Charles Lyons-Burt 
- 20-year NIH veteran and former acting director
- Helps steer all 27 NIH institutes and centers
- His 2026 Healthcare Summit keynote offers a window into NIH’s data, AI and modernization plans
Dr. Matthew Memoli, principal deputy director of the National Institutes of Health, will deliver a keynote address at the Potomac Officers Club’s 2026 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 3. As the No. 2 official at the world’s largest public funder of biomedical research, Memoli offers GovCon leaders a close-range view of how NIH plans to modernize its operations, harness its data and put emerging technology to work.
Potomac Officers Club is the nation’s leading GovCon events and networking organization, and it regularly enables contractors to connect with their community, learn government priorities and gain the information they need to win new business.
Registration is now open for the 2026 Healthcare Summit!
Who Is Matthew Memoli?
Memoli has served as NIH’s principal deputy director since April 2025, helping steer an agency of 27 institutes and centers. Before taking the role, he led NIH as acting director from Jan. 22 to March 31, 2025, guiding the agency through its leadership transition at the start of the administration.
His path to the top of NIH ran through the lab. Memoli spent more than 20 years at the agency, most recently as director of the Clinical Studies Unit within the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID. He built the unit himself, and under his leadership it conducts clinical and translational research on influenza and other respiratory diseases, running trials of investigational vaccines and treatments developed by NIH scientists. Before directing the unit, he served as a staff clinician in the same laboratory.
Memoli is an internationally recognized respiratory virus expert. In 2011, his team revived healthy-volunteer influenza challenge studies in the U.S. after a decade-long pause and developed the first FDA-approved H1N1 influenza challenge virus, a tool that has become central to testing new vaccines and therapeutics. His research has also spanned influenza transmission and immunity, how respiratory viruses cause disease across different populations, and serosurvey techniques for estimating disease prevalence.
His work now sits at the core of one of NIH’s highest-profile initiatives. In May 2025, HHS and NIH launched Generation Gold Standard, a universal vaccine platform built on beta-propiolactone-inactivated whole-virus technology co-developed by Memoli and fellow NIAID scientist Jeffery Taubenberger, NPR reported. The fully government-owned platform targets broad protection against multiple strains of influenza and coronaviruses, with clinical trials for universal influenza vaccines slated to begin in 2026 and FDA approval targeted for 2029.
Memoli’s work has earned two NIH Director’s Awards, multiple NIAID Merit Awards, a National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences Director’s Award and the 2017 NIAID Outstanding Mentor Award for training clinical fellows. From 2022 through 2024, he served on the Virginia governor’s Medical Advisory Board.
Memoli joined NIH in 2005 for an infectious diseases fellowship after completing his internal medicine residency through Georgetown University’s program at Washington Hospital Center.
Secure your seat to hear Memoli’s live insights at the 2026 Healthcare Summit.
What Will Matthew Memoli Discuss at the 2026 Healthcare Summit?
During his Healthcare Summit keynote, Memoli may discuss:
- Modernizing NIH grant-making operations
- Data infrastructure and real-world data initiatives
- AI’s growing role in research
- Research security and data protection
- Clinical trial operations and industry support
- Where contractors fit at NIH
Why Should GovCons Attend the 2026 Healthcare Summit?
For contractors supporting federal health missions, NIH is a technology customer as much as a science agency. Every grant awarded, trial launched and dataset shared runs on IT systems, cloud environments, cybersecurity and analytics, and the 2026 Healthcare Summit on Dec. 3 puts the official overseeing that enterprise in front of the companies positioned to support it.
Memoli’s keynote anchors a day of programming featuring leaders from across the federal health ecosystem, including HHS, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the FDA, the Defense Health Agency, the Military Health System and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Attendees will hear from the officials setting requirements and engage with peers competing for the same missions.
Don’t miss your chance to hear from Dr. Memoli and other influential federal health leaders at the 2026 Healthcare Summit. Register today!
