Abraham J. Domb is the former Chief Scientist at the Israeli Ministry of Innovation, Science, and Technology and a Professor for Medicinal Chemistry and Biopolymers at the School of Pharmacy- Faculty of Medicine of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He earned Bachelors degrees in Chemistry, Pharmaceutics and Law studies and PhD degree in Chemistry from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He did his postdoctoral training at MIT and Harvard Univ. Cambridge USA and was R&D manager at Nova Pharm. Co. Baltimore US during 1988-1991. Since 1991 he is a faculty member at the Hebrew university, full Prof. since 1999. During 2007-2012 he headed the Division of Forensic Science at the Israel Police. In 2014 he was appointed President of the Jerusalem College of Engineering (JCE).

Henry Brem has served as the Harvey Cushing Professor of Neurosurgery at The Johns Hopkins, Director of the Department of Neurosurgery, and Neurosurgeon-in-Chief from 2000-2025. He also is professor of Oncology, Ophthalmology, and Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Hunterian Neurosurgical Laboratory. His academic work has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1985. In 1998 he was elected to the National Academy of Medicine. In 2000, the Society of Neurological Surgeons awarded him the Grass Award for mentorious research and on 2021 the Medical Student Teaching Award. by the Society of Neurological Surgeons for meritorious research. In 2014, The Johns Hopkins University established the Henry Brem Endowed Chair in Neurosurgery. In 2015 Brem was selected to receive the Castle Connolly National Physician of the Year Award for Clinical Excellence. In 2017, Brem was recognized the Johns Hopkins University Provost’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Mentoring. In 2021, he received the Johns Hopkins Sixth Annual Dean’s Distinguished Mentoring Award. In 2024 he received the Honored Guest Award of the Congress of Neurosurgical Surgeons and in 2025 the Honored Guest Award of the Israeli Neurosurgical Society. Henry Brem has introduced new therapeutic approaches to Neurosurgery. His devotion to patient care, clinical excellence, and translational science has brought together a unique group of neurosurgeons and investigators that have changed the field of neurosurgery.

Kam Leong is the Samuel Y. Sheng Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Columbia University. He is one of the pioneers in developing multifunctional nanocarriers for delivery of drugs, antigens, proteins, siRNA, pDNA, and mRNA. He graduated with a B.S. from the University of California, Santa Barbara, followed by a Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, both in Chemical Engineering. Dr. Leong’s current research encompasses nonviral gene editing in vivo, biomaterials for inflammation modulation, and human-tissue chips for disease modeling and drug development. His publication record includes around 500 manuscripts, an h-index of 141, and over 76,000 citations. He also holds more than 60 issued patents. Dr. Leong’s contributions have been recognized by his election to the USA National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Inventors, and the National Academy of Medicine. Recent awards include the Society for Biomaterials’ Founders Award (2022), the IEEE-EMBS Career Achievement Award (2023), and the IEEE Biomedical Engineering Award (2024). Dr. Leong has been serving as the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Biomaterials for the past decade

Nicholas Peppas is professor of Biomedical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Pediatrics, Surgery and Pharmaceutics at the University of Texas at Austin. His group has pioneered research in biomaterials, drug delivery, and bionanotechnology to design next-generation medicines and devices. He has 2,050 publications, with 230,000 citations (H=225). He has been awarded the NAE Founders (Ramo) Award, NAM Adam Yarmolinsky Award, the Biomaterials Global Impact Award, the AAPS Global Leader of Pharmaceutical Sciences Awards, and the Acta Biomaterialia Gold Medal. Peppas is a member of NAE, NAM, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Academies in Europe, Canada, Mexico, China, Korea, India, France, Spain, Greece, Romania

Rafael Verduzco is the A. J. Hartsook Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Materials Sciences and NanoEngineering at Rice University. He received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the California Institute of Technology in 2007 and his B.S. in chemical engineering from Rice University in 2001. Verduzco’s work focuses broadly on polymeric materials and includes the development of polymers for environmental applications, bioelectronics, and branched additives and adhesives. His work combined polymer design and synthesis with multi-scale characterization. Verduzco is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the recipient of the NSF CAREER award (2015), the George R. Brown award for Superior Teaching, and the Stanley E. Israel Award from the American Chemical Soceity. Verduzco is an active member of AIChE, ACS, and APS, and he served as the Chair of the Materials Engineering and Sciences Division of AIChE and currently serves as the Chair of the Membership Committee of the Polymeric Materials Science and Engineering (PMSE) Division of ACS and the Programming Co-Chair for the Division of Polymer Physics (DPOLY) of APS.

Robert Langer is one of 9 Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); being an Institute Professor is the highest honor that can be awarded to a faculty member. His patents have licensed or sublicensed to over 400 companies; he is a cofounder of a number of companies including Moderna. Dr Langer served as Chairman of the FDA’s Science Board (its highest advisory board) from 1999-2002. His over 220 awards include both the United States National Medal of Science and the United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation (he is one of 3 living individuals to have received both these honors). He holds 44 honorary doctorates including Harvard, Yale, Columbia, and Northwestern, and has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Inventors.

Stuart J. Rowan is the Barry L. MacLean Professor of Molecular Engineering and Professor of Chemistry at the University of Chicago. He is the Director of the University of Chicago’s Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) and has a staff appointment at Argonne National Labs. In 1999 he was appointed as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. In 2005 he was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure and became a Full Professor in 2008. In 2009 he was named the Kent H. Smith Professor of Engineering and in 2016 he moved to the University of Chicago. He is a NSF CAREER and NSF Special Creativity awardee, received the Morley Medal (ACS) in 2013, the CWRU Distinguished University Award in 2015, and the Herman Mark Scholar Award (ACS) in 2015. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), an ACS Fellow, an ACS POLY Fellow, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and is currently the Editor-in-Chief of ACS Macro Letters. His group works on supramolecular polymers, dynamic covalent polymers, self-healing materials, responsive adhesives, sustainable plastics, nanocellulose, polymers for battery applications, biomaterials and developing new synthetic methods for the construction of complex polymeric architectures.