Pioneer Panel: Speedbumps, Detours and Road Construction

Dr. Colson is the past President of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, having served in many roles since becoming a member in 2003, including as Co-chair of the 2015 Annual Meeting and Chair of the Advisory Council for the AATS Foundation.   She is the Chief for the Division of Thoracic Surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital and Hermes C. Grillo Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School. In addition to her cardiothoracic surgical training at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, her academic training includes a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an M.D. from Mayo Medical School, and a Ph.D. and general surgery residency at University of Pittsburgh.  Career awards include: the inaugural Michael A. Bell Family Chair in Healthcare Innovation, the George H.A. Clowes, Jr. Research Career Development Award from the American College of Surgeons, the Edward M. Kennedy Award for Health Care Innovation, and serving as the Exam Chair of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery from 2017-2021.  She is the current PI/co-PI on five NIH R01/U01 Grants and has recently been elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

She is co-inventor on three awarded patents and has received over twenty grants including the AATS Alton Ochsner Research Scholarship and eight "R" or "U" grants from the National Institutes of Health and National Cancer Institute. Dr. Colson's research focuses on the development of unique mechanisms of polymer and nanoparticle drug delivery aimed at preventing cancer recurrence, and the investigation of novel methods to identify hidden tumor that has spread to nearby lymph nodes. She has over 150 peer reviewed publications highlighting her previous work in transplantation and her most recent investigations in sentinel lymph nodes in lung cancer and polymer-mediated drug delivery. She has formally mentored well over 30 students, residents and junior faculty since becoming an attending thoracic surgeon. 

Dr. Svensson is the Chairman of the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic and served on the Cleveland Clinic Health System Operations Council. Dr. Svensson is an internationally known cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon. His research has led to many innovative surgical treatments and techniques. He is a Professor of Surgery at Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Svensson previously served on the AATS Council, has Chaired the AATS Guidelines Committee. He has chaired multispecialty guidelines writing committees for endovascular treatment with stents for the thoracic aorta, aortic valve surgery, and for the treatment of thoracic aortic disease.Dr. Svensson was born in Barberton, South Africa. He completed his undergraduate work at Treverton College in Mooi River, South Africa. He earned his medical degree and PhD in blood flow pathophysiology from the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, where he received numerous fellowships and awards. He received his training in cardiology and general surgery at the Johannesburg Hospital, South Africa, and his training in cardiothoracic surgery at Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, OH, for which he received a fellowship. He also completed a cardiovascular surgery fellowship and residency at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. In 2005, Dr. Svensson was named King James IV Professor of Surgery of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh. His academic appointments have included Chief of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Houston, TX; Clinical Instructor in Surgery at Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA; Clinical Professor of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Tufts University, Boston; and Assistant Professor of Surgery at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston. 

Gilda A. Barabino is the second president of Olin College of Engineering. A chemical engineer by training, with broad interests in global health and interdisciplinary research and education, Dr. Barabino has pioneered new engineering approaches to problems in medicine. Her seminal research in sickle cell disease has informed current technologies and formed the basis for novel therapies.

Dr. Barabino leads on a global stage. She is the past-president and chair of the board of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest interdisciplinary scientific society. She recently co-chaired a groundbreaking National Academies report on Advancing Antiracism, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in STEM Organizations. 

She is a passionate advocate for health equity and leads national efforts to engage engineers in the development of solutions to health disparities.

Prior to becoming president of Olin College, Dr. Barabino served as Dean of the Grove School of Engineering at the City College of New York and held appointments in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Chemical Engineering, as well as at the City University of New York School of Medicine; while there she established the Master’s in Translational Medicine program, which addresses unmet clinical needs through the integration of engineering, medical innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Broadcast journalist, Judy Woodruff, has an award-winning career spanning five decades. She has earned her reputation for delivering unbiased, fact-based news stories without the hype. She is currently the Senior Correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, and has covered politics and other news at CNN, NBC, and PBS.

Most recently, Woodruff was the recipient of the first-ever Peabody Award for Journalistic Integrity, a special award that honors the sustained achievement of the highest professional standards of journalism, as well as personal integrity in reporting the news in challenging times.

The recipient of numerous awards, she and the late Gwen Ifill were together awarded Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism after Woodruff and Ifill were named co-anchors of the PBS NewsHour in 2013, marking the first time an American national news broadcast would be co-anchored by two women.

Woodruff has covered every presidential campaign and convention since 1976. She has moderated numerous national election debates, as well as a 2016 primary debate between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, which with Ifill, was the first woman duo to moderate a Democratic presidential debate.

A mentor to many young journalists, Woodruff is founding co-chair of the International Women’s Media Foundation, which promotes women in journalism and communications worldwide.

During 2023 and 2024, she is undertaking a reporting project, “America at a Crossroads,” to better understand the country’s political divide.