Brain Science Institute Conference: Investing in Brain Disease Research

Amiel Rosenkranz graduated from the University of Pittsburgh in 1997. He remained at the University of Pittsburgh to earn the MS degree in 1999 and the PhD in 2002, both in Neuroscience. Following postdoctoral work at the Baylor College of Medicine and University of Texas-Austin he joined the faculty of the Chicago Medical School in 2007 in the Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology discipline.

Arthur S. Levine, MD is the executive director of the Brain Institute at University of Pittsburgh. He was senior vice chancellor for the health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh from 1998-2020. Prior to his leadership appointment at the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Levine served at the NIH for more than three decades, having joined the National Cancer Institute in 1967. From 1982 to 1998, he was the scientific director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, widely recognized as one of the world’s leading centers in developmental biology. Dr. Levine is a graduate of Columbia College, where he majored in comparative literature and edited The Columbia Review. In 1964, he received his MD from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science. After an internship and residency in pediatrics at the University of Minnesota Hospitals, Minneapolis, Dr. Levine served as a fellow in hematology and biochemical genetics at the University of Minnesota prior to joining the NIH.

Dr. Michelle Hastings earned an undergraduate degree in biology from St. Olaf College in 1992 and went on to receive a PhD in biology from Marquette University in 1998. She was a postdoctoral fellow at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from 1998-2006 and a senior fellow until 2007. She joined the faculty at the Chicago Medical School as an assistant professor in the fall of 2007.

Dr. Riedel is president and CEO of Aptinyx, as well as a member of the company’s board of directors. He was formerly president and CEO of Naurex, the predecessor company acquired by Allergan and from which Aptinyx and its technology were spun out. Prior to Naurex, Dr. Riedel served various roles at Baxter International including corporate vice president and chief science and innovation officer. Previously, he was head of worldwide biotechnology and held a number of scientific management positions at Hoechst Marion Roussel (now Sanofi). He is an adjunct professor at Boston University School of Medicine and Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine and, prior to moving into industry, was an associate professor of medicine at Boston University School of Medicine and a visiting professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr. Riedel received a Diploma and PhD from the University of Frankfurt and was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University.