Session Chair Profile
Ph.D., Deputy Director, UCLA Institute for Precision Health
Biography
Dr. Lajonchere is the Deputy Director for the UCLA Institute for Precision Health and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Neurology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Her background reflects a wide range of professional, clinical, and research experience across CNS disorders. She has spent her career on cross-cutting issues in psychiatric genetics and translational medicine. Through the Institute, Dr. Lajonchere worked collaboratively with thought leaders across the state of California to advance precision medicine and improve outcomes for patients. Prior to UCLA, Dr. Lajonchere held faculty appointments at USC where she conducted her own NIH research, and served as VP of Clinical Programs for Autism Speaks. More recently, she served as the Chief Scientific Officer for Cognoa, Inc, a digital healthcare company in Palo Alto and consults for several tech start-ups in the autism space focused on AI, robotics, and targeted therapeutics.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2019 Silicon Valley
Session Synopsis: Biobanking is crucial to biomedicine. Biobanks are changing the face of medical research by making available a wealth of material needed for broad research, to investigate cancerous tissues, allow access to healthy controls, and more. This session features leaders from across several organizations – Astra Zeneca, Duke, Maccabi Research Institute, and Quintiles – discussing the importance, as well as the challenges of biobanking for personalized medicine, touching on various population-based applications, data access policy, and other aspects of building and maintaining a biobank.
