Russel J. Reiter is Professor of Cell Biology in the Department of Cell Systems and Anatomy at the UT Health, San Antonio, Texas, USA. In addition to his Ph.D., Dr. Reiter has received four honorary M.D. degrees and one honorary D.Sc. degree from international universities. His research relates to the multiple receptor-independent and receptor-dependent actions of melatonin in humans, animals and plants. He has trained 25 Ph.D. students and 144 postdoctoral fellows. Dr. Reiter has received many awards for his research including the A. Ross McIntyre Gold Metal (USA), US Senior Scientist Award (Germany), Lizoni Lincee Award (Italy), Inaugural Aaron B. Lerner Pioneer Award (USA), Chulabhorn Royal Academy Medal (Thailand), etc. He has published numerous research papers, reviews and chapters and he has written or edited 25 books. Based on Google Scholar, his papers have been cited in the scientific literature more than 202,000 times and his h-index is 218. Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics has identified Dr. Reiter as a Highly Cited Scientist (top 1%) and listed him as one of the World’s Most Influential Scientific Minds in 2014. In 2023, he was ranked 145 among the Best Scientists in the World by Research.com. Dr. Reiter has been an invited speaker at more than 340 international meetings and symposia. He is the Co-Editor of Melatonin Research and he is the founder and past Editor of the Journal of Pineal Research.

Brian Blagg, Ph.D., Charles Huisking Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, is Notre Dame’s first Director of the Warren Family Research Center for Drug Discovery and Development. After earning his B.A. in Chemistry and Environmental Studies at Sonoma State University, his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at the University of Utah, and completing an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship from The Scripps Research Institute, Blagg started a medicinal chemistry lab at the University of Kansas in 2002. Now at Notre Dame, his lab continues its focus on the biochemical nature of chaperone proteins and protein folding in relation to cancer. Cancers are inherently more dependent on chaperone proteins because of their constant division, and Blagg’s team works to selectively inhibit particular chaperone proteins to effectively halt cancer growth. His lab also studies the possibility of utilizing chaperone proteins to effectively re-fold malfunctioning proteins to treat and prevent diseases such as Alzheimer’s. Blagg was attracted to Notre Dame because of the University’s ambitious commitment to elevate its graduate programs. Since becoming a faculty member, he has found Notre Dame’s unique atmosphere—one that includes a caring and personable administration, a strong alumni base, and a passion for knowledge—to be liberating and intellectually exciting. When not at work, Dr. Blagg enjoys watching the Irish football team and spending time with his children.

Dr. Binghe Wang is Regents’Professor of Chemistry, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Drug Discovery, Dr. Frank Hannah Chair in Medicinal Chemistry, and Georgia Cancer Coalition Distinguished Cancer Scholar. He is the Founding Director of the Center for Diagnostics and Therapeutics. Dr. Wang’s research interests span from new diagnostics to therapeutics against cancer, infectious diseases, and inflammation. He has published over340 papers and given over240 invited lectures worldwide; and is the founding series editor of “Wiley Series in Drug Discovery and Development,” which has published about 30 volumes. He also served for about 20 years (2000-2019) as the Editor-in-Chief of a high-impact journal, Medicinal Research Reviews. During his tenure as Chief Editor, the Impact Factor of the journal increased from about 2 to about 10. Internationally, Dr. Wang serves on many panels and editorial boards. He has organized or presided over 40 international symposia and conferences. Dr. Wang is a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Internally, Dr. Wang had served as Chemistry Department Chair and Associate Dean and interim dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Georgia State University. Dr. Wang was recognized with an Outstanding Faculty Scholarship Award and a Distinguished Alumni Professor Award. Dr. Wang has trained over 170 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and over80 undergraduate students in his lab.

Mark Feitelson received his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology in 1979 from UCLA. He began his work with hepatitis B at Stanford University, and was then recruited to the Fox Chase Cancer Center by Dr. Baruch Blumberg (Nobel laureate). He has since worked on the pathogenesis of hepatitis B. In 1991, Dr. Feitelson moved to Thomas Jefferson University where he became Professor of Pathology and Cell Biology. He also was director of a Molecular Diagnostics Lab in Microbiology. In 2007, Dr. Feitelson went to Temple University as a Professor of Biology. His work has been supported by NIH, industry and foundations, has more than 150 publications, and 180 abstracts. He is also CSO of SFA Therapeutics. He has 14 patents, has mentored over 130 students.