B8:15-9:00

Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 10:00

Opening Keynote: Preclinical Innovations

Daniel Nomura

University of California, Berkeley

Frontier Medicine

10:00 - 11:30

Session 1: New Approach Methods (NAMs) in DDD

Jack Song

University of Alabama,

Birmingham

Critical Path Institute – Qualification of Complex in vitro Models for Regulatory Decision Making - Speaker TBD

11:30 - 1:00 

LUNCH (included)

1:00 - 3:00

Session 2: Preparing Your Innovation for the  Marketplace

Gary Robinson

NIH/NCI

3:00 - 3:30

Break & poster mounting

3:30 - 4:30

Session 3: Navigating Drug Discovery as an Early Investigator

Washington University of St. Louis

Benjamin Brown

Vanderbilt University

4:30 - 5:00

Session 4: Posters Lightning Round

Selected trainees will have 5 minutes to present their posters on stage

5:15 - 7:15

Welcome Reception with Posters (poster judging)

8:15-9:00

Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 10:00

Session 5: My Academic Spin-Out Success Story

10:00 - 11:00

Session 6: Funding Sources for 2026 and Beyond

Maaike Everts

Critical Path Institute

11:00 - 11:30

Session 7: IMPACT Lightning Round 

Three 10-minute program overviews selected from IMPACT database submissions

11:30 - 1:00 

LUNCH

1:00 - 2:00

Session 8: Lessons in Perseverance

The development of mGlu4 positive allosteric modulators for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease

Colleen Niswender

Vanderbilt University

2:00 - 2:30

Session 9: Awards & Recognitions

2:30 - 3:30 

Closing Keynote: Learning From the Past, Looking to the Future

Matthew Hall

NIH/NCATS

3:30-3:40

Closing Acknowledgements / Adjourn

4:00 - 5:00  

Biogenerator Startup Incubator Reception