2026 American Society of Clinical Investigation (ASCI), Alliance for Academic Internal Medicine (AAIM), and Burroughs Wellcome Fund (BWF) Physician-Scientist Pathways Annual Workshop

How to navigate, mentor, and support physician-scientists in an evolving federal and academic environment

Sunday, April 19, 2026, Swissôtel, Chicago

Group photo of 2026 ASCI/AAIM/BWF Research Pathway Directors Workshop participants. — *2026 ASCI/AAIM/BWF Physician-Scientist Pathways Annual Workshop participants.*

Our purpose is to gather those engaged in training physician-scientists at the pre- and postgraduate levels,including faculty, junior faculty, postdoctoral trainees, and staff, to share best practices, network and explore the theme: How to navigate, mentor, and support physician-scientists in an evolving federal and academic environment.

Click here to view the 2026 Workshop program.

Perspectives on philanthropy, NIH priorities, industry partnerships and the physician-scientist

Keynote panel discussion moderated by:

Victor Dzau, MD
President of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM)

Panelists:

- Sindy Escobar Alvarez, PhD, Program Director for Medical Research, Doris Duke Foundation
- Kenneth R. Chien, MD, PhD, Co-founder, Moderna; Distinguished Professor Emeritus of the Swedish Research Council, Karolinska Institutet
- Bruce J. Tromberg, PhD, Director of the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB), National Institutes of Health

Overcoming challenges as an early-career investigator

Early Investigators Panel

Panelists:

- Elizabeth B. Burgener, MD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Pulmonology and Sleep Medicine, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California
- Brett Heimlich, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and Cardio-Oncology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Rachel Knipe, MD, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School
- Makoto Mori, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Surgery and faculty at the Center for Outcomes Research and Evaluation, Yale School of Medicine

Breakout Sessions
- How are we maintaining support for what we do?
- Community outreach and engagement/communicating to the public
- Strategies for advising our trainees/resilience
- If we started over: reimagining the training pathway for physician-scientists

Planning Committee:

Co-Chairs:

Keith Choate, MD, PhD, Yale School of Medicine
Emily Gallagher, MD, PhD, Mount Sinai
Ashley Steed, MD, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Christopher Williams, MD, PhD, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine

Committee Members:

Olujimi Ajijola, MD, PhD, University of California, Los Angeles
Rajendra Apte, MD, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Rebecca M. Baron, MD, Harvard Medical School, Brigham & Women’s Hospital
Audrea Burns, PhD, Baylor College of Medicine
Paige Cooper Byas, PhD, Burroughs Wellcome Fund
Daniel P. Cook, MD, PhD, University of Iowa
Holger K. Eltzschig, MD, PhD, McGovern Medical School, University of Texas
Charles W. Emala, MS, MD, Columbia University
Peter Gruber, MD, PhD, Yale School of Medicine
Marshall Horwitz, MD, PhD, University of Washington
Patrick J. Hu, MD, PhD, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine
David Mankoff, MD, PhD, University of Pennsylvania
Christopher Pittenger, MD, PhD, Yale University
Kyu Rhee, MD, PhD, Weill Cornell Medicine
Don C. Rockey, MD, Medical University of South Carolina
Tiffany C. Scharschmidt, MD, University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine
Talia Swartz, MD, PhD, Mount Sinai
Jatin Vyas, MD, PhD, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital