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 2025 lecture will be held on Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025 at 6 pm and will feature David D. Lo, MD, PhD, distinguished professor of biomedical sciences at the Univeristy of California, Riverside School of Medicine. His lecture is titled “Toxic Ecologies: The Salton Sea, Asthma, and Miasma”
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: Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025 at 6 pm
Where: Room 106, School of Medicine Education Building II
Questions: Email development@medsch.ucr.edu
Meet David Lo, MD, PhD
David Lo, MD, PhD, is a distinguished professor in the Division of Biomedical Sciences at the University of California, Riverside School of Medicine.
Lo is director of Bridging Regional Ecology, Aerosolized Toxins, and Health Effects center (BREATHE) and director of the NIH-supported U54 Center for Health Disparities Research.
He is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences and a recipient of the Grand Challenges in Global Health award from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
Prior to joining UCR in 2006, Lo had worked at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology, the Scripps Research Institute, and the biotech company Digital Gene Technologies.
Environmental Exposure at the Salton Sea and Potential Links to Childhood Asthma
In the region surrounding the Salton Sea, asthma is a significant medical burden among residents, who are predominantly Mexican immigrant agriculture workers. While there are a number of social and economic disparities that could potentially contribute to this health issue, we are testing the hypothesis that environmental exposure to dusts and related aerosols generated at the drying Salton Sea may be an important factor. In collaboration with researchers in the BREATHE center and the Center for Health Disparities Research, we are examining the aerosols generated in the region and their biological effects in models of lung inflammation and asthma.
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 Not Held
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