On the occasion of the 100th birthday of Carl Djerassi on October 29, 2023, the Austrian Cultural Forum Washington wants to honor and highlight the impact of Austrian Scientists in the US. The event will kick off with a 40-minute documentary about Austrian-born chemist Carl Djerassi. Carl Djerassi (1923 – 2015) was an Austrian-born Bulgarian-American pharmaceutical chemist, novelist, playwright and co-founder of Djerassi Resident Artists Program. He is best known for his contribution to the development of oral contraceptive pills, nicknamed the "father of the pill".
The film screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Dietrich Haubenberger, neurologist and president of the Austrian Scientists and Scholars in North America network (ASciNA) and Ruth Pfeiffer, a biostatistician with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and former head of the Washington DC ASciNA chapter. The talk will explore the influence of Austrian scientists in America as well as compare the scientific landscapes of the US and the European Union.
The event is followed by an Austrian wine reception.
ABOUT ASciNA
ASciNA is an independent network of more than 1,700 Austrian scientists and scholars in North America. Its members include scientists from a diverse range of educational backgrounds, spanning from economics to physics, from life sciences to marine biology and the arts.
ABOUT THE PANELISTS
Dietrich Haubenberger is a neurologist trained at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria. Dr. Haubenberger’s research focuses on the area of movement disorders, where he is an expert in tremor disorders. He publishes in the field of clinical genetics, neurophysiology, outcome measures research, as well as clinical trials. In 2014, Dr. Haubenberger took over the position of Assistant Clinical Director for Clinical Research at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH, located in Bethesda, MD), and built up and directed the NINDS Clinical Trials Unit. In 2019, Dr. Haubenberger transitioned into a Clinical Development role in the biopharmaceutical industry, where he is now leading drug-development programs for neurological diseases at Neurocrine Biosciences in San Diego, CA.
Ruth Pfeiffer is a tenured senior investigator in the Biostatistics Branch of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics (DCEG) at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). After receiving an M.S. degree in Applied Mathematics from both the Technical University of Vienna, she earned a M.A. degree in Applied Statistics at the University of Maryland, which was followed by a Ph.D. in Mathematical Statistics. Dr. Pfeiffer’s research focuses on statistical methods for risk prediction, problems arising in molecular and genetic epidemiologic studies, and the analysis of data from electronic medical records. She is an elected Member of the International Statistical Institute, an elected Fellow of the American Statistical Association and the recipient of a Fullbright Fellowship. Dr. Pfeiffer is the former head of the Washington DC ASciNA chapter.
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