Plenary Speaker Information

Kaye Cook (PhD, University of North Carolina) is Professor of Psychology and Dean of Psychology and Human Services at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts. A developmental psychologist, she studies moral and religious development across cultures, with particular focus on forgiveness, virtue, and prosocial behavior from early childhood through adulthood. Her work frequently bridges psychology and theology, exploring how cultural and spiritual contexts shape moral growth.

Kaye has served as president of the International Association for Moral Education and as a visiting scholar in multiple international and interdisciplinary settings. Her research has been supported by several Templeton grants and reflects her enduring interest in how people change—across cultures, faiths, and stages of life.

Fellipe do Vale (PhD, Southern Methodist University) is a tutor in doctrine and ethics at Trinity College, Bristol, UK, where he teaches and supervises doctoral students. He is the author of Gender as Love: A Theological Account of Human Identity, Embodied Desire, and Our Social Worlds (Baker Academic, 2023) and the forthcoming Living a Theology of Gender: How to Love Our Gendered World (Baker Academic, 2026). He has also published articles in the International Journal of Systematic Theology, Philosophia Christi, Pro Ecclesia, and other journals.

Fellipe’s research is on the connection between moral theology and theological anthropology, with a main focus on understanding gender. He is also the winner of the 2023 “Emerging Public Intellectual” award, given by Redeemer University.

Fellipe lives in Bristol, England, with his family.

As Chief Executive Officer, Romanita Hairston oversees all activities of the M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust. An accomplished team builder, convener, and leader, Romanita draws on more than two decades of experience and service in her leadership and stewardship of the foundation’s mission. This includes work in the nonprofit (World Vision), for profit (Microsoft), and philanthropic (Murdock Trust) sectors alongside a consistent commitment to board service (Convergence Center for Policy Resolution, Candid, Global Women, India Partners, Urban Alliance, Urban Impact, Kids in Need, and Impact Latin America) borne out of a desire to engage in her highest and best use. A graduate of the University of Washington, Romanita earned her MBA from Eastern University (Philadelphia).

John E. Harris, MD, PhD, was recently named the inaugural Chair of Dermatology at the newly formed Mass General Brigham (MGB) Hospital, a merger of the existing Mass General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the Harvard system. He transitioned from his previous position as Chair of Dermatology at UMass Chan Medical School on November 1, 2025.

John is a dermatologist and physician-scientist, caring for patients in a vitiligo specialty clinic and running a research laboratory focused on understanding disease pathogenesis and developing new treatments. His group integrates basic, translational, and clinical research strategies to accomplish this. As a result, clinical trials in vitiligo have shown success.

John founded Villaris Therapeutics (acquired by Incyte in 2022) and four other companies to develop treatments for inflammatory skin diseases; these were merged into Alys Pharmaceuticals. He serves as Chief Innovation Officer for Alys, which has two clinical-stage programs as well as multiple preclinical programs in development.

In his role as Freenome’s Chief Scientific Officer, Jimmy Lin is responsible for scientific strategy, research operations, and growth of the company’s world-class scientific team. He brings a proven record of translating cutting-edge research into commercial success, with a focus on the development and launch of blood-based assays for cancer monitoring and detection of molecular residual disease.

Prior to joining the private sector as chief scientific officer for oncology at Natera, the global genomic diagnostics company, Jimmy led the intramural clinical genomics program at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health. At Johns Hopkins University and Washington University in St. Louis, he spearheaded the computational analyses of the first-ever exome sequencing studies in multiple cancer types.

Jimmy holds an MD and a PhD in cellular and molecular medicine from Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, as well as a Master of Health Sciences in bioinformatics from Johns Hopkins School of Public Health. As an undergraduate at Yale University, he majored in cognitive science and molecular biophysics and in biochemistry. Jimmy was a 2016 Senior TED Fellow and is the founder and president of the Rare Genomics Institute.