Helena Deus – “Data as a Science: why now?”

Associate Director at Foundation Medicine

Helena is Associate Director at Foundation Medicine, where she leads a team of data scientists and engineers tasked with data integration, data management, query parallelization, data reuse and data mining for the facilitation of medical knowledge insights. As a data scientist focused on the intersection of oncology and molecular biology, she is dedicated to researching and pioneering IT solutions for precision medicine data fusion and data interpretation problems. Helena has published more than 30 papers, and received the 2013 Big Data award in the Semantic Web Challenge at the International Semantic Web Conference. Helena received her PhD in Bioinformatics from the Universidade Nova de Lisboa.

José Cunha Rodrigues – “There’s no such thing as plans”

Head of the Camões Center for Portuguese Language, UMass Boston and Professor at Boston College/Romance Language and Literatures Dept.

José, also known as Yosef, in 1999 graduated with a bachelor´s degree in education, majoring in Portuguese and German languages and literatures (University of Minho). He obtained a master’s degree in modern and contemporary Portuguese literature within the faculty of philosophy, part of the Portuguese Catholic University as well as a post-graduate degree in Portuguese post-colonial studies at the University of Bologna (Dipartimento di Lingue e Letterature Straniere Moderne) in partnership with the Center for Social Studies of the University of Coimbra and Camões – Ministry of foreign Affairs, Portugal.

He is the author of the first book on Kabbalah written in Portuguese, “À Luz da Kabbalah” from Guerra e Paz Publisher, with a preface written by the renowned Portuguese writer Valter Hugo Mãe (recipient of the José Saramago prize and Portugal Telecom prize).

Has has published articles, essays, and translations into many newspapers and magazines. Since 2010 he has written a monthly article published in Zen Energy.

He is lecturer and head of the Camões Portuguese Language Center/Universi wherety of Massachusetts Boston where he promotes the study of the Portuguese language and culture in partnership with the Latin American and Iberian Studies Department, with academic programs to strengthen and disseminate the knowledge of the Portuguese language, culture, and Lusophone world among faculty, and through outreach programs to the public.

He has been a part-time Lecturer of Portuguese Language and Culture at Boston College within the Romance Languages and Literatures Department since 2012.

He has worked as a part-time lecturer at the University of Massahcusetts Lowell, World Languages Department /Saab & Pedroso Center for Portuguese Culture and Research where he teaches survey of Brazilian, Portuguese and Lusophone African Cinema (Camões – Institute for Cooperation and Language, I.P. Portuguese Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

He also served as Portuguese language lecturer at the Harvard University Extension School.