The Judith Ann Lippard Memorial  Lecture

Every fall, the Koch Institute community comes together to honor the memory of Judith Ann Lippard through an invited keynote lecture by a prominent researcher working at the interface of laboratory research and clinical care. The Judith Ann Lippard Lecture brings together the most innovative minds in cancer research from a variety of disciplines—biology, chemistry, engineering, clinical medicine—and features individuals whose research has the possibility to change the face of women's cancers. The Lippard Lecture also unites two extraordinary cancer centers—MIT’s Koch Institute and the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center. In addition to the formal lecture at MIT, the honoree delivers Grand Rounds at MGH, and spends time with trainees, researchers, and physician-scientists at both institutions, thus inspiring the best and brightest young minds to advance cancer therapies. 

Judy Lippard

Judy Lippard

History

The Judith Ann Lippard Memorial Lecture was established in 2014 in memory of Judy Lippard, the wife of Stephen J. Lippard, the Arthur Amos Noyes Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at MIT. Judy died of endometrial cancer on September 9, 2013. Steve, Josh, and Alex Lippard, together with countless friends, students, colleagues, and family members created the lecture to honor Judy’s memory and celebrate her remarkable love of life. 

The creation of the Judith Ann Lippard Lecture was inspired by a similar lecture, created in 1974 in memory of Judy’s and Steve’s eldest son, Andrew, who died from a neurological disorder at age 7. Over time, the Andrew Mark Lippard Lecture at Columbia University has become one of the preeminent neurology lectures in the world. 

Olufunmilayo Olopade

The 2022 Lippard Lecture

Olufunmilayo I. Olopade, MD, FACP has been selected as the recipient of the 2022 Judith Ann Lippard Memorial Lectureship. Dr. Olopade is the Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor of Medicine,  Associate Dean for Global Health, and Director of the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and Global Health at the UChicago Medicine. She will present the Lippard Lecture to the MIT and Koch Institute communities at the Koch Institute on November 18, 2022. 

Dr. Olopade is an expert in cancer risk assessment and individualized treatment for the most aggressive forms of breast cancer, having developed novel management strategies based on an understanding of the altered genes in individual patients. She stresses comprehensive risk reducing strategies and prevention in high-risk populations, as well as earlier detection through advanced imaging technologies. 

Diego H. Castrillon, MD, PhD
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Department of Pathology
Endometrial cancer: genetic models and translational studies
November 19, 2021

Ronny Drapkin, MD, PhD 
University of Pennsylvania 
Defining the Trajectories of Ovarian Cancer from Early Tubal Precursors 
November 22, 2019 

Joan Brugge, PhD 
Harvard Medical School 
Heterogeneity and Transient Commensalism in Clonal Populations of Cancer Cells 
November 30, 2018 

Laura J. van 't Veer, PhD 
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center 
Genetic Heterogeneity Guides Personalized Screening and Adaptive Treatment 
October 27, 2017 
 
Alan Ashworth, Ph.D., F.R.S. 
UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center 
Synthetic Lethal Approaches to Cancer Therapy 
November 4, 2016 

Lewis C. Cantley, PhD  
Weill Cornell Medical College/New York-Presbyterian Hospital  
PI 3 Kinase & Cancer Metabolism 
October 23, 2015 

Supporting the Lippard Lectures

To join the Lippard family in celebrating Judy's life and legacy, please contact Karen Sveda, Managing Director of Development, at ksveda@mit.edu or (617) 324-7399, or give online.