2nd Annual NIH Investigator Meeting for Interoception Research
Date: November 11, 2023
Hyatt Regency Bethesda (One Bethesda Metro Center, Bethesda, Maryland)
Event Description
This investigator meeting, hosted by the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), on November 11, 2023, will highlight recent advances in interoception research as relevant to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Blueprint for Neuroscience Functional Neural Circuits of Interoception Initiative. The meeting is being held in-person at the NIH campus in Bethesda, Maryland. The talks will be streamed on NIH VideoCast, however the poster presentations will not be viewable online.
Invited speakers will focus on basic and human subject research related to functional neural circuit analysis of interoception. The overall goal of this investigator meeting is to review the recent scientific advances on interoception research, facilitate the building of collaborations, and brainstorm future research.
This event will feature a keynote speech on cutting-edge behavioral analysis relevant to interoception, followed by selected junior investigator flash talk presentations. The meeting will have two additional scientific sessions on recent advances on the neural connections between the brain and one internal organ system or multiple internal organ systems through vagal, spinal, and humoral pathways. In addition, the event will feature 20 selected poster presentations from in-person attendees.
Registration is required. The deadline to register to attend in-person is October 11, 2023.
Please contact NCCIHBlueprintIntero@mail.nih.gov with any questions.

Draft Agenda
November 11, 2023 (Saturday)
8:30 a.m. ET | Registration
Morning
9:00 a.m. | Opening Remarks
- Helene M. Langevin, M.D., Director, National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH)
- Walter Koroshetz, M.D., Director, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
9:15–9:25 a.m. | Program and Review Updates
- Wen G. Chen, M.MSc., Ph.D., NCCIH
- Matthew Oh, Ph.D., Center for Scientific Review (CSR)
9:25–10:00 a.m. | Keynote Presentation:
Moderator: Dana Schloesser, Ph.D., Office of Behavior and Social Science Research (OBSSR)/NIH)
- Kay Tye, Ph.D., Salk Institute for Biological Studies
10:00–10:30 a.m. | Session One: Flash Talks by Junior Investigators
Moderators: Emmeline Edwards, Ph.D., NCCIH and Olga Tjurmina, Ph.D., National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
- Minel Arinel, B.S.c., Duke University
- Michael Cardenas, B.S., University of Arizona
- Senegal Alfred Mabry, B.A., M.P.A., Cornell University
- Khalil Ramadi, Ph.D., New York University
- Jose L. Herrero Rubio, Ph.D., The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research
- Le Zhang, Ph.D., Yale University
10:30–10:50 a.m. | Break and Poster Set Up
10:50–12:20 p.m. | Session Two: Brain–Single Organ System Connections
Moderators: Todd S. Horowitz, Ph.D., National Cancer Institute (NCI) and Olujimi Ajijola, M.D., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles
- Todd Coleman, Ph.D., Stanford University
- Dana Small, Ph.D., Yale School of Medicine
- Karl Deisseroth, M.D., Ph.D., Stanford University
- Sarah Garfinkel, Ph.D., University College London
- Sahib Khalsa, M.D., Ph.D., Laureate Institute for Brain Research
12:20-2:30 p.m. | Lunch Break and Poster Session
Afternoon
2:30–4:00 p.m. | Session Three: Brain–Multiorgan System Connections
Moderators: Julia Berzhanskaya, Ph.D., NHLBI and Mark L. Andermann, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School
- Rui Chang, Ph.D., Yale School of Medicine
- John Osborn, Ph.D., University of Minnesota
- Ardém Patapoutian, Ph.D., Scripps Research
- Julie Pilitsis, M.D., Ph.D., M.B.A., Florida Atlantic University Schmidt College of Medicine
- Richard Lang, Ph.D., Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center
4:05-5:00 p.m. | Networking Time
5:00 p.m. | Adjourn
Travel Awardees
In addition to the six flash talk presenters listed in the agenda, the following four junior investigators will receive travel awards.
- Osama Harraz, Ph.D., University of Vermont
- Kasey Jackman, Ph.D., Columbia University
- Atharva Sahasrabudhe, B.S., M.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Truong Ly, B.S., M.S., University of California, San Francisco