MacLeish Endowed Lectureship
October 8, 2025 | 12:30 p.m. | Morehouse School of Medicine NCPC Auditorium
Hosted by the Neuroscience Institute of Morehouse School of Medicine
Morehouse School of welcomes you to the Drs. MacLeish Endowed
of
Medicine
proudly
Drs. Peter and Marlene
Endowed Lectureship.
Program
WELCOME
Robert Meller, DPhil
Professor of Neurobiology and Pharmacology, Morehouse School of Medicine
OPENING REMARKS
Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG
President and CEO, Morehouse School of Medicine
INTRODUCTION OF SPEAKER
Joseph A Tyndall, MD
Executive Vice President of Health Affairs and Dean, Morehouse School of Medicine
SCIENTIFIC LECTURE
“Trust and Medical Publishing”
Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS
Editor in Chief, JAMA & the JAMA Network, Professor, University of California, San Francisco
CLOSING REMARKS
Joseph A Tyndall, MD
Executive Vice President of Health Affairs and Dean, Morehouse School of Medicine
Trust and Medical Publishing
This talk examines the role of medical publishing in science and underscores the importance of trust. It also explores recent trends shaping the field, including artificial intelligence.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Morehouse School of Medicine welcomes Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS, the 17th Editorin-Chief of the Journal for the American Medical Association. She is the Lee Goldman, MD Professor of Medicine and Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of California, San Francisco. She previously served as the Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and as the inaugural Vice Dean for Population Health and Health Equity in the UCSF School of Medicine. She co-founded the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations at Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital that focuses on actionable research to improve health equity and reduce health disparities.
Dr. Bibbins-Domingo is a general internist and cardiovascular epidemiologist whose scholarship includes observational epidemiology, pragmatic trials, and simulation modeling to examine clinical and public health approaches to prevention in the US and globally. She previously served on and led the US Preventive Services Task Force from 2010-2017. She has received numerous honors, including induction into the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the National Academy of Medicine and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A Commitment to Neuroscience
The Drs. Peter and Marlene MacLeish Endowed Lectureship at Morehouse school of Medicine (MSM) recognizes MSM’s commitment to supporting neuroscience and to celebrate the contributions Peter and Marlene have made to advance education and scientific research at MSM.
Marlene MacLeish, PhD was recruited to MSM in 1995, as an internationally known spokeswoman for science education and health disparities research. She has published widely on STEM education and served in many leadership roles to advance science education.
• Dr. MacLeish published The Brain in Space: A Teacher’s Guide with Activities for Neuroscience.
• She served as the executive producer of a six-part radio series, Biomedical Science for Space Travelers, and a documentary film, Exploring Two Frontiers: The Brain in Space, which aired on Public Broadcasting Services-USA.
• Dr. MacLeish has served on many boards, including the Board of Trustees of the International Academy of Aeronautics: France; Emory University Board of Visitors, the National Science, Engineering,
Mathematics and Aerospace Academy Advisory Board, and the Fernbank Science Center-Space Station Advisory Committee.
• She also earned the Doctor of Laws, honoris causa (LL.D.) from the University of Western Ontario, Canada; The Woman of Distinction Award, Brescia College, Canada; there is also a Dr. Marlene MacLeish Endowment Fund by The Congress of Black Women of Canada in London, Canada.
Peter MacLeish, PhD was recruited to Morehouse School of Medicine in 1995 to found the Neuroscience Institute, the first of its kind at a Historically Black College or University. Trained in the Department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School, he was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School, Rockefeller University and Cornell University Medical College (Weill). He is internationally recognized for his work on phototransduction and on the electrical properties of identified retinal cells from adult vertebrates. He has published in top-tier journals and been invited to lecture nationally and internationally. He is also a member of the National Academy of Medicine and served on national committees including the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) Council, the Advisory Committee to the Director of NIH, the Board of Scientific Councilors at the National Institute of Mental Health and the NIH Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) working group. Under his leadership:
• Neuroscience Institute investigators at Morehouse School of Medicine received 69 awards, including 50 from the NIH, totaling $77.6 million.
• Morehouse School of Medicine established a Department of Neurobiology with him as the founding chairman.
• The Specialized Neuroscience Research Program was expanded with U54 awards from the National Institute of Neurological
Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) to support neuroscience programs at other minority institutions.
• The Neuroscience Institute implemented a 5-year BS/MS degree program in collaboration with Morehouse College, Spelman College and Clark Atlanta University.
Neuroscience Institute
The Neuroscience Institute at Morehouse School of Medicine began as a faculty-initiated concept in 1994 and had grown to a highly sophisticated, comprehensive program supporting young investigators, doctoral students and faculty engaged in cutting-edge neuroscience research. A number of factors contributed to the emergence of neuroscience at MSM including:
A. Faculty-initiated efforts to develop neuroscience;
B. Funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), initially from the Office of Minority Health and subsequently from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and stroke; and
C. Strong institutional leadership with a commitment to basic science and translation research including that from Louis Sullivan, MD, former Secretary of health and Human Services, David Satcher, MD, PhD, former US Surgeon general, James Gavin, MD, PhD, John Maupin, DDS, and, Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD, FACOG, president and CEO of Morehouse School of Medicine. Robert Meller, DPhil, currently serves as the Interim Director of the Neuroscience Institute.
Continuing A Legacy
To honor the legacy of Dr. Peter and Marlene MacLeish and to ensure its continuation, MSM hosted highly successful inaugural lectures featuring Nobel Laureate Martin Chalfie, PhD, co-recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the introduction of green fluorescent protein as a biological marker. MSM met its initial fundraising goal of $200,000 thanks to the support of many generous friends which MSM matched with an additional $50,000 investment in the MacLeish Lectureship. A major aim of the lectureship will be to continue Dr. Peters and Marlene MacLeish’s work by increasing the quality and the impact of basic science research and education at our institution and in the surrounding community.
