Founder, GenSpace, New York

Dr. Ellen Jorgensen is co-founder and director of Genspace, a nonprofit community laboratory dedicated to promoting citizen science and access to biotechnology. In 2011 she initiated Genspace’s award-winning curriculum of informal science education for adults, and in 2014 Genspace was named one of the World’s Top 10 Innovative Companies in Education by Fast Company magazine. Ellen‘s efforts to develop Genspace into a haven for entrepreneurship, innovation and citizen science have been chronicled by Nature Medicine, Science, Discover Magazine, Wired, Make, BBC News, The Economist, Forbes, PBS News Hour, The Discovery Channel, and The New York Times. Ellen has a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from New York University, spent 30 years in the biotech industry, and is currently adjunct faculty at New York Medical College, the School of Visual Arts, and Cooper Union. Ellen’s talk ‘Biohacking- you can do it, too’ at TEDGlobal 2012 has received over a million views.

Co-founder, Center for Mexican Studies

Dr. José Ramón Lopez Portillo is former the chairman of FAO (the United Nations agency for food and agriculture) and a leading researcher on Mexican energy security. He was Vice Minister of Evaluation (Ministry of Programming and Budget) of Mexico from 1980 until 1982. From 1982 to 1989 he was the Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations Organizations in Rome, Italy. He served as Chairman of the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations from 1993 to 1998. He has a Doctorate (D.Phil) in Political Sciences and International Relations from Oxford University. In 2002 he founded the Centre for Mexican Studies at Oxford University and has established a large network of international contacts throughout his career.
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Named Executive Director of Policy and Global Affairs, USA

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Vaughan C. Turekian to be the Executive Director of the Policy and Global Affairs Division (PGA), effective May 12, 2018.

Dr. Turekian is currently serving a joint appointment as Senior Director of the Program on Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS), a program within PGA for which he was hired August of 2017. Prior to joining the STS program, Dr. Turekian served as the fifth Science and Technology Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State. In this capacity, he advised the Secretary of State and other senior State Department officials on international environment, science, technology, and health matters affecting the foreign policy of the United States. From 2016 to 2017, he served as a country co-chair, along with the Kenyan Ambassador to the United Nations, for the Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, a high-level discussion at the United Nations designed to accelerate progress toward globally agreed upon development targets. In 2018, Dr. Turekian was appointed by the U.N. Secretary General as one of the ten international members to promote the role of science, technology, and innovation for achieving for the 17 SDGs.

Dr. Turekian drew upon his background in atmospheric chemistry and extensive policy experience to promote science, technology, and engineering as integral components of U.S. diplomacy. Previously, he was Chief International Officer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Director of AAAS's Center for Science Diplomacy (2006 - 2015). In this capacity, he worked to build bridges between nations based on shared scientific goals, placing special emphasis on regions where traditional political relationships are strained or do not exist. As Editor-in-Chief of Science & Diplomacy, an online quarterly publication, he published original policy pieces that have served to inform international science policy recommendations. In addition, Dr. Turekian worked at the State Department as a Special Assistant and Advisor to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs (2002 - 2006) on issues related to sustainable development, climate change, environment, energy, science, technology, and health. He also served as Program Director for the Committee on Global Change Research at the National Research Council (2000 - 2002), where he was study director for a White House report on climate change science.

Dr. Turekian holds a B.S. in Geology and Geophysics and International Studies from Yale University and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia where he focused on the transport and chemistry of atmospheric aerosols in marine environments. Dr. Turekian not only brings both technical expertise and over 15 years of policy experience to the position, but also a decorated track-record and steadfast commitment to utilizing our nation's capital science and technology innovation to advance the long-term sustainability and U.S. diplomacy.

Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mexico

Miguel Ruiz Cabañas is a Mexican diplomat and has been Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2015.

He is a career diplomat, having entered the Mexican Foreign Service in 1979. He was responsible for drug trafficking affairs at the Permanent Mission of Mexico to the United Nations from 1988 to 1989, having been responsible for social and humanitarian affairs from 1981 to 1986. After this, he was Director of the General Directorate for the United Nations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1989-1991), Coordinator of Advisers to the Undersecretary for Europe, Asia and Africa at the Ministry (1991-1992) and Coordinator of Advisers to the Undersecretary for the Americas (1992-1993).

He was also Head of Migration and Border Affairs at the Mexican Embassy in the United States from 1993 to 1995, Special Coordinator for Drug Trafficking Affairs from 1995 to 1999 and Director General for North America from 1999 to 2001. From 2001 to 2004 he acted as Permanent Representative of Mexico to the Organization of American States (OAS). He was then appointed as Mexican Ambassador to Japan and, in 2011, as Mexican Ambassador to Italy and Permanent Representative of Mexico to the international organizations based in Rome.

In the academic sphere, he has been a Professor of International Relations and Foreign Policy at different academic centres in Mexico, including the Ibero-American University, the University of the Americas, the National Defence College and the Autonomous Technological Institute of Mexico (ITAM). He has lectured at different universities in Argentina, Japan, Spain and the United States. He has also published a number of articles in specialist journals produced by universities and research centres in Mexico and the United States on relations between Mexico and the United States, Mexico’s participation in the Organization of American States (OAS) and the United Nations, the problem of drug trafficking, and security in the American hemisphere.

He graduated in International Relations from the College of Mexico and holds a doctorate in Political Science from Columbia University in New York.

Professor and Founding Director, Technology and Management Centre for Development; Professor of Technology and International Development and Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford University

Xiaolan Fu is the Founding Director of the Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD), Professor of Technology and International Development and Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford. Her research interests include innovation, technology and industrialisation; trade, foreign direct investment and economic development; emerging Asian economies; innovation and productivity in UK/US. She is appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations to the Governing Council of the Technology Bank for the Least Developed Counties and to the Ten-Member High Level Advisory Group of the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism.

She has written many books. Her latest one is Innovation Under the Radar which is forthcoming. She has published extensively and is an editor in chief for leading international journals. Prof Fu has received many awards, has advised a number of UN agencies and serves on many international boards. She participates in in various interviews and panel discussions in the mainstream media.