Louis Muglia, MD Ph.D. is President and CEO of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, an independent nonprofit research foundation in Research Triangle Park accelerating discovery in the biomedical sciences. Previously, he served as Vice Chair for Research, Director of the Division of Human Genetics, Co-Director of the Perinatal Institute, and Professor of Pediatrics at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. Lou’s research focus has been to understand the molecular pathways determining when birth occurs to prevent preterm birth and better treat human preterm labor and delivery, considering both genetic and environmental factors. Priorities now at Burroughs Wellcome Fund include climate change and human health, promoting diversity and equity in science, and science communication better partnering science and the arts. Among Lou’s achievements are more than 280 publications and election to the American Society for Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians. In 2010, he was elected to Fellow in the American Association for the advancement of Science. In 2013, Lou was elected to membership in the National Academy of Medicine, and in 2020, to the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters. Lou earned his Doctor of Medicine (1988) and Doctor of Philosophy (1986) degrees from the University of Chicago. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in biophysics from the University of Michigan in 1981.