of Molecular Medicine and Surgery and Integrative Physiology at the Karolinska Institutet. She is also a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Nobel Assembly, having served as chair of the Nobel Committee at Karolinska lnstitutet between 2013 and 2015. 

• 2025 Kirsten and Freddy Johansen Preclinical Research Prize – Awarded 1.75 million Danish Krone (DKK) (roughly $276,000 USD) for her pioneering preclinical research on exercise-responsive molecular pathways in diabetes. See photo below.
• 2024 EASD–Novo Nordisk Foundation Diabetes Prize for Excellence – The prize is awarded for outstanding research or technological contributions in the field of diabetes and is accompanied by 6 million DKK.
• 2024 European Research Council Advanced Grant (“CIRCAMET”) – The €2.5 million ($2.95 million USD)  Advanced Grant from the European Research Council will support research into the mechanisms that underpin the relationship between the circadian clock, diet and exercise, and metabolism, and their dysfunction in type 2 diabetes.
   
  

Leadership & Laureates: Contributions to Keystone Symposia & Upcoming Appearances  

Our 2026 conference season will feature unparalleled scientific leadership in roles such as organizers, keynote, and plenary speakers. Among this distinguished group are Nobel Prize laureates whose involvement reflects the exceptional scientific caliber of these meetings. Their participation helps catalyze conversations and collaborations that shape the future of the field, while inspiring attendees and reinforcing each meeting’s role as a global hub for breakthrough ideas and high-impact discovery. 

The involvement of Nobel Laureates in Keystone Symposia programming has been a longstanding tradition, with many of today's Nobel Prize Winners having presented their most groundbreaking work for the first time at our conferences, and forged their careers with us. Returning year after year to transform the trajectory of their fields, and biomedical science as a whole, they have served key roles in Keystone Symposia's history. 

These upcoming meetings offer more than just lectures – they provide a rare, intimate environment for attendees to engage directly with field leaders. From the mountains of Banff to the historic halls of Kyoto, these meetings catalyze the collaborations that will define the next decade of biomedical research. 

Below we showcase some recent Nobel Laureates who have served prominent roles in the Keystone Symposia community, and note upcoming appearances. 

♦

2025 Nobel Laureates

Drs. Frederick Ramsdell & Shimon Sakaguchi

Drs. Frederick “Fred” Ramsdell, PhD and Shimon Sakaguchi, MD, PhD were awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries on peripheral immune tolerance. 

• Dr. Ramsdell's participation in Keystone Symposia conferences dates back nearly 40 years, having attended his first Keystone Symposia in 1987 and participated in 21 of our conferences since then. In addition, he served on our Scientific Advisory Board in 2013 and 2014, shaping our conference portfolio to be on the forefront of immune tolerance research. 
  
• Dr. Sakaguchi has been a long-time participant in Keystone Symposia meetings, having attended or spoken at 15 conferences on immune regulation since 2001, including our first conference on Regulatory T Cells held in 2004.

♦

2024 Nobel Laureate Dr. David Baker

Dr. David Baker, PhD received the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his foundational work in computational protein design. Dr. Baker is a key member of the Keystone Symposia community, with an impressive record of attending approximately 30 conferences altogether, having participated nearly every year in at least one meeting since 2002. Most recently, he delivered the Keynote Address at our AI in Molecular Biology meeting in September 2025. See meeting coverage on the Keypoint Blog.

UPCOMING APPEARANCE: Dr. Baker will give a Keynote Address at the conferences on Antibodies as Drugs: Engineering and Computational Tools Enabling Clinical Advances, which will be held jointly with Emerging Cell Therapies in February 2026 in Banff, Canada, where he will speak on "Computational Design of Proteins for Therapeutic Applications." (remote presentation)

 

♦

2021 Nobel Laureates Drs. David Julius & Ardem Patapoutian

Drs. David Julius, PhD and Ardem Patapoutian, PhD earned the 2021 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries on the molecular mechanisms of pain sensation. 

• Dr. Julius has attended nearly a dozen Keystone Symposia conferences over the years, dating back to 1990. Most recently he gave the Keynote Address at our sold out Interoception: Neural Sensing and Control of Organ Function meeting held last season, in April 2025. See meeting coverage on the Keypoint Blog.
  
• Dr. Patapoutian has attended over a dozen meetings since 1993, having spoken nearly every year since 2019. As lead organizer of the  2022 meeting on Vertebrate Sensory Systems shortly after winning the Nobel Prize, he spearheaded a cutting-edge program on the frontiers of sensory system understanding that drew global attention. 
  
  

♦

2020 Nobel Laureate Dr. Jennifer Doudna

Dr. Jennifer Doudna, PhD, earned a Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2020) for her efforts in developing CRISPR gene editing techniques. Dr. Doudna has attended two dozen Keystone Symposia conferences over the last 4 decades, driving the discussion on CRISPR mechanisms and applications in various conferences series, including Non-Coding RNA, Nucleic Acid Therapeutics and Precision Genome Engineering.

♦

2018 Nobel Laureate Dr. James Allison 

 

UPCOMING APPEARANCE: Dr. Allison will be speaking at the upcoming Cancer Immunotherapy: Basic Mechanisms Informing Clinical Applications & Combinations (C3) conference in March, in Quebec, Canada, on "Immune Checkpoint Blockade in Cancer Immunotherapy: Mechanistic Insights Provide New Therapeutic Opportunities."  See meeting highlights.

 

 

♦

2012 Nobel Laureate Dr. Shinya Yamanaka

Dr. Shinya Yamanaka, MD, PhD, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2012 for his groundbreaking work in inducing stem cell differentiation from mature cells, creating the field of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). Dr. Yamanaka has participated in 25 meetings over the last 25 years, attending at least one meeting almost every year between 2000 and 2020. As a frequent speaker and Keynote, he has driven the field forward since its inception, when he presented his groundbreaking and yet unpublished work on iPSCs at the Keystone Symposia on Stem Cells in 2006 to launch the field.

UPCOMING APPEARANCE: Dr. Shinya Yamanaka is spearheading the organizing team for the sold out* January 2026 conference iPSCs: Progress, Opportunities, and Challenges, to be held in his home country in Kyoto, Japan. Marking the 20th anniversary of Dr. Yamanaka's discovery of iPSCs, the visionary program will revisit the milestones in the field with Dr. Yamanaka's Keynote Address, and explore future advances and applications that are coming to fruition in translational medicine. Featured in our New & Noteworthy Conferences of 2026!

 *View this sold out conference On Demand. 

Keystone Symposia: A Gathering Place for Nobel-Caliber Science 

As we reflect on the remarkable leadership achievements of 2025 and a snapshot of the contributions from celebrity names in science, we look ahead to discoveries yet to come. Tomorrow's Nobel Laureates are presenting their transformative, unpublished research at today's conferences, as rising stars selected to organize, speak, and present short talks and posters. 

One thing is clear: Scientific excellence at Keystone Symposia isn’t defined by accolades alone, but by the conversations, collaborations, and courage to share bold ideas early. It’s here that an unpolished idea can be sharpened by the experience of a Nobel Laureate. From award-winners to emerging investigators, our community continues to shape the questions that matter most – and the pathways toward answers that can transform human health. We invite you to join us in the season ahead, where breakthrough science is not just presented, but actively forged through connection, curiosity, and open exchange.  

As 2018 Nobel Laureate Jim Allison puts it: 

One of the services that Keystone provides to the field is a place where people can intensely engage in research and exchange ideas and a place for fellows to learn new ideas and network. If you are building a program and hiring faculty, it is a wonderful place to see the senior folks and rising stars just beginning their careers, where you can really sit down and talk with them, to help you recruit. That’s one of the reasons I come to the meetings.”

-Dr. Jim Allison, 2018 Nobel Laureate and 2024 Conference Organizer 

Register for a 2026 conference and join the lineage of scientific excellence fostered at Keystone Symposia conferences! 

Return to the December 2025 Keypoint Newsletter