Margaret Hamburg, FDA Chief: How Smart Regulation Supports Public Health and Private Enterprise

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Margaret Hamburg, M.D., Commissioner, Food and Drug Administration
Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H., UCSF Chancellor; Arthur and Toni Rembe Rock Distinguished Professor – Moderator
 
FDA chief Hamburg has been tasked with the difficult job of protecting the public health by ensuring the safety of everything we we consume and by helping to promote the innovation it takes to prepare our nation to face the health challenges of today and tomorrow. With a background in medicine, science and public health, she is well positioned to meet the myriad challenges facing the FDA. As New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygience commissioner, Hamburg improved services for women and children, instituted needle-exchange programs to reduce the spread of HIV, created the first public health bio-terrorism defense program in the nation, and greatly curbed the spread of tuberculosis. As head of the FDA, Hamburg stresses the need to strengthen regulatory science to evaluate the safety and efficacy of products more quickly, and to help translate innovation into products and treatments that people rely on, and need and trust. Learn her thoughts on why "smart regulation" is a keystone to both protecting the public health and helping private enterprise by promoting innovation.

Location: SF Club Office
Time: 11:30 a.m. check-in and luncheon, 12:30 p.m. program (Please note lunch will be completed prior to start of program)
Cost: $50 standard,$40 members

Dimitar Sasselov: The Life of Super-Earths

Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University; Founder and Director, Harvard Origins of Life Initiative

The discovery of a new Earth, or other world, may be in our future, says Sasselov. But a truly "alien" life form is more likely to emerge from our planet's natural environment or in a petri dish at a research lab. In the past year, we have witnessed unprecedented breakthroughs in the seemingly unrelated fields of synthetic biology and exo-planetary astronomy. Just recently, arsenic-based bacteria was discovered in a California lake – both puzzling and electrifying the scientific world. Sasselov aims to highlight these groundbreaking findings and explain how what we learn in the laboratory informs our investigation of the universe, and vice versa.

MLF: Science & Technology
Location:  SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing
Cost: $20 standard, $8 members, $7 students (with valid ID)
Program Organizer: Chisako Ress

Inside Apple: How America’s Most Admired and Secretive Company Really Works

Adam Lashinsky, Senior Editor at Large, Fortune; Author, Inside Apple
Jessica Vascellaro, Senior Technology Reporter, Wall Street Journal - Moderator

If Apple is Silicon Valley’s answer to Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, then Lashinsky provides readers with a golden ticket to step inside. In a 2008 Fortune cover story entitled, “The Genius Behind Steve: Could Operations Whiz Tim Cook Run the Company Someday?” he predicted that Tim Cook, then an unknown, would eventually succeed Steve Jobs as CEO. Come hear the secret systems, tactics and leadership strategies that allow Apple to churn out hit after hit and inspire a cult-like following for its products as well as predictions for the future in the post-Steve Jobs era.

Location: SF Club Office
Time: 5:30 p.m. networking reception, 6 p.m. program, 7 p.m. book signing
Cost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students (with valid ID)

Russian Hill Walking Tour

Join a more active Commonwealth Club Neighborhood Adventure! Russian Hill is a magical area with secret gardens and amazing views. Join Rick Evans for a two-hour hike up hills and staircases and learn about the history of this neighborhood. See where great artists and architects lived and worked, and walk down residential streets where some of the most historically significant houses in the Bay Area are located.

Location: Meet in front of Swensen's Ice Cream Store located at 1999 Hyde Street at Union. Your best option is to take bus transportation (details below) or come by taxi. There is absolutely no parking on Russian Hill. (No parking lots or street parking). Muni: 45-Union Stockton will drop you off at the corner of Union and Hyde - right in front of Swensen’s. Use www.nextmuni.com to determine bus stops and schedule. The tour ends about six blocks from the Swensen's Ice Cream Shop, at the corner of Vallejo and Jones. It is an easy walk down to North Beach from there.
Time: 1:45 p.m. check-in, 2– 4 p.m. tour
Cost: $45 standard, $35 members
Program Organizer:  Kristina Nemeth 
Also know:  Steep hills and staircases, recommended for good walkers. Parking difficult. Limited to 20. Must pre-register. Tour operates rain or shine.