Speaker Profile
M.D., Consultant, Harvard Medical School; Chair, UDNF Board of Directors, UDNF
Biography
F. Sessions Cole is an advocate for the patient- and research-informed model of care developed by the Undiagnosed Diseases Network which has solved ~1,000 medical mysteries through team science over the last 11 years. As a neonatologist, he contributed in the 1990s to the discovery of the first monogenic cause of progressive, lethal respiratory failure in term infants (surfactant protein B deficiency) and its treatment with infant lung transplantation. Since then, he has participated in the diagnosis of multiple ultra-rare genetic diseases among undiagnosed individuals. His research focuses on using advanced computational genomic analysis and a variety of cell- and model organism-based platforms for functional characterization of pathogenic variants in infants, children, and adults with undiagnosed and ultra-rare conditions. He has also led efforts to develop prioritization of mechanism-based, patient-informed therapeutic strategies for ultra-rare conditions.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Wendy Chung, Boston Children's / Harvard
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Wendy Chung, Boston Children's / Harvard (Pioneer)
• Eric Lander, Broad Institute (Pioneer)
Featured Speakers
• Wendy Chung, Boston Children's / Harvard
• Eric Lander, Broad Institute
• Zhanzhi (Mike) Hu, Project GUARDIAN / Columbia
• Tippi MacKenzie, UCSF
• Ryan Taft, Genetic Alliance
• Heidi Cope, RTI International
• Michele Caggana, NY State DOH Wadsworth Center
• Elad Ziv, UCSF
• Scott Grosse, University of Minnesota
• Mike Talkowski, Mass General / Harvard
• F. Sessions Cole, WashU
• Lee Hood, Phenome Health / ISB
• Trey Ideker, UC San Diego
• Ralph Snyderman, Duke
• Craig Mundie, Mundie & Associates
• George Church, Harvard
Beyond the Exome: Solving Undiagnosed Disease
The next layer of rare-disease diagnosis beyond standard sequencing.
Population Genomic Screening
From newborn sequencing to implementation, evidence, economics, and equity.
Structural Variants & Long Reads
Solving cases missed by conventional sequencing.
Launching the Human Phenome Initiative
From genome to phenome as a global health infrastructure challenge.
Data-Driven Health
AI, longitudinal data, and personalized clinical medicine.
Engineering the Future of Health
Genomes, cells, and engineering biology as precision medicine moves upstream.
PMWC Hall of Impact
Previous Speakers Include
Nobel laureates, technology founders, regulators, CEOs and scientific pioneers who have taken the PMWC stage.
