Brian Druker, M.D., Co-inventor, Gleevec
Brian Druker, M.D., Co-inventor, Gleevec
Brian Druker M.D., Director of the Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) Knight Cancer Institute, JELD-WEN Chair of Leukemia Research, OHSU, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. After having trained in oncology at Harvard's Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Dr. Druker then returned to the lab to begin his research career studying the regulation of the growth of cancer cells and the practical application to cancer therapies. His work was instrumental in the development of Gleevec, a drug that targets the molecular defect in chronic myeloid leukemia. After completing a series of preclinical studies, Dr. Druker spearheaded the highly successful clinical trials of imatinib for CML. Imatinib is currently FDA approved for CML and gastrointestinal stromal tumors. His role in the development of imatinib and its application in the clinic have resulted in numerous awards for Dr. Druker, including the John J. Kenney Award from The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, the AACR-Richard, and many others.
Craig Venter, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, CEO - Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI)
Craig Venter, Ph.D., Co-Founder, Executive Chairman, CEO - Human Longevity, Inc. (HLI)
J. Craig Venter is a biologist renowned for his contributions in sequencing the first draft human genome in 2001, the first complete diploid human genome in 2007 and construction of the first synthetic bacterial cell in 2010. He is a co-founder, executive chairman and CEO of Human Longevity Inc (HLI), a privately held genomics and cell therapy-based diagnostic and therapeutic company focused on extending the healthy, high performance human life span. He is also founder, executive chairman and CEO of the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and a co-founder, executive chairman and co-chief scientist of Synthetic Genomics Inc (SGI), a privately held company focused on developing products and solutions using synthetic genomic technologies. He and his teams are focused on a variety of projects and programs including: synthetic genomic research and the application of these advances to develop new vaccines and food and nutritional products, new biofuels and biochemicals; continued analysis of the human genome including the human microbiome, and discovering and understanding genetic diversity in the world's oceans. Dr. Venter is a recipient of the 2008 National Medal of Science and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of Life at the Speed of Light: From the Double Helix to the Dawn of Digital Life (Viking, 2013) and A Life Decoded: My Genome: My Life (Viking, 2007).
Dennis Lo, M.D., Ph.D, Director, Li Ka Shing Inst. of HS, Chinese Uni. of HK
Dennis Lo, M.D., Ph.D, Director, Li Ka Shing Inst. of HS, Chinese Uni. of HK
In 1997, Dr. Dennis Lo and his co-workers reported the presence of cell-free fetal DNA in the plasma of pregnant women. The finding of circulating fetal DNA in maternal blood has opened up new possibilities for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis. He elucidated the fundamental characteristics of such molecules, developed the technologies for their analysis, conceptualised their use and brought non-invasive prenatal diagnosis to a reality. He achieved the non-invasive prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 21, which has been hailed as the holy grail in prenatal diagnosis. Within a few years, tests, such as sex determination for sex-linked genetic disorders, are clinically used in many centres, replacing the corresponding conventional tests.
George Church, Ph.D., Co-developer, Human Genome Project
George Church, Ph.D., Co-developer, Human Genome Project
George Church, Ph.D. Professor of Genetics, Harvard Medical School and Professor of Health Sciences & Technology, Harvard and MIT with Walter Gilbert. He developed the first direct genomic sequencing method in 1984 and helped initiate the Human Genome Project in 1984 while he was a Research Scientist at newly-formed Biogen Inc. He invented the broadly-applied concepts of molecular multiplexing and tags,homologous recombination methods,and DNA array synthesizers. Technology transfer of automated sequencing & software to Genome Therapeutics Corp. resulted in the first commercial genome sequence, (the human pathogen, Helicobacter pylori) in 1994. He initiated the Personal Genome Project (PGP) in 2005 and research on synthetic biology. He is director of the U.S. Department of Energy Center on Bioenergy at Harvard & MIT and director of the National Institutes of Health (NHGRI) Center of Excellence in Genomic Science at Harvard, MIT & Washington University. He has been advisor to 22 companies, most recently co-founding (with Joseph Jacobson, Jay Keasling, and Drew Endy) Codon Devices, a biotech startup dedicated to synthetic biology and (with Chris Somerville) founding LS9, which is focused on biofuels. He is a senior editor for Nature EMBO Molecular Systems Biology.
Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research, FDA
Janet Woodcock, M.D., Director, Center for Drug Evaluation & Research, FDA
Janet Woodcock is the director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER) at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Dr. Woodcock has shown dedication to personalized medicine by fast-tracking individualized treatments through the FDA approval process and by encouraging collaboration between the regulatory and industry arenas. During her tenure, both of the individualized treatments Xalkori and Zelboraf received FDA approval paired with companion diagnostics. Dr. Woodcock has led many of FDA’s drug initiatives. She introduced the concept of risk management in 2000 as a new approach to drug safety. Since 2002, she has led the “Pharmaceutical Quality for the 21st Century Initiative,” FDA’s highly successful effort to modernize drug manufacturing and its regulation. In 2004, she introduced FDA’s “Critical Path” Initiative, which is designed to move medical discoveries from the laboratory to consumers more efficiently. Most recently, Dr. Woodcock launched the “Safety First” and “Safe Use” initiatives designed to improve drug safety management within and outside FDA, respectively. Dr. Woodcock previously served as FDA’s deputy commissioner and chief medical officer. She also led CDER as director from 1994–2005. Prior to joining CDER, Dr. Woodcock oversaw approval of the first biotechnology-based treatments for multiple sclerosis and cystic fibrosis in her position as director of the Office of Therapeutics Research and Review in FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research. Dr. Woodcock received her medical degree from Northwestern University Medical School, and her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University. She has held teaching appointments at Pennsylvania State University and the University of California at San Francisco. She joined FDA in 1986.
Jay T. Flatley, President & Chief Executive Officer, Illumina
Jay T. Flatley, President & Chief Executive Officer, Illumina
Jay was appointed President and CEO of Illumina in 1999, and has taken the company from $1.3 million in sales in 2000 to over $1 billion in 2011, representing a compound annual growth rate in excess of 90%. He oversaw the company’s expansion into the whole genome sequencing area with the acquisition of Solexa in 2006, and more recently into diagnostics and consumer sequencing. Previously, Jay served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Molecular Dynamics, later acquired by Amersham Pharmacia Biotech and now a part of GE Healthcare. As a co-founder and member of the board of directors for Molecular Dynamics he led the company to its initial public offering in 1993. While there, he also helped Molecular Dynamics develop and launch over 15 major instrumentation systems, including the first capillary-based DNA sequencer. Prior to joining Molecular Dynamics, Jay was Vice President of engineering and strategic planning for Plexus Computers, a manufacturer of high-performance Unix super-microcomputers. Before his career at Plexus, Jay was Executive Vice President for Manning Technologies and held various manufacturing positions while working for the Autolab division of Spectra Physics. Currently, he is a trustee of the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences and a member of the Board of Directors at Illumina, Inc and at Coherent, Inc. Jay received a B.A. in economics from Claremont McKenna College and a B.S. and M.S. (summa cum laude) in industrial engineering from Stanford University.
Kim Popovits, Chairman, CEO & President, Genomic Health
Kim Popovits, Chairman, CEO & President, Genomic Health
Kim Popovits has served as president and CEO of Genomic Health since 2009 and as president and chief operating officer since 2002. Prior to joining Genomic Health, Popovits served in various roles, most recently as senior vice president of marketing and sales, at Genentech, Inc. During her 15 years at Genentech, she led the successful commercialization of 14 new therapies, including Herceptin. Before joining Genentech, Popovits served as division manager for American Critical Care. In 2008, Popovits was named Woman of the Year by the Women Health Care Executives, and she has been named one of the Most Influential Women in the Bay Area by The San Francisco Business Times from 2006 to 2011. She holds a bachelor of arts in business from Michigan State University.
Ron Davis, Ph.D., Director, Stanford Genome Technology Center
Ron Davis, Ph.D., Director, Stanford Genome Technology Center
Dr. Ron Davis developed the R-loop technique of electron microscopy for mapping coding RNA’s which led to the discovery of RNA splicing. Dr. Davis was the first to demonstrate the use of restriction endonucleases for joining DNA fragments. Dr. Davis was a co-collaborator in the development of the first DNA microarray for gene expression profiling, and the gene expression profile of the first complete eukaryotic genome. He is a Professor of Biochemistry & Genetics, and Director of the Stanford Genome Technology Center at Stanford University where he is a researcher in biotechnology and molecular genetics, particularly active in human and yeast genomics and the development of new technologies in genomics, with over 30 biotechnology patents.
