Dialogues

Janelia regularly hosts a public lecture series called Dialogues. In these evening lectures, thought leaders in science and related fields share their work. Serious, insightful, funny, and often personal, the talks offer a window into the issues that impact science.

March 25, 2024

Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa, M.D.

Dr. Q is the Dean of Research and the Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Mayo Clinic Florida.

His journey from Baja California, Mexico to one of the world’s best medical centers has been documented in the EMMY award-winning BBC/Netflix docuseries The Surgeon's Cut and in his autobiography, Becoming Dr. Q: My Journey from Migrant Farm Worker to Brain Surgeon.

October 23, 2023

Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD
Professor emeritus of medicine, founder of MBSR (mindfulness-based stress reduction), and author

Mindfulness — Applications in Well-being, Science, and Society

Kabat-Zinn is a pioneer in bringing mindfulness practices from Asia to millions of individuals in the West, starting in the 1970s. He founded the world-renowned Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) Clinic at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1979 and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society in 1995. Kabat-Zinn has published research on the effect of MBSR on anxiety, pain, brain function, immune function, and psoriasis. The MBSR program has been adopted by more than 700 hospitals around the world, including many major academic medical centers in the US.

June 7, 2023

Siddhartha Mukherjee
Author, oncologist, and medical scholar

New Horizons in Cell Therapy for Cancer

Siddhartha Mukherjee has redefined public discourse on human health and science. Sid is best known for his book The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer, which earned him the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction.

May 3, 2023

Freeman A. Hrabowski III, PhD
President emeritus, University of Maryland, Baltimore County; co-founder Meyerhoff Scholars Program

Developing the Next Generation of Scientists: Reflections and Recommendations

Dr. Hrabowski served as president of UMBC from 1992 to 2022. He is recognized as a pioneer in STEM education, transforming UMBC into the top producer of Black students who go on to complete PhDs in the sciences. An advisor to President Barack Obama on higher education policy, Dr. Hrabowski was recently awarded the prestigious National Academy of Sciences Public Welfare Medal for his outstanding leadership in transforming science education in the US and increasing cultural diversity in the science workforce.

Dr. Hrabowski’s research focuses on science and math education, with emphasis on the participation and performance of underrepresented groups. TIME magazine named him one of America’s 10 Best College Presidents in 2009 and one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2012. In 2022, Dr. Hrabowski was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. He was also named the inaugural ACE Centennial Fellow by the American Council on Education, where he helps institutions make higher education accessible to all learners, including first-generation students.

In 2022, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute launched the Freeman Hrabowski Scholars Program.