In his long career, Bruce Ratner served as New York City’s Commissioner of Consumer Affairs, an NYU law professor and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Forest City Ratner Companies, a major property developer. He led the economic revival of Downtown Brooklyn, built the Barclays Center arena, brought the Nets NBA basketball franchise to Brooklyn, and helped restore Times Square, including building The New York Times headquarters. For more than two decades, Mr. Ratner has applied his deep interest and background in the sciences by serving on the boards of Weill Cornell Medicine, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. He also founded the Michael D. Ratner Center for Early Detection of Cancer, in memory of his brother, to advance the cause of expanding the adoption of life-saving cancer screening and research into new diagnostic tests. Through the center, Mr. Ratner has promoted early detection testing for lung cancer, particularly in low income and underserved populations. Mr. Ratner is also Chairman of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. He was founding chairman of the New York City Parks Foundation and, for a decade, served as chairman of the board at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Adam Bonislawskiis a science writer with more than 10 years of experience covering genomic and proteomic research and diagnostics development with a focus on cancer and early detection. His writing ranges widely over academic research, companies and technologies. The publications he writes for, GenomeWeb and 360Dx, are read by thousands of cancer researchers and doctors as well as a wide range of healthcare entrepreneurs and investors, and he has scientific and media contacts at many of the major cancer and academic research centers in the United States and Europe. In addition to his work as a science writer, Adam writes about business and real estate for the Wall Street Journal, New York Post, and Commercial Observer.