Committee Members

Jun-Won Kook has a Ph.D in Chemical and Biomolucular Engineering from Yonsei University in August 2017. Specializing in nanomaterials and drug delivery system, Kook has published 12 peer-reviewed papers and hods 8 registered patents. Their research focuses on designing polymeric and lipid-based nanoparticles for therapeutic and cosmetic applications. Currently, Kook is developing curcumin-loaded solid lipid nanopartiles to improve treatment outcomes for sarcopenia and neurodegerative diseases by enhencing bioavailability and targeted delivery.

Born in Germany, Dr. Wyrobek received a BS in Physics from the University of Notre Dame, Indiana, and a PhD in Medical Biophysics from the Ontario Cancer Institute, Canada. He launched his career in Reproductive Biology and Germ Cell Mutagenesis at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in California, where he served as Division Director, President of the Enbironmental Mutagenesis and Genomics Society and on editorial/advisory boards. At the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California, he served as Head of Radiation Biology Department and as Senior Scientist for breast cancer susceptibility and neuro- cognitive risks. He has written ~180 research publications.

Hyun-Ji Ham is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the integrated M.S./Ph.D. program at Hannam
University. She is in her 9th semester of graduate training. Her research focuses on the molecular
mechanisms of autophagy and stress granule dynamics in neurodegenerative diseases. She has coauthored several scientific publications and is a co-first author of a research article published in
Nature Communications in 2024.

Wolfe is Professor of Pathology and Medical Genetics in the University of Pennsylvania schools of medicine and veterinary medicine and Director of the W.F. Goodman Center for Comparative Medical Genetics; and is Stokes Investigator at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He has been funded by the US NIH for 4 decades to investigate gene and cell therapies focusing on progressive degenerative brain diseases. He has published numerous articles in top research journals.

Jin-A Lee is a Professor at Hannam University and CEO of PhagytechBio, specializing in the molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS and frontotemporal dementia. She earned her Ph.D. from Seoul National University and completed her postdoctoral training at UCSF. Her research focuses on autophagy, stress granules, and iPSC-based disease models. Dr. Lee has published in top-tier journals such as Nature Communications and Autophagy, received the L’Oréal-UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science, and serves on several editorial boards

Robert J. Shmookler Reis is a distinguished aging and genetics researcher. He holds the Udupa Chair of Gerontologic Research and is a Professor of Geriatrics at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS). He also serves as an Affiliate Professor at the University of Washington. Dr. Shmookler Reis earned his B.A. from Harvard and a D.Phil. in Genetics from the University of Sussex. His research focuses on aging, longevity, and cellular senescence. He has received multiple awards and serves on several scientific committees and editorial boards.

Jerzy Walecki is a renowned radiologist and professor, serving as Chair of the Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine at the National Institute of Medicine and the Postgraduate Medical Center in Warsaw, Poland. He holds an M.D., Ph.D., and professorship from the Military Medical Academy. With over 250 publications, his expertise lies in radiodiagnostics, MRI, and neuroradiology. Prof. Walecki is also the Editor-in-Chief of the Polish Journal of Radiology and a member of key international radiology societies.

Suzanne De La Monte is a neuroscientist and physician, known for her research on neurodegenerative diseases, particularly Alzheimer’s disease. She is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at Brown University. Dr. De La Monte focuses on understanding how metabolic diseases like diabetes and obesity contribute to neurodegeneration. Her work has been key in uncovering the link between insulin resistance, inflammation, and cognitive impairments, contributing to potential therapeutic strategies for these conditions.

Lanrong Bi is an Associate Professor of Chemistry and an Affiliated Associate Professor of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. He is also an Associate Research Scientist at the Columbia Genome Center within the College of Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Bi’s extensive research background includes postdoctoral work at the Columbia Genome Center and the Department of Chemical Engineering at Columbia University. His research focuses on chemical biology, with a special emphasis on developing novel molecular probes for DNA sequencing analysis and discovering disease-related genes. Additionally, in medicinal chemistry, Dr. Bi works on creating innovative imaging and therapeutic agents for cancer and cardiovascular diseases. His work also involves the design and synthesis of novel prodrugs, peptides, and peptide mimetics aimed at improving drug delivery and therapeutic outcomes.

Joao Manuel R. S. Tavares graduated in Mechanical Engineering at the Universidade do Porto, Portugal in 1992. He also earned his M.Sc. degree and Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Universidade do Porto in 1995 and 2001, and attained his Habilitation in Mechanical Engineering in 2015 from the same University. He is a senior researcher at the Instituto de Ciência e Inovação em Engenharia Mecânica e Engenharia Industrial (INEGI) and a Full Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering (DEMec) of the Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP). He has been the Head of DEMec since June 2023. João Tavares is co-editor of more than 80 books, co-author of more than 50 book chapters, 650 articles in international and national journals and conferences, and 3 international and 3 national patents. He has been a committee member of several international and national journals and conferences, is co-founder and co-editor of the book series “Lecture Notes in Computational Vision and Biomechanics” published by Springer, founder and Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering: Imaging & Visualization” published by Taylor & Francis, Editor-in-Chief of the journal “Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering” published by Taylor & Francis, and co-founder and co-chair of the international conference series: International Symposium on Computational Modeling of Objects Presented in Images, ECCOMAS Thematic Conference on Computational Vision and Medical Image Processing, International Conference on Computational and Experimental Biomedical Sciences and International Conference on Biodental Engineering. Additionally, he has been (co-)supervisor of several MSc and PhD theses and supervisor of several post-doc projects and has participated in many scientific projects both as a researcher and as scientific coordinator. His main research areas include computational vision, medical imaging, biomechanics, biomedical engineering, and new product development.