Thomas & Salma Haider Biomedical Breakthrough Lecture
About the Annual Haider Lecture
The Thomas & Salma Haider Biomedical Breakthrough Lecture brings the best and brightest researchers in the biomedical field to Riverside to present their research. The 2024 lecture featured Jens Juul Holst, MD, professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Copenhagen. His lecture is titled “The gut as a source for effective medication of obesity and diabetes.”
A recording of the presentation can be viewed here.
This annual lecture series is supported through the generosity of an endowed gift from Dr. Thomas and Salma Haider, longtime supporters of medical education and research at the University of California, Riverside.
Event Information
When: TBA
Where: Online via Zoom
Questions: Email development@medsch.ucr.edu
Meet Jens Juul Holst, MD
Jens Juul Holst is professor of medical physiology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. He is also senior group leader at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen.
Holst's scientific work has focused on the regulatory peptides of the pancreas and the gut and their importance in the regulation of the functions of the GI-tract and metabolism, with particular focus on blood glucose and appetite regulation, obesity and diabetes. A particular emphasis has been on the role of the incretin hormones of the gut (GLP-1 and GIP). Professor Holst great scientific achievements include the discovery of GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide 1) a gut hormone regulating insulin secretion and appetite and food intake and his subsequent both basic and translational research in this field.
With an H-index of 160 (WoS, July 2024), he is among the most cited European scientists in his field. He has authored more than 1900 publications (about 1745 listed in PubMed) that have received more than 107,599 citations in Web of Science as of July 2024. According to PubMed he has 106 new titles in 2023 and 2024.
About Dr. Thomas and Salma Haider
Dr. Thomas T. Haider is a world-renowned spine surgeon, philanthropist, entrepreneur and inventor. He and his wife, Salma, have been stalwart supporters of improving medical education in Inland Southern California and were key contributors in the founding of the UCR School of Medicine.
The Haider's generous support the SOM includes the Thomas Haider Program at UC Riverside School of Medicine, which provides an avenue for qualified and culturally diverse, underprivileged students to enroll in UCR School of Medicine each year, The Salma Haider Endowed Chair for the Thomas Haider Program, and this annual lecture series.
Dr. Haider is a recipient of the UC Riverside Chancellor’s Medal, the American Medical Association’s Pride in the Profession Award and was awarded the Outstanding Medical Profession of the Year Award by United States Congress. The Haiders created and run the Children’s Spine Foundation, through which they provide free medical care to children at their clinic, the Haider Spine Center, as well as in hospitals abroad.
Past Presenters
2024: Jens Juul Holst, MD
The 2024 lecture featured Jens Juul Holst, MD, professor of endocrinology and metabolism at the University of Copenhagen. He is professor of medical physiology at the Department of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen. He is also senior group leader at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research, University of Copenhagen.
Watch his presentation, "The gut as a source for effective medication of obesity and diabetes."
2023: David Baker, PhD
Director of the Institute for Protein Design, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, the Henrietta and Aubrey Davis Endowed Professor in Biochemistry, and an adjunct professor of genome sciences, bioengineering, chemical engineering, computer science, and physics at the University of Washington.
Baker was the recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, along with Demis Hassabis and John Jumper, for their work predicting and designing the structure of proteins.
Watch his presentation, "Protein design using artificial intelligence" on YouTube
2022: Event Cancelled
2021: Stanley Qi, PhD
Assistant professor, Department of Bioengineering, Department of Chemical and Systems Biology, and the Stanford ChEM-H Institute
Watch his presentation, "Synthetic genome engineering for genomics and therapeutics" on YouTube
2020: Paul Offit, MD
Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology and Professor of Pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania
Watch his presentation, "Developing a COVID-19 Vaccine at Warp Speed" on YouTube
2019: David Hafler, MD
William S. and Lois Stiles Edgerly Professor and Chairman of the Department of Neurology and Professor of Immunobiology at the Yale School of Medicine
Watch his presentation, "Immune Cell Adaptation in the Brain: Your Brain is on Fire" on YouTube
2018: Susan L. Akerman, PhD
Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, and the Stephen W. Kuffler Chair in Biology, at the University of California, San Diego