Keno Onwueme, MD PhD
Dr. Onwueme is the Gastroenterology Division Chairman at University of Maryland Baltimore Washington Medical Center (UMBWMC). He is the Director of Clinical Trials at Woodholme Gastroenterology Associates where he has an active clinical practice.
He has over 15 years of life-sciences research experience with a background in synthetic organic chemistry (BSc/MSc, Yale) and biosynthesis of microbial polyketide virulence factors (MD/PhD, Cornell). He completed an internal medicine residency at Brigham and Women's Hospital/Harvard Medical School. While training in gastroenterology (Johns Hopkins), he honed an ardent interest in the role of microbial secondary metabolites in gut pathophysiology including the role of gut pathobionts in colon tumorigenesis.
Keno's complementing molecular sciences and clinical experience affords acumen into the therapeutics discovery process from concept through translation and validation. His role as site principal investigator, overseeing over 15 trials in gastrointestinal therapeutics at various phases, lends end-user perspectives to challenges an investigational product might face, from target selection to study design and potential perils to post-trial adoption.
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The burgeoning field of live microbiome derived biotherapeutics and pathobiont virulence clarification are of keen interest given the confluence of metabolite biochemistry, gut ecology profile and clinical disease.
Lea Ann Chen, MD
Dr. Chen is the Director of Inflammatory Bowel Disease Translational Research at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson School of Medicine. She completed her medical degree at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, internal medicine training at Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City, and a gastroenterology fellowship in the physician-scientist track at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Dr. Chen specializes in the care of patients with IBD, with a special interest in under-served populations. In addition, she is among the early group of physicians studying the efficacy, safety, and ethics of fecal microbiota transplantation. Dr. Chen’s current research is focused on understanding longitudinal microbiome dynamics in pathogenesis of IBD and its correlating implications for clinical care. Her scientific work has been funded by the National Institute of Health, the American Gastroenterological Association, the American College of Gastroenterology, and multiple private and industry sponsors.