Robert Langer is the David H. Koch Institute Professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He joined MIT as Assistant Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry in 1978.

Robert has written over 1,400 articles and has nearly 1400 patents worldwide licensed or sublicensed to over 400 pharmaceutical, chemical, biotechnology and medical device companies.

Robert’s lab focuses on the interface of biotechnology and materials science. A major focus is the study and development of polymers to deliver drugs, particularly genetically engineered proteins, DNA and RNAi, continuously at controlled rates for prolonged periods of time. Throughout his career, Robert has received over 220 major awards, including the United States National Medal of Science and the United States National Medal of Technology and Innovation. He also received the 2002 Charles Stark Draper Prize, the 2008 Millennium Prize, the 2012 Priestley Medal, the 2013 Wolf Prize in Chemistry, the 2014 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences and the 2014 Kyoto Prize. He is the also the only engineer to receive the Gairdner Foundation International Award. In 1998, he received the Lemelson-MIT prize, the world’s largest prize for invention for being “one of history’s most prolific inventors in medicine.”  Among his various achievements, he was elected to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the National Academy of Science and the National Academy of Inventors.

Robert received his B.S. in Chemical Engineering at Cornell University and his Sc.D. in Chemical Engineering from MIT.

Francine Kaufman is the Chief Medical Officer of Senseonics.

Francine’s career spans almost 40 years in diabetes care.  She is a dedicated pediatric endocrinologist and has served as director of the Comprehensive Childhood Diabetes Center, and head of the Center for Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Francine is also a Distinguished Professor Emerita of Pediatrics and Communications at the Keck School of Medicine and the Annenberg School of Communications of the University of Southern California.  She was formerly the president of the American Diabetes Association, chair of the National Diabetes Education Program and elected to the National Academy of Medicine.

She is the author of over 250 scientific manuscripts and numerous books, including Diabesity: The Obesity-Diabetes Epidemic That Threatens America and the ADA’s Insulin Pumps and Continuous Glucose Monitoring: A User’s Guide to Effective Diabetes Management.  Dr. Kaufman is an active philanthropist working with numerous organizations and charities around the world aimed at improving the lives of people with diabetes. She was also an advisor to the Governor on the California Initiative on Health, Fitness and Obesity.  Most recently Francine served as Chief Medical Officer and Vice President of Global Clinical, Regulatory and Medical Affairs at Medtronic Diabetes.

Francine received her M.D. from Chicago Medical School.