IBRI Global Forum on Science, Philanthropy, and Investment

The Indiana Biosciences Research Institute is hosting the inaugural IBRI Global Forum on Science, Philanthropy, and Investment at the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians & Western Art on Thursday, October 29. It's a morning session that runs from 8 AM to 10 AM, and it's built around one of the toughest questions in the life sciences: how to turn breakthrough research into therapies that actually reach patients and improve health outcomes worldwide.

The forum brings together leaders from science, philanthropy, and investment to talk about how those three worlds can work together to speed up translational medicine and drug development, from the initial discovery all the way to the clinic. The idea is that aligned funding, rigorous science, and strategic investment can shorten timelines, lower the risks of innovation, and scale the impact. It's a high-level conversation about the plumbing of how medical breakthroughs move from the lab to the real world.

That conversation starts with a keynote by William G. Kaelin, Jr., MD, a physician-scientist at Harvard Medical School and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. Kaelin was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2019 for his work on tumor-suppressor genes and how cells sense oxygen—research that helped lay the foundation for new cancer therapies. After the keynote, the focus shifts to a moderated panel led by Amir Pasic, PhD, from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. He'll be joined by Laura Grannemann of the Gilbert Family Foundation and Rocket Community Fund, and Vincent Cordero of the UChicago Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. Between a Nobel laureate and a panel of philanthropy and innovation experts, the morning covers the whole chain: the science, the funding, and the investment needed to move a discovery forward.

The session is at the Eiteljorg Museum, 500 W. Washington St., in downtown Indianapolis. The morning opens with coffee, networking, and breakfast before the keynote and panel kick off, so it's a good one to arrive early for if you want to connect with other attendees before the program starts. The whole thing runs from 8 AM to 10 AM on Thursday, October 29.