The 2026 Joseph V. Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lecture
We are honored to announce that Justin Starren, MD, PhD, FACMI, FAMIA, has been selected to present the 2026 Scaletti Catalyst Lecture. Dr. Starren is the Director of the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Biostatistics and Professor of Medical Imaging at the University of Arizona School of Medicine and in 2025 was named Distinguished Fellow of the American College of Medical Informatics.

With over 30 years of experience in biomedical informatics, Dr. Starren’s research focuses on translating computer and informatics research into real-world solutions, including computer-human interface design, enhancements to Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and delivering information technology to underserved populations. Co-Principal Investigator and chief technology architect for the landmark Informatics for Diabetes Education and Telemedicine (IDEATel) Project (for which he designed a home telemedicine unit), Dr. Starren also leads the EHR integration workgroup for the Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Network, integrating genomic information into the EHR to support precision medicine. 

The Presentation
For his Catalyst Lecture, Dr. Starren will address the impact of Artificial Intelligence in translational research:

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing research across all fields. Publications about AI in research have reported both remarkable breakthroughs and concerning failures. Translational research is no different. Some applications of AI in translational research—such as translation of consent forms or summarization of research findings—have shown performance exceeding that of human experts, while others serve as cautionary tales. This talk will explore both the successes and the failures. It will also discuss the unique challenges of evaluating new AI applications in translation research provide some practical rubrics to help researchers and leadership evaluate potential AI solutions and opportunities.

What: “AI in Translational Research: Successes, Opportunities and Cautions”
Where: Fitz Hall, Room 303, Health Sciences Center, University of New Mexico
When: Apr 3, 2026, 12:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

The lecture will also be live streamed.

The Joseph V Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lectures

Inspirational ideas in biomedical research, health education & delivery

Each year, the  Joseph V. Scaletti  Memorial  Catalyst Lecture  features an individual, institution, or idea responsible for accelerating the rate of positive change and forward progress in the areas of biomedical research, healthcare education, innovative healthcare delivery, and state-of-the-art patient care.

Ron D. Hays, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Adjunct Researcher at RAND Corporation, has been selected to present the 2025 Scaletti Catalyst Lecturer on 18 April 2025 at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center.

One of the most influential and highly cited scientists in his field, Dr Ron Hays has dedicated his career to improving the quality of life for patients undergoing clinical care. He co-developed the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) patient experience and the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS®) health-related quality of life measures to help researchers and clinicians monitor health care and health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Interested users can access the CAHPS measures at AHRQ and the PROMIS measures at Health Measures. CAHPS is supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and PROMIS measures were developed with funding by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine now supports PROMIS under a cost-recovery business model with no profit motivation.

What: “Past and Future Directions for Patient-reported Experience and Patient-reported Outcome Assessment in Ambulatory Healthcare”
Where: Fitz Hall, Room 303, from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM.
When: Apr 18, 2025, 12:00 PM Mountain Time (US and Canada)

For more information or to request a Zoom link, please contact the Center for Advancing Dissemination and Implementation Science.

The Joseph V Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lectures

Inspirational ideas in biomedical research, health education & delivery

Each year, the  Joseph V. Scaletti  Memorial  Catalyst Lecture  features an individual, institution, or idea responsible for accelerating the rate of positive change and forward progress in the areas of biomedical research, healthcare education, innovative healthcare delivery, and state-of-the-art patient care.

Environmental Exposures and Mechanism of Maternal-Fetal Communication

In 2014, Kjersti M. Aagaard, MD, PhD published the first in a series of landmark studies challenging the prevailing wisdom that babies are born sterile — that their microbiota are established only outside the womb. In The Placenta Harbors a Unique Microbiome (2014) in Science Translational Medicine, she was the first to identify a unique placental microbiome and to suggest that this is not only part of a healthy pregnancy but also that it might help establish the fetus’s own nonpathogenic commensal microbiota in utero.

In recognition of her groundbreaking research in the area of perinatal disease and the microbiome, Kjersti M. Aagaard has been selected to present this year’s Joseph Scaletti Catalyst Lecture, as part of a series dedicated to highlighting “powerful ideas from the iconoclasts of biomedical research, health education & delivery”.

A true physician-scientist, Dr. Aagaard leads a basic science and clinical research lab at Baylor College of Medicine and cares for patients at Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women and at Ben Taub Hospital. Both her clinical practice and research interests center on emerging infectious diseases, preterm birth, diabetes, hypertensive disorders, maternal smoking, environmental exposures, and the detection and diagnosis of congenital and genetic anomalies.

Aagaard’s translational research focuses on the role of the microbiome in pregnancy and early development and on the impact that maternal diabetes, high fat diet, smoking, and other environmental chemical exposures has on fetal development and disease later in life. In a recent paper, Maternal and early life exposures and their potential to influence development of the microbiome (2022) in Genome Medicine, she writes:

…compelling evidence arising from a diverse array of studies across mammalian lineages suggest that modifications to our metagenome and/or microbiome occur following certain environmental exposures during pregnancy and lactation, which in turn render risk of childhood and adult diseases. In this review, we will consider the evidence suggesting that development of the offspring microbiome may be vulnerable to maternal exposures, including an analysis of the data regarding the presence or absence of a low-biomass intrauterine microbiome.

If you’re a student with a strong interest in understanding and exploring the mechanisms of perinatal disease and the microbiome, the Aagaard lab is currently recruiting graduate students and postdoctoral fellows who have a background in bioinformatics, *-omics research, computational biology, statistics, or perinatal health.

When not in the lab, teaching graduate and medical students, caring for patients, and raising her children, Aagaard can be found running marathons for fun.

Please join us at the Domenici Center Auditorium or via Zoom for the 2023 Joseph Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lecture to hear about Dr Aagaard’s latest research results. A sampling of recent papers from the Aagaard lab includes:

• Maternal Western diet is associated with distinct preclinical pediatric NAFLD phenotypes in juvenile nonhuman primate offspring 
• Analysis of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid metatranscriptomes among patients with COVID-19 disease Crucial nuances in understanding (mis)associations between the neonatal microbiome and Cesarean delivery 
• Shift work and sleep duration are associated with adverse pregnancy outcomes in a predominantly Latinx population with high rates of obesity 
• Placental Vascular and Inflammatory Findings from Pregnancies Diagnosed with Coronavirus Disease 2019: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
• Understanding the Placental Biology of Tobacco Smoke, Nicotine, and Marijuana (THC) Exposures During Pregnancy
• The impact of response to iron therapy on maternal and neonatal outcomes among pregnant women with anemia

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Each year, the Joseph V. Scaletti Catalyst Lecture series features scientific breakthroughs by a biomedical researcher at the forefront of biomedical research and education. Everyone is welcome to attend!

The Joseph V. Scaletti Catalyst Lecture: A Public Forum for Envisioning the Future of Biomedical Research and Innovative Models for Healthcare Education and Delivery

Innovations in Population Health: Improving Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Manisha Jhamb, MD, MPH, has been invited to present the Joseph Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lecture on June 24 2022

In this year’s Joseph Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lecture, University of Pittsburgh nephrologist, Dr. Manisha Jhamb, MD, MPH, will discuss her innovative, data-driven approach to improving the quality of life and health outcomes for patients with chronic kidney disease.

Expanding her outlook beyond the standard one-patient-at-a-time focus, Dr Jhamb employs a “Population health” model — a data-driven strategy for managing the health status, quality of life, and outcomes for an entire group of people.

By employing electronic health records in combination with a multidisciplinary approach, Dr Jhamb and colleagues are testing innovative strategies for improving the quality of life for patients with chronic kidney disease. By using telemedicine and newer models of care delivery, this approach brings nephrology resources such as pharmacy support, social worker support, and nurse led education to improve management and care co-ordination for patients. Additionally, this program helps primary care providers co-manage these highly complex patients and get nephrology guidance on implementation of latest evidence-based guidelines.

In this lecture, Dr Jhamb will share her research group’s experiences applying a “population health” approach to kidney disease and discuss future prospects for using electronic health records and telemedicine to reach underserved vulnerable populations who may not have access to specialists.

Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Manisha Jhamb is the Director of the Center for Population Health Management, Associate Chief of the Renal-Electrolyte Division, and Co-Director, Clinical Research, Renal-Electrolyte Division. Dr. Jhamb is a nephrologist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is affiliated with multiple hospitals in the area, including UPMC Presbyterian Shadyside and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. In addition to her medical degree, she also holds a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Texas Health Center in Houston.

You can attend the lecture in person or join us via Zoom.

Innovations in Population Health: Improving Outcomes in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

June 24, 2022 at 12 pm - 1 pm
Colleges of Nursing & Pharmacy Auditorium
Health Sciences Center Clinical and Translational Science Center
University of New Mexico

COVID-19 NOTICE: To protect the health of Dr McIntyre, his patients, and the students and faculty of UNM School of Medicine, this year’s Joseph V Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lecture has been POSTPONED. Please follow the recommendations of the CDC to protect yourself, your family and your community during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Thank you.

Christopher McIntyre, MD, PhD

On April 3, one of the world’s leading kidney physician/researchers, Dr. Christopher McIntyre, will be at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine to present: Dialysis: the Terrible Things that Well-intentioned People Do

Dr. McIntyre, Professor of Medicine at Western Ontario University, holder of the Dr. Robert Lindsay Chair in Dialysis Research and Innovation, Director of the London Kidney Clinical Research Unit at London Health Sciences Centre and researcher at the Lawson Health Research Institute will present the 10th annual Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture as part of an ongoing series featuring researchers working at the forefront of biomedical research and implementing innovative models for healthcare delivery and education.

Live Stream starts Friday, April 3 2020 at 12 pm MST (18:00 UTC)

The cure should not contribute to disease…

Worldwide, there are over 2 million people who require periodic dialysis to help filter out harmful wastes, extra salt, and water from the blood when, due to chronic kidney disease, their kidneys are no longer able to perform this function; it is, in fact, a life-saving procedure.

But Chris McIntyre, the physician, started to notice that the leading cause of death in his dialysis patients was cardiovascular disease and that “tragically, dialysis patients…have a lower life expectancy than many cancer patients.” Not content to blame these outcomes solely on other risk factors, Dr. McIntyre, the scientist, started investigating and came to the unexpected conclusion that hemodialysis itself causes cardiac, liver, and gastro-intestinal injury and contributes to cognitive impairment.

By challenging conventional wisdom through a persistent program of systematic, data-driven research, Dr. McIntyre, the researcher/practitioner is now able to offer patients a better quality of life. For a brief video introduction to Dr. McIntyre research, including an interview with a participant in one of his clinical trials, see https://youtu.be/v-Apmk86Jvo

Chris McIntyre is the embodiment of the ideals of translational research—a compassionate physician who is also a rigorous scientific researcher, dedicated to transferring lessons gained through scientific research to improve the outcomes and the quality of life for his patients. He leads a team of multidisciplinary researchers focusing on the pathophysiology of the affected cardiovascular, brain, liver and gastro-intestinal structure and function in patients with chronic kidney disease. Here’s a link to some of their published research.

The focus of my research program is to deliver life-sustaining hemodialysis with maximal benefit and efficiency without patient harm. – Chris McIntyre, MD, PhD

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Each year, the Joseph V. Scaletti Catalyst Lecture series features scientific breakthroughs by a biomedical researcher at the forefront of biomedical research and education. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Friday, April 3, 2020

Including potential therapeutic strategies for countering sarcopenia

Video of Dr Arnold’s Lecture (recorded 19 April 2019)

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a genetic disorder in which a survival motor neuron (SMN) protein deficiency results in the degeneration of motor neurons. Until recently, SMA was the most common genetic cause of death in infants, but exciting progress over the last 10 years has led to some promising developments, including FDA approval to begin clinical trials of the first gene therapy for SMA.

In a Phase 1 clinical trial completed August 2017 at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Ohio, a one-time dose of the gene therapy extended the survival of patients with spinal muscular atrophy type 1 (SMA1). All of the patients surpassed the benchmark of 20 months, at which time only 8% of the patients with this disease typically survive without permanent ventilation.

W. Dave Arnold, MD

Dr. W. David Arnold — presenter of the 2019 Joseph V Scaletti Memorial Catalyst Lecture — is part of the multidisciplinary team that developed the new SMN gene therapy and administered the clinical trial. In his April 19th talk, Dr. Arnold will provide an overview of therapies for SMA, discuss ongoing unmet needs in the care of patients with SMA, and present recent data suggesting that survival motor neuron protein may have additional roles in the repair and maintenance of motor neurons, including as a potential therapeutic strategy in sarcopenia (the age-related loss of 0.5-1% muscle mass per year after age 50).

Dr. Arnold completed his medical degree at the University of Louisville and his PM&R residency training at the University of Louisville and Frazier Rehabilitation Institute. He later completed fellowship training in neuromuscular medicine and then joined the faculty at the Ohio State University. Dr. Arnold’s research program is primarily focused on translational neuromuscular physiology in health and disease. His prior work helped define the natural history of motor unit loss in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and defined the effects of genetic therapies in preclinical models of SMA. As part of a multidisciplinary team at the Ohio State University and Nationwide Children’s Hospital, he was involved in the first-in-human clinical gene therapy trial in infants with SMA.

At the Arnold Lab for Translational Neuromuscular Physiology at Ohio State, his team is currently investigating the role of motor neuron degeneration in age-related loss of physical function and testing survival motor neuron protein, the protein that is deficient in SMA, as a potential therapeutic strategy in sarcopenia. Dr. Arnold is also interested in developing biomarkers and therapies for other genetic forms neuromuscular disorders, in particular, nondystrophic myotonic disorders and myotonic dystrophy.

His motto? “Nothing great is easy”.
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Each year, the Joseph V. Scaletti Catalyst Lecture series features scientific breakthroughs by a biomedical researcher at the forefront of biomedical research and education. Everyone is welcome to attend!

The Joseph V. Scaletti Catalyst Lecture: A Public Forum for Envisioning the Future of Biomedical Research and Innovative Models for Healthcare Education and Delivery

Extensive use of antibiotics in medicine and the livestock industry has driven the evolution of drug resistant human pathogens on a global basis. The development of antibiotics with truly novel mechanisms of action is moving at a glacial pace. New approaches to the treatment of multidrug resistant bacterial infections are urgently needed.

On April 27, HIV pioneer and infectious disease researcher Dr. Robert T. Schooley will be at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine to describe his ground-breaking work on a newly “re-discovered” approach to the treatment of bacterial infection in humans: bacteriophage therapy.

Dr. Schooley, Senior Director of International Initiatives and Professor of Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego has been invited to present the 2018 Joseph V Scaletti Catalyst Lecture as part of an ongoing series featuring researchers at the forefront of biomedical research and innovative models for healthcare delivery and education.

Back to the Future

Bacteriophage Therapy for MDR Bacterial Infections

Live Stream starts Friday, April 27 2018 at 12 pm MST (18:00 UTC)

Bacteriophages (literally “eaters of bacteria”) are viruses that attack and lyse bacteria. Originally discovered on the Indian subcontinent shortly after the turn of the 20th Century, they were briefly developed in Europe and the US for therapeutic applications in humans. A lack of understanding of optimal targeting coupled with the discovery of sulfonamides and penicillins shifted attention away from bacteriophage therapeutics in the West in the 1940’s although interest in their use persisted in a number of Iron Curtain countries. We were recently challenged with the need to treat a critically ill patient with a multidrug resistant Acinetobacter baumannii infection acquired during a visit to Egypt who had failed to respond to multiple courses of antimicrobial therapy. Working with colleagues at Texas A&M University, the US Navy Biodefense Research Directorate and AmpliPhi Biosciences under an eIND protocol, we successfully treated the patient with sequential courses of personalized bacteriophage cocktails directed at the patient’s own Acinetobacter baumannii. We have since treated an additional four patients with drug-resistant bacterial infections with personalized bacteriophage cocktails. In the course of this work we have learned about the safety, tolerability, pharmacology, pharmacodynamics and evolution of bacterial resistance to therapeutic bacteriophages. Although our anecdotal experience has been quite positive, rigorous controlled clinical trials are required to fully understand the promise and challenges facing the evolution of bacteriophage therapy of human infections.
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Robert T. Schooley, M.D. is Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases, the Vice Chair of the Department of Medicine and the Senior Director of International Initiatives at the University of California, San Diego.

Dr Schooley began his research career studying the immunopathogenesis of herpesvirus infections in immuno-compromised patients but shifted his focus to AIDS in 1981 when the first cases of this syndrome began to appear in Boston. His research group was among the first to delineate the humoral and cellular immune responses to HIV infection. Over the next 15 years he became increasingly involved in the discovery and development of antiretroviral chemotherapeutic agents including reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors and entry inhibitors. During his tenure as Group Chair the NIAID’s AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) expanded to include research sites in Latin America, the Caribbean, South Asia and Africa and is now the largest and most productive multinational clinical and translational research organization focusing on the pathogenesis and therapy of HIV and its complications.

His current research interests include bacteriophage therapy, HIV and HCV pathogenesis and therapy and infections that cause morbidity and mortality in resource limited settings. Working with Dr. Emilia Noormahomed, he (together with Drs. Benson and Smith) provides leadership to the UEM-UCSD Medical Education Partnership Initiative.
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Each year, the Joseph V. Scaletti Catalyst Lecture series features scientific breakthroughs by a biomedical researcher at the forefront of biomedical research and education. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Friday, April 27, 2018