Salon '25
In 2025, our annual Salon event welcomed students, faculty, staff, alumni, community members, and data science professionals to explore the real-world impact of data science across sectors.
Under the theme of "The Evolving Landscape of Data Science,” the event featured hands-on workshops, a poster session, a resource and career expo, and a networking reception designed to connect attendees with peers, mentors, and collaborators. The event included a keynote address titled “Our Journey from AI to AGI” and concluded with a panel discussion on our theme.
Watch highlights from the day:
Featured Speakers

John Thompson
Senior Vice President & Principal, The Hackett Group Inc.

Rachel Trana
Senior Engineering Manager, Grainger

Jose Faria
Computational Biologist, Argonne National Laboratory

Matt Von Konrat
Head of Botanical Collections, The Field Museum

Anil J Saldanha
Chief Innovation Officer RUSH

Mehul Sheth
Regional Medical Director Of Health Informatics, Trinity Health

Elaine Morrato
Dean, Parkinson School of Health Sciences and Public Health, °µÍø½ûÇøChicago

Meharvan Singh
Vice Provost of Research, °µÍø½ûÇøChicago

Nicholas Soulakis
Chair, Health Informatics and Data Science, °µÍø½ûÇøChicago
Steering Committee

Samie Tootooni
Assistant Professor, Health Informatics and Data Science, °µÍø½ûÇøChicago

Steven Platt
Executive Lecturer; Director, AI Business Consortium °µÍø½ûÇøChicago

Qunfeng Dong
Professor, Stritch School of Medicine °µÍø½ûÇøChicago

Ron Price
Associate Vice President, Research & Analytics Services °µÍø½ûÇøChicago

Francisco Iacobelli
Associate Professor °µÍø½ûÇøChicago

George Thiruvathukal
Steering Committee
Professor and Chair, Computer Science °µÍø½ûÇøChicago
Expo Exhibitors
- Center for Health Outcomes and Informatics Research (CHOIR)
- Loyola's Clinical Research Office
- Quinlan Lab for Applied AI
- Loyola's Center for Health Innovation and Entrepreneurship
- Medical Organization for the Latino Advancement (MOLA)
- Loyola's department of Health Informatics and Data Science
- Loyola's Research and Analytics Services
- Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM)
- Northern Trust
- Loyola's Career Development Center
- Grainger
- Blue Cross Blue Shield
- Loyola Center for Data Science