The Women in Science Lecture Series highlights the groundbreaking work and unique perspectives of women leaders in the biomedical sciences, while fostering mentorship and collaboration across the Torrey Pines Mesa.
- Lecture and Moderated Fireside Chat
11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. - Networking Reception
12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Join us for our next event, featuring Erica Ollmann Saphire, PhD, MBA, Professor, President and Chief Executive Officer of the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Dr. Ollmann Saphire will share the defining moments of her journey, the risk and lessons that shaped her path, and her vision for advancing not only the highest caliber of science, but also the people and cultures that make transformative discovery possible. She will then be joined by Kelly Kersten, PhD, Assistant Professor in the Cancer Metabolism and Microenvironment Program at the NCI-designated Cancer Center at Sanford Burnham Prebys. Together, these leaders will spark a conversation about science without boundaries, highlighting how linking disciplines perspectives advances discovery and strengthen the scientific communities that drive it.

Erica Ollmann Saphire PhD, MBA
- Professor
President and Chief Executive Officer
La Jolla Institute for Immunology

Kelly Kersten PhD
Fireside Chat moderated by:
About Dr. Ollmann Saphire:
Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire has builder her career at the power of intersections – where disciplines meet, where discovery meets advocacy, and where science meets the systems that sustain it. Refusing to accept silos or competition as barriers to progress, she had founded and led NIH- and Gates-funded global consortia that united former rivals around a shared mission: to dismantle technical roadblocks and accelerate breakthroughs for the benefit of all.
Beyond her scientific achievements, Dr. Saphire has championed a bold idea – that world-class science depends on world-class scientific communities. She has devoted her leadership and scholarship to understanding how to build, nurture, and propel high performance workplaces designed by scientists, for scientists.

