
Amir Dan Rubin, President & CEO, Stanford Health Care

Amir Dan Rubin, President & CEO, Stanford Health Care
Amir Dan Rubin serves as President and CEO of Stanford Hospital & Clinics in Palo Alto. He previously served as COO for the UCLA Hospital System, responsible for the operations of the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA, the Resnick Neuropsychiatric Hospital at UCLA, Santa Monica-UCLA Medical Center and Orthopedic Hospital, among others. Prior to UCLA, Amir served as COO for Stony Brook University Hospital where he was involved in efforts to improve quality, operations, and the patient experience. Prior to Stony Brook, Amir served as a VP of Operations for Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, and before that he was Director of Business Development for the corporate parent of the Memorial Hermann Healthcare System.

Brad Gray, President & CEO, NanoString Technologies

Brad Gray, President & CEO, NanoString Technologies
R. Bradley Gray has served as a member of the board of directors and as President and Chief Executive Officer since 2010. Prior to joining our company, Mr. Gray held various positions at Genzyme, a biotechnology company acquired by Sanofi in 2011. He served as Vice President of Product & Business Development for Genzyme Genetics, the diagnostic services division of Genzyme, from 2008 to 2010, leading the development of molecular diagnostics and partnering activities. From 2006 to 2008, he served as Vice President of Business & Strategic Development for Genzyme Genetics, leading growth efforts through partnerships and licensing. Mr. Gray joined Genzyme in 2004 as Director of Corporate Development, supporting business development and leading Genzyme Ventures, the corporate venture capital fund of Genzyme. Prior to joining Genzyme, Mr. Gray was a management consultant in the healthcare practice of McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm. Mr. Gray received a B.A. in Economics and Management from Oxford University, where he studied as a British Marshall Scholar, and an S.B. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Christina Farr, Health Reporter, Thomson Reuters

Christina Farr, Health Reporter, Thomson Reuters
Christina is a San Francisco-based writer covering Apple and health-technology. She regularly covers breaking tech news, but also writes long-form human interest features. Previously she worked as a staff writer at Venturebeat and a contributor to NPR, the Telegraph, the Bay Citizen, the San Francisco Chronicle, TheNextWeb, among others. In 2011, she received a Masters from the Stanford Graduate School of Journalism. Christina has appeared as a featured expert on Fox Business, CNBC, NBC, ABC News, and others. She also regularly moderates panels, and speaks at tech conferences.

Christopher Longhurst, M.D., CMIO and Hospitalist, Stanford Children's Health

Christopher Longhurst, M.D., CMIO and Hospitalist, Stanford Children's Health
Dr. Christopher Longhurst is a board-certified pediatric hospitalist at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital and a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Biomedical Informatics at Stanford University. He also holds an administrative appointment at Stanford Children’s Health as the Chief Medical Information Officer, where he has helped lead the organization through the implementation of a comprehensive electronic medical record (EMR) since 2004. These efforts resulted in national attention in 2010 when Dr. Longhurst published the first-ever correlation between implementation of computerized physician order entry (CPOE) and a decrease in hospital-wide mortality. That same year he was honored to be the selected by Modern Healthcare as the youngest of the top 25 Clinical Informaticists nationally in the inaugural annual survey. More recently, Dr. Longhurst co-authored an innovative article in the New England Journal of Medicine which described the first published use of aggregate EMR data to make a real-time patient care decision. He is also the founding program director of the first nationally accredited fellowship in clinical informatics, located at Stanford University Medical Center.

Dane Dickson, M.D., Director, Clinical Science-MolDx, Palmetto GBA

Dane Dickson, M.D., Director, Clinical Science-MolDx, Palmetto GBA
Serving as the MolDX Director of Clinical Science, Dr. Dickson is a board certified medical oncologist. In addition to his work with Palmetto, he also serves as the Director of the Teton Cancer Institute in Southeast Idaho. With over a decade in a full-time clinical practice, Dr. Dickson has served as the President of the Summarius Corporation, which created and implemented an evidence-based method of presenting clinical trial information, as an advisor to two distinct contract medical directors for CMS, serving as a carrier advisory committee member (CAC), as President of the Idaho Society of Clinical Oncology (ISCO), and as a member of the executive subcommittee of the State Affiliate Council of American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). He received his medical degree from the University of Utah, where he graduated with honors. He then received internal medicine training at Washington Universities Barnes-Jewish Hospital. He completed a medical oncology fellowship at the Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah.

David H. Persing, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President, CMO & CTO, Cepheid

David H. Persing, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Vice President, CMO & CTO, Cepheid
Dr. Persing first joined us as a director in May 2004, and became our Executive Vice President and Chief Medical and Technology Officer in August 2005. From 1999 to 2005, Dr. Persing was Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Corixa Corporation, a Seattle-based biotechnology company, until its acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline. Prior to that he was a member of the Clinical and Research Faculty in the Department Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota where he developed several extramurally funded infectious disease research programs. From 1992 to 1999 he established and directed the Mayo Molecular Microbiology Laboratory which was one of the first reference laboratories to offer cutting-edge molecular diagnostic testing on a worldwide basis. He has authored over 270 peer-reviewed articles including frequently cited papers in the New England Journal of Medicine, Science, and PNAS. He served as Editor in Chief for four leading textbooks on Molecular Diagnostics, the most recent of which was released in January 2011. Dr. Persing received his MD and PhD (Genetics) degrees from the University of California, San Francisco in 1988 and completed his residency training in Clinical Pathology at the Yale School of Medicine in 1990.

Dennis J. Slamon, M.D., Ph.D., Women's Cancer Research, UCLA Cancer Center & Board of Directors, BioMarin

Dennis J. Slamon, M.D., Ph.D., Women's Cancer Research, UCLA Cancer Center & Board of Directors, BioMarin
Dr. Slamon currently serves as director of Clinical/Translational Research, and as director of the Revlon/UCLA Women's Cancer Research Program, at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Slamon is a professor of medicine and chief of the Division of Hematology/Oncology at, and executive vice chair for research for, UCLA's Department of Medicine and also serves as director of the medical advisory board for the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance, a fund-raising organization that promotes advances in colorectal cancer. A 1970 B.A. honors graduate in biology from Washington & Jefferson College and a 1975 graduate of the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine, Dr. Slamon earned his Ph.D. in cell biology that same year. He completed his internship and residency at the University of Chicago Hospitals and Clinics, becoming chief resident in 1978. One year later, he became a fellow in the Division of Hematology/Oncology at UCLA where he now serves on the faculty of medicine.

Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., President, Personalized Medicine Coalition

Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., President, Personalized Medicine Coalition
Edward Abrahams, Ph.D., is president of the Personalized Medicine Coalition (PMC). Representing a broad spectrum of academic, industrial, patient, provider and payer communities, PMC seeks to advance the understanding and adoption of personalized medicine concepts and products for the benefit of patients. It has grown from its original 18 founding members in November 2004 to over 175 today. Previously Dr. Abrahams was Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Association, where he spearheaded the successful effort that led to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s investment of $200 million to commercialize biotechnology in the state. Earlier he had been Assistant Vice President for Federal Relations at the University of Pennsylvania and held a senior administrative position at Brown University. Dr. Abrahams worked for seven years for the U.S. Congress, including as a legislative assistant to Senator Lloyd Bentsen, an economist for the Joint Economic Committee under the chairmanship of Representative Lee Hamilton, and as a AAAS Congressional Fellow for the House Committee on the Interior. The author of numerous essays, Dr. Abrahams serves as senior editor of Personalized Medicine and has also taught history and public policy at Brown University and the University of Pennsylvania.

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.

Girish Putcha, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Laboratory Science, Palmetto GBA (MolDX)

Girish Putcha, M.D., Ph.D., Director of Laboratory Science, Palmetto GBA (MolDX)
Girish Putcha is currently Director of Laboratory Science for Palmetto GBA’s MolDX program, and the founding Medical Director for Orion Genomics and TOMA Biosciences, personalized medicine companies focused in oncology. Previously, Girish was the founding Medical/Laboratory Director or Chief Medical Officer at Ariosa Diagnostics, Crescendo Bioscience, Life Technologies, and VitaPath Genetics. He also focused on venture capital investments across healthcare, from biopharmaceuticals to medical devices to diagnostics, at Panorama Capital and RiverVest Venture Partners. Prior to this, he held various positions at VeraCyte, CardioDx, and Aviir, all venture-funded personalized medicine companies. Girish received a bachelor's degree from Rice University and two master's degrees from the University of London and the Welcome Institute as a Marshall Scholar. He holds medical and doctoral degrees from Washington University School of Medicine, where he also completed a postdoctoral fellowship in molecular neuroscience. Girish completed his postgraduate medical training at the Stanford University School of Medicine, where he also served as adjunct faculty, specializing in molecular genetic pathology.

Giulia C. Kennedy, Ph.D., CSO, SVP of Research, Product, and Clinical Development, Veracyte

Giulia C. Kennedy, Ph.D., CSO, SVP of Research, Product, and Clinical Development, Veracyte
Giulia C. Kennedy joined the company in April 2008 and serves as Chief Scientific Officer and Senior Vice President of Research, Product, and Clinical Development. Prior to joining Veracyte, Dr. Kennedy led the Genomics Collaborations and Genotyping Technology R&D groups at Affymetrix, Inc. Prior to joining Affymetrix, Dr. Kennedy was a scientific leader for the colon cancer and breast cancer gene discovery efforts at Chiron Corporation, resulting in the identification of oncology markers for therapeutic drug development. Dr. Kennedy was previously a scientist at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where she implemented genomic and genetic approaches to uncover diabetes susceptibility genes. She holds a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry, and completed postdoctoral training at the University of California at San Francisco in the Biochemistry Department and Hormone Research Institute. Dr. Kennedy has published more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals and is a co-inventor on more than 20 patents.

Hank Greely, Ph.D., Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law, Stanford University

Hank Greely, Ph.D., Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law, Stanford University
A leading expert on the legal, ethical, and social issues surrounding health law and the biosciences, Hank Greely (BA ’74) specializes in the implications of new biomedical technologies, especially those related to neuroscience, genetics, and stem cell research. He frequently serves as an advisor on California, national, and international policy issues. He is chair of California’s Human Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee and a co-director of the Law and Neuroscience Project, funded by the MacArthur Foundation. Active in university leadership, Professor Greely chairs the steering committee for the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics and directs both the law school’s Center for Law and the Biosciences and the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics’ Program in Neuroethics. Professor Greely serves on the Scientific Leadership Council for the university’s interdisciplinary Bio-X Program. Before joining the Stanford Law School faculty in 1985, Greely was a partner at Tuttle & Taylor, served as a staff assistant to the secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, and as special assistant to the general counsel of the U.S. Department of Defense. He served as a law clerk to Justice Potter Stewart of the U.S. Supreme Court and to Judge John Minor Wisdom of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.Greely is also a professor (by courtesy) of genetics at Stanford School of Medicine.

Janusz Dutkowski, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO, Data4Cure

Janusz Dutkowski, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO, Data4Cure
Janusz combines a background in mathematics and computer science with his experience in biological research to tackle hard problems in medical genomics. Before founding Data4Cure, Janusz was a postdoctoral fellow at the UC San Diego School of Medicine where he developed novel approaches for multiscale network analysis and cancer biomarker discovery. He has also served as a consultant to leading pharmaceutical and business analytics companies.

Jared Heyman, CEO & Founder, CrowdMed

Jared Heyman, CEO & Founder, CrowdMed
Jared was inspired to start CrowdMed after his sister spent 3 years with a rare undiagnosed illness. He’s a 15-year Internet technology veteran whose previous company, the online market research firm Infosurv, is a multi-million dollar success serving hundreds of clients around the globe. At CrowdMed he acts as CEO and product visionary, determining the strategic direction of both the company and product. Before founding CrowdMed, he spent 2 years on an around-the-world traveling sabbatical that landed him on the cover of Inc. magazine. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Texas at Austin in Business Honors and is also a proud graduate of the Y Combinator accelerator program in Winter 2013.

Jason D. Merker, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine

Jason D. Merker, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology, Stanford University School of Medicine
Dr. Jason Merker is an Assistant Professor of Pathology at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Co-Director of the Stanford Clinical Genomics Service. He received his M.D. and Ph.D. in Genetics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He then completed residency training in clinical pathology, fellowship training in molecular genetic pathology and clinical cytogenetics, and post-doctoral training in cancer genomics at Stanford University. Dr. Merker is one of two co-directors of the Stanford Clinical Genomics Service, a clinical laboratory service based at Stanford University Medical Center. This goal of this clinical service is to use genome sequencing to identify the potential genetic cause of disease in patients with unexplained heritable disorders. Dr. Merker also directs a research group that uses classical genetics, genomics, and functional studies to study blood cancers.

Jodi Halpern, M.D., Ph.D, Associate Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities, UC Berkeley

Jodi Halpern, M.D., Ph.D, Associate Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities, UC Berkeley
Halpern’s longstanding focus has been on clinical empathy. In addition to From Detached Concern to Empathy: Humanizing Medical Practice, she is completing a book on the role of self-empathy in living well in the wake of illness and disability. She is also beginning work with veterans on their emotional experiences on returning to their families after war. Jodi Halpern. M.D., Ph.D, is Associate Professor of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at the University of California, Berkeley, in the Joint Medical Program and the School of Public Health. As a psychiatrist with a background in philosophy, she investigates how emotions and the imagination shape healthcare decisions of clinicians and patients. Halpern keeps current with the digital revolution thanks to her playful, curious, eleven-year-old son, whose persuasive powers led to the creation of this website.

John J. Sninsky, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, CareDx Inc.

John J. Sninsky, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer, CareDx Inc.
John Sninsky, Ph.D. joined CareDx Inc. as Chief Scientific Officer in January 2015. CareDx, Inc., based in Brisbane, California, is a molecular diagnostics company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of clinically differentiated, high-value, non-invasive diagnostic surveillance solutions for transplant recipients. John brings a wealth of experience in the discovery, development and application of diagnostic technologies, content and interpretive test solutions ranging from early stage biotechnology to international pharmaceutical organizations as well as a range of CLIA and IVD product settings. He was instrumental in the early development of PCR and companion diagnostics tests for HIV while at Cetus Corp. and Roche Molecular Systems. John oversaw early functional genetic association studies for common complex disease while serving as V.P. of Discovery Research at Celera. Following Celera's acquisition by Quest Diagnostics, he served as the Alameda site head for Quest's Science & Innovation and oversaw organization-wide Bioinformatics. John received a B.S. in biology from Bates College, a Ph.D. in biology from Purdue University and was a postdoctoral fellow in Genetics and Medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine. John was on the faculty at Albert Einstein College of Medicine (AECOM) in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology with a joint appointment in the Department of Molecular Biology as well as a member of the AECOM Liver and Cancer Centers.

John Leite, Ph.D., VP of Oncology, Illumina

John Leite, Ph.D., VP of Oncology, Illumina
John is the Vice President of Oncology, Market Development & Product Marketing for Illumina’s recently formed Oncology Business Unit. Prior to joining Illumina, John was Vice President of Commercial Strategy and Market Access for Genoptix Inc., a Novartis company where, from 2008 until 2014, he drove several functions including Marketing and Business Development, building the portfolio of oncology diagnostic services. John began his career as a scientist for Invitrogen (now Thermo Fisher Scientific) before transitioning to the business team as a marketer overseeing product management of the proteomics portfolio. He earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics & Biochemistry from the University of Pittsburgh, School of Medicine in 2000, and was a National Research Service Award Scholar at the California Institute of Technology from 2000 to 2003.

John Ryals, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Metabolon, Inc.

John Ryals, Ph.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman, Metabolon, Inc.
Dr. John Ryals co-founded Metabolon, Inc. in 2002 and serves as president, CEO and chairman. Metabolon is a pioneer and leader in the field of metabolomics and its use in personalized medicine and human health. Prior to Metabolon, he was a co-founder, CEO and president of Paradigm Genetics, Inc., which he led to a successful IPO in 2002. Paradigm Genetics eventually sold to Monsanto and is now the Monsanto research site in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Prior to Paradigm Genetics, Dr. Ryals joined the Ciba-Geigy Agricultural Biotechnology Unit in 1985, now Syngenta. He worked at various research and management positions at Ciba and later Novartis, leading the agricultural biotechnology efforts of the company from 1993 to 1997 when he departed to form Paradigm Genetics. Dr. Ryals was on the board of Athenix Corp., which was acquired by Bayer Crop Sciences, and is a co-founder and board member of AgBiome, which is located in Research Triangle Park.

John West, CEO, Personalis, Inc.

John West, CEO, Personalis, Inc.
Personalis’ CEO, John West, first became involved in DNA sequencing and DNA sequence interpretation in 1982. In the 1980’s, he led the development of an automated DNA sequencing system based on pattern recognition from autoradiographs, and licensed software from the lab of Roger Staden at MRC Cambridge, UK for sequence assembly and analysis. In the 1990’s Mr. West was General Manager and subsequently President of Princeton Instruments, a company focused on low light scientific imaging. This technology was used in a number of fluorescent automated DNA sequencing developments. In 2001 Mr. West joined then market leader Applied Biosystems as Vice President of Genetic Analysis. He was subsequently promoted to VP, DNA Platforms. While at Applied Biosystems Mr. West’s group introduced the model 3730xl Genetic Analyzer. This product became the mainstay of almost every major genome center in the world.
In 2004, Mr. West moved to be CEO of Solexa Ltd, a venture capital backed UK company focused primarily on single-molecule DNA sequencing. Mr. West realized that the company’s recent acquisition of DNA cluster technology could be transformative. In 2005 he led Solexa’s reverse merger into US-based and Nasdaq-listed Lynx Therapeutics, and led two PIPE financings totaling almost $100M. The company introduced its first system in mid-2006. Mr. West negotiated the January 2007 acquisition of Solexa by Illumina, Inc for approximately $600M, and stayed as VP of the DNA sequencing business there into 2008. During this time, Illumina became the world leader in next generation DNA sequencing.
From 2009 through mid-2011 Mr. West served as CEO of ViaCyte, Inc, a company leveraging stem cell technology to develop a diabetes cell therapy.
In late 2009 Mr. West’s family became the first healthy family of four to be sequenced. Their experience working with the Stanford team on genome interpretation led to the foundation of Personalis.
Mr. West received a BS and MS engineering degrees from MIT, and earned an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.

Jose Haresco, Ph.D., Managing Dir. & Sr. Equity Analyst, Medical Devices & MDX, JMP Securities, LLC

Jose Haresco, Ph.D., Managing Dir. & Sr. Equity Analyst, Medical Devices & MDX, JMP Securities, LLC
Jose J. Haresco III, Ph.D. is a senior equity research analyst and Managing Director at JMP Securities. He currently leads two research verticals: Medical Devices, and Life Science Tools and Diagnostic. He joined the firm in 2010 to provide fundamental research on a variety of companies ranging from Illumina and Genomic Health to Intuitive Surgical and Boston Scientific. For almost a decade, Dr. Haresco’s research has been recognized by leading industry publications including the Wall Street Journal, Investors Business Daily, and Forbes. Prior to becoming a sell-side analyst, Dr. Haresco worked for Roche Molecular Systems and Boehringer Mannheim. Dr. Haresco holds a Ph.D. in Biological and Medical Informatics from the University of California, San Francisco, where he developed genetic algorithms for structure based drug design in the lab of Professor Emeritus Irwin “Tack” Kuntz, Ph.D. He also holds a B.S. in genetics from the University of California, Davis, and has been granted two patents involving small molecule mediated PDZ-domain inhibition.

Kathryn Blair, Ph.D., Director of Product Management, Seven Bridges Genomics

Kathryn Blair, Ph.D., Director of Product Management, Seven Bridges Genomics
Kate Blair leads a team of more than 50 scientists, engineers and designers in building cloud-deployed platforms for next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis. Currently, she focuses her efforts on developing one of the three Cancer Genomics Cloud Pilots for the National Cancer Institute. In 2012, she joined Seven Bridges Genomics, inspired by the company’s mission to build self-improving systems for analyzing millions of genomes using novel technologies and a unique focus on big, hairy, biological questions. Dr. Blair was trained as a molecular and cell biologist at the University of Cambridge as a Gates Scholar. Through her work on interspecies transcriptional differences in embryonic stem cells, she gained insight into the analysis bottlenecks that accompany NGS technology, including rapidly evolving reference datasets, difficulties sharing analyses, independent validation of results, biological interpretation, and reproducibility. She is pleased to be part of a team that is tackling these problems.

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.

Krishna Yeshwant, M.D., General Partner, Google Ventures

Krishna Yeshwant, M.D., General Partner, Google Ventures
Dr. Krishna Yeshwant is a physician, programmer, and entrepreneur who has been working with Google Ventures since its inception. He first joined Google as part of the New Business Development team. Prior to Google he helped start an electronic data interchange company that was acquired by Hewlett-Packard and a network security company that was acquired by Symantec. He also co-authored the business plan for Diagnostics For All, which won both the Harvard Business School and MIT $100k business plan competitions. Previously, Krishna published several book chapters and journal articles in the field of computer-guided surgery, completed research in tissue engineering, and developed and licensed multiple surgical devices. He has worked with the technology transfer offices of MIT, Harvard, and Massachusetts General Hospital.

Lawrence “Rusty” Hofmann, M.D., Co-Founder, Grand Rounds, Inc.

Lawrence “Rusty” Hofmann, M.D., Co-Founder, Grand Rounds, Inc.
Dr. Lawrence “Rusty” Hofmann is a Professor at Stanford School of Medicine, Chief of Interventional Radiology at Stanford University Medical Center, and Co-Founder of Grand Rounds, Inc. He has devoted his career to providing state-of-the-art care to patients at either Johns Hopkins, where he practiced for 10 years, or Stanford, where he practiced for 8 years. He has published over 100 scientific articles on minimally invasive treatment of blood clots (DVT) and cancer. In addition, his research has encompassed stem cell therapies as well as gene therapies.

Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., President, Institute for Systems Biology

Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., President, Institute for Systems Biology
Dr. Hood’s research has focused on fundamental biology (immunity, evolution, genomics) and on bringing engineering to biology through the development of five instruments; the DNA and protein sequencers and synthesizers and the ink-jet oligonucleotide synthesizer (making DNA arrays) for deciphering the various types of biological information (DNA, RNA, proteins and systems). These instruments constitute the technological foundation for modern molecular biology and genomics. He has applied these technologies to diverse fields including immunology, neurobiology, cancer biology, molecular evolution and systems medicine. Dr. Hood is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, the American Association of Arts and Sciences, the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering. Dr. Hood is one of only 7 (of more than 6000 members) scientists elected to all three academies (NAS, NAE and IOM). Dr. Hood has also played a role in founding more than 14 biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Systemix, Darwin and Rosetta. He is currently pioneering systems medicine and the systems approach to disease and has recently cofounded the company Integrated Diagnostics—that hopefully will become a platform company for P4 medicine.

Malay Gandhi, Managing Director, Rock Health

Malay Gandhi, Managing Director, Rock Health
Malay serves as Rock Health’s Managing Director, leading the organization and working closely with portfolio companies. He joined Rock Health in 2012 after nearly eight years with Deloitte Consulting’s healthcare practice. Malay earned a Masters concentrated in Health Policy and Management from the University of Pittsburgh and a BS from West Virginia University. His work in digital health has been cited in the Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, CNBC, USA Today, Inc. and KQED.

Mark Erlander, Ph.D., CSO, Trovagene

Mark Erlander, Ph.D., CSO, Trovagene
Mark Erlander has more than 18 years of experience directing and leading research and development for gene discovery, with a strong focus on molecular diagnostics. Since 2012, Dr. Erlander has also served as Chief Scientific Officer of Gensignia, Inc., a lung cancer diagnostics company. Prior to joining Trovagene, Dr. Erlander was chief scientific officer at bioTheranostics, a bioMerieux company. Previously, Dr. Erlander was a group leader and subsequently a research fellow at the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute (Johnson & Johnson). He was also an assistant member and postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute in the Department of Molecular Biology. Dr. Erlander holds a BS degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis; an MS degree in Biochemistry from Iowa State University; and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Martin G. Reese, Ph.D., Co-founder, President and CSO, Omicia Inc.

Martin G. Reese, Ph.D., Co-founder, President and CSO, Omicia Inc.
Dr. Martin Reese is an internationally recognized expert and entrepreneur in Genomics and Bioinformatics. Prior to founding Omicia, Dr. Reese served as Vice President of Discovery Informatics for ValiGen. Prior to this, Dr. Reese co-founded Neomorphic, where he served as President and Chief Scientific Officer. The human genome annotation software that Dr. Reese developed at Neomorphic, provided the foundation for the successful commercialization of microarrays by Affymetrix. During his career Dr. Reese has been actively involved in community-wide assessments of genome annotation. He organized the state-of-the-art Genome Annotation Assessment Project and was a member of the Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project, which provided the essential proof-of-concept platform for “shotgun” sequencing technology. At the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratories Dr. Reese developed gene-finding algorithms for the Human Genome Project. He holds a Masters degree in Medical Informatics from the University of Heidelberg and a Ph.D. in Genetics jointly from the University of Hohenheim, Germany and the University of California, Berkeley.

Martin Naley, Founder and CEO, Cure Forward

Martin Naley, Founder and CEO, Cure Forward
Martin Naley is the founder and CEO of Cure Forward, a company that spans digital health, genomics, and social media, to make personalized medicine accessible and practically useful for patients. The company is being incubated by Apple Tree Partners, where Martin has been an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. Prior to joining Apple Tree Partners, Martin held many roles over a span of 15 years at Life Technologies, from sales rep to CEO Chief of Staff, where he worked with partners to develop some of the first NGS-based diagnostic tests and shaped a worldwide network for genomic data sharing. Mr. Naley holds a B.A. in Biological Sciences from Cornell and an M.B.A. from Yale.

Maurie Markman, M.D., President, Medicine & Science, CTCA

Maurie Markman, M.D., President, Medicine & Science, CTCA
Dr. Maurie Markman is the President, Medicine & Science, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, and for more than 25 years has been engaged in clinical research in the area of gynecologic malignancies, with a particular focus on new drug development and exploring novel management strategies in female pelvic cancers. Dr. Markman has been the primary author or co-author on over 1,000 published peer-reviewed manuscripts, reviews, book chapters, editorials or abstracts, and has written, edited or co-edited 23 books on various topics in the management of malignant disease.

Michael Ball, CEO, GenoLogics

Michael Ball, CEO, GenoLogics
Michael Ball, the CEO for GenoLogics Life Sciences Software, has 20 years of experience in sales, marketing and business development with high growth technology companies. Michael has held VP positions at various technology companies including five years in executive management with Creo Products Inc. as VP Business Development and VP European Sales and Service. In addition, Michael was VP at Carmanah Technologies, spent seven years at Digital Equipment Corp. and has experience with several technology start-ups. Michael has a sound knowledge of mergers, acquisitions and strategic partnerships, extensive international experience and has been instrumental in repositioning GenoLogics from a single product company to a comprehensive research informatics vendor for the life sciences industry.

Michael Snyder, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Stanford Center for Genomics & Personalized Medicine

Michael Snyder, Ph.D., Professor & Chair, Stanford Center for Genomics & Personalized Medicine
Michael Snyder is the Stanford Ascherman Professor and Chair of Genetics and the Director of the Center of Genomics and Personalized Medicine. Dr. Snyder received his Ph.D. training at the California Institute of Technology and carried out postdoctoral training at Stanford University. He is a leader in the field of functional genomics and proteomics. His laboratory study was the first to perform a large-scale functional genomics project in any organism, and currently carries out a variety of projects in the areas of genomics and proteomics both in yeast and humans. These include the large-scale analysis of proteins using protein microarrays and the global mapping of the binding sites of chromosomal proteins. His laboratory built the first proteome chip for any organism and the first high resolution tiling array for the entire human genome.

Mike Nolan, Vice President & General Manager, Clinical Genetic Analysis Business, Thermo Fisher Scientific

Mike Nolan, Vice President & General Manager, Clinical Genetic Analysis Business, Thermo Fisher Scientific
Mike Nolan is the Global Vice President and General Manager for the Clinical Genetic Analysis Business at Thermo Fisher Scientific. He received his B.S. in Biological Sciences and M.B.A. from the University of Wyoming, where he achieved academic and leadership honors. He has over 23 years’ experience in clinical diagnostics, having led teams to develop and commercialize several products that were the first of their kind in industry and medicine, including the first-ever FDA-approved PCR-based genetic assay. His work focuses on delivering clinically useful and, in some cases, transformative solutions by applying technologies such as qPCR, Sanger Sequencing, and Next-generation Sequencing to help medical care teams answer clinical questions. Mr. Nolan is a member of Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Genetic Sciences Leadership Team and serves on the Board of Directors for companies and organizations that are committed to advancing healthcare, education, and communities.

Murali Prahalad, Ph.D., President & CEO, Epic Sciences

Murali Prahalad, Ph.D., President & CEO, Epic Sciences
Dr. Prahalad currently holds the title of President and CEO of Epic Sciences, Inc. Prior to joining EPIC, Dr. Prahalad held various roles at Life Technologies Corporation. Dr. Prahalad joined Life Technologies eventually becoming VP, Corporate Strategy where he helped shape the organic and inorganic investment priorities across Life Technologies’ research tools, clinical diagnostic and applied markets portfolios. His role culminated in the strategic sale of Life Technologies to ThermoFisher Scientific in 2013 for $13.6B, the largest non-pharmaceutical acquisition in the biotechnology space. Prior to joining Life Technologies, Dr. Prahalad was the Vice President of Business Development for Sequenom Inc., a San Diego, CA-based biotechnology company.

Nicholas Dracopoli, Ph.D., Vice President, Janssen R&D

Nicholas Dracopoli, Ph.D., Vice President, Janssen R&D
Dr. Nicholas Dracopoli is Vice President, Head Oncology Biomarkers at Janssen R&D, Johnson & Johnson. In this role he is responsible for biomarker discovery, development and applications for oncology products. Previously, he was Vice President of Clinical Discovery Technologies at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and prior to that spent five years in the biotechnology industry at Sequana Therapeutics. Dr Dracopoli obtained his B.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of London, and completed post-doctoral fellowships at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Subsequently, he served as an Assistant Director at the Whitehead/MIT Genome Center, and as a Section Chief at the National Center for Human Genome Research at the NIH before moving to the biotechnology industry. Dr Dracopoli has authored >70 scientific publications, and has extensive experience in the fields of genomics, molecular biology and cancer research.

Nigam H. Shah, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine

Nigam H. Shah, Ph.D, Assistant Professor of Medicine, Stanford School of Medicine
Dr. Nigam H. Shah is an Assistant Professor of Medicine (Biomedical Informatics) at the Stanford School of Medicine. Dr. Shah’s research is focused on developing applications of bio-ontologies, specifically building novel approaches to annotate, index, integrate and analyze diverse information types available in biomedicine. He teaches on the topics of how to make and use biomedical ontologies, current trends & future directions in biomedical ontologies and reasoning with biomedical data – in the form of tutorials at professional conferences and in Stanford graduate courses. Dr. Shah holds an MBBS from Baroda Medical College, India, a PhD from Penn State University, USA and completed post-doctoral training at the Stanford Medical School; He co-chairs the Bio-Ontologies meeting at the Intelligent Systems in Molecular Biology conference since 2008.

Patrick (Pat) Roche, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Research and Development, HTG Molecular Diagnostics

Patrick (Pat) Roche, Ph.D., Senior Vice President for Research and Development, HTG Molecular Diagnostics
Dr. Roche joins HTG from Ventana Medical Systems/Roche Tissue Diagnostics where he served as Vice President of Translational Diagnostics and was responsible for interfacing with pharmaceutical partners in their development of targeted cancer therapeutics and facilitating the transition of biomarkers into companion diagnostics. Dr. Roche also led reagent product development at Ventana, launching over thirty in vitro diagnostic (IVD) products, including the FDA-approved c-kit and HER2 tests. Prior to his time at Ventana, Dr. Roche served as Director of the Immunohistochemistry Laboratory and Associate Professor of Pathology and Biochemistry-Molecular Biology for Mayo Clinic Rochester. Dr. Roche has co-authored more than 125 peer-reviewed publications.

Patrick McCormick, M.D., Chair, CEJA, AMA

Patrick McCormick, M.D., Chair, CEJA, AMA
Dr. McCormick is a board certified Neurosurgeon and practicing partner of the Neurosurgical Network, Inc. in Toledo Ohio. Currently, he is also the Section Head of Neurosurgery at St. Luke's Hospital. From 1995 to 2008 he has represented Ohio as an alternate delegate and delegate to the American Medical Association-House of Delegates and represented the Lucas County Medical Association as a Delegate to the Ohio State Medical Association. Dr. McCormick has served on the Northwest Ohio Mercy Health System Regional Ethics board. He is a past chairman of the Ethics Committee of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, and has served as the Associate Editor of the AANS “Neurosurgeon Quarterly”. He worked with the Institute of Medicine task force which generated “Harmonizing Reporting on Potential Conflicts of Interest”, and was selected for the NIH special study section on clinical applications of functional spectroscopy.

Paul Radensky, M.D., Partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP

Paul Radensky, M.D., Partner, McDermott Will & Emery LLP
Paul is a recognized authority on the full range of legal, regulatory and reimbursement issues pertaining to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, medical device, and clinical laboratory development and marketing. His background as a clinical researcher and medical practitioner informs his practical and scientific understanding of both product manufacturers and clinical laboratories. He advises manufacturers at every stage of product development, including the design and monitoring of clinical trials, positioning and applying for FDA approval, maintaining regulatory compliance, and obtaining coverage, coding and payment for new technologies by Medicare, Medicaid and other third party payors. Paul also advises clinical laboratories on CLIA and state licensure compliance as well as evolving policies on FDA regulation of laboratory-developed tests.

Peter Bach, M.D., MAPP, Director, Center for Health Policy & Outcomes, Memorial Sloan Kettering

Peter Bach, M.D., MAPP, Director, Center for Health Policy & Outcomes, Memorial Sloan Kettering
The Director of Memorial Sloan Kettering’s Center for Health Policy and Outcomes, Dr. Bach is a physician, epidemiologist, writer, and recognized expert in healthcare policy whose work has been regularly featured in major scientific and lay press outlets such as the NEJM, JAMA, and the New York Times. Dr. Bach is a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Board on Health Care Services and National Cancer Policy Forum and the Committee on Performance Measurement of the National Committee on Quality Assurance; he is also the Chair of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services Technical Expert Panel, which works to develop quality measures for PPS-exempt cancer hospitals. Dr. Bach has published more than 100 peer-reviewed articles and editorials in scientific journals as well as 16 healthcare-related op-eds in outlets such as the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and Forbes. He has served as a mentor to 15 postdoctoral researchers, given more than 100 invited seminars, and been the recipient of multiple NIH grants. View a comprehensive list of media coverage received by Dr. Bach and his work.

Pravene Nath, M.D., CIO of Stanford Health Care

Pravene Nath, M.D., CIO of Stanford Health Care
Dr. Nath was appointed Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Stanford Hospital and Clinics in July 2013. He initially joined Stanford Hospital and Clinics in 2008 as Chief Medical Information Officer and also held the roles of Associate CIO, Interim CIO, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine. Dr. Nath has overseen the deployment of the enterprise Epic EHR, culminating in the HIMSS Analytics Stage 7 EMR Adoption recognition in 2010, Leapfrog Top Hospital recognition from 2009 through 2013, and Most Wired Hospital recognition from 2010 through 2013. He has also been instrumental in establishing several new technology programs at SHC, including the clinical and business analytics program the Stanford Health Cloud for virtual care. Most recently, he has led the insourcing of applications and the development of a reorganized information technology services group. Prior to joining Stanford, Dr. Nath was the Chief Medical Information Officer and Senior Director of Clinical Information Systems at NYU Langone Medical Center, where he led a large scale clinical system implementation for three hospitals. He received his B.S.E. in biomedical engineering from Duke University and his M.D. and M.S.E. in biomedical engineering from The University of Michigan. He completed his residency in emergency medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center.

Ramji Srinivasan, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Counsyl

Ramji Srinivasan, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Counsyl
Ramji Srinivasan grew up on Long Island in a family of doctors. Now he’s aiming to give both doctors and patients better medical data so they can make choices that improve outcomes. Ramji dropped out of Stanford’s Graduate School of Business in 2007 to launch Counsyl with several co-founders. His goal was to make preventative medicine achievable with improved molecular screening. As CEO, Ramji oversees operations and technological development at Counsyl. He’s played an integral role in the creation of Counsyl’s highly-automated lab, as well as the company’s platform for patient and doctor communications. Ramji earned a B.S. in computer science and an M.S. in financial mathematics, both from Stanford University.

Richard Klausner, M.D., Chief Medical Officer & Interim General Manager, Oncology, Illumina

Richard Klausner, M.D., Chief Medical Officer & Interim General Manager, Oncology, Illumina
Richard (Rick) Klausner joined Illumina as Chief Medical Officer in September 2013. Rick is responsible for Illumina’s strategies for advancing genomics into clinical medicine and public health. He is also part of Illumina’s executive management team, which is responsible for directing all aspects of company strategy, planning and operations. Prior to joining Illumina, Rick was managing partner of the venture capital firm, The Column Group. Previously, he held roles as Executive Director for Global Health at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and as the eleventh director of the National Cancer Institute between 1995 and 2001. He has served as chief of the cell biology and metabolism branch of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, as well as a past president of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. He also has been Chairman of the National Science Education Standards Projects of the National Academy of Sciences. Rick currently chairs the International Advisory Board for Samsung, is the Chairman of Audax Health, and previously chaired the Strategic Oversight Council of Sanofi. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Rick holds an M.D. from Duke Medical School.

Rina Wolf, VP Commercialization Strategies, XIFIN, Inc.

Rina Wolf, VP Commercialization Strategies, XIFIN, Inc.
Rina Wolf, Vice President of Commercialization Strategies, Consulting & Industry Affairs, XIFIN, Inc. Ms. Wolf is a nationally recognized expert in the field of laboratory commercialization and reimbursement, with over 20 years of experience in the diagnostic laboratory industry, specializing in Molecular Diagnostic Laboratories. She lectures extensively on these topics and has consulted for major laboratories and laboratory associations throughout the U.S.. She is a former President and board member of the California Clinical Laboratory Association and is an active participant with the ACLA (American Clinical Laboratory Association) and the Personalized Medicine Coalition. Most recently Ms. Wolf held the position of Vice President of Reimbursement and Regulatory Affairs at Axial Biotech, Inc. where she was responsible for creating and implementing their successful reimbursement strategies. Prior to joining Axial Biotech, Inc. Ms Wolf held executive positions in the area of commercialization and reimbursement at RedPath Integrated Pathology, Inc., Genomic Health, Inc., and Esoterix (now LabCorp). Ms. Wolf has a Bachelor of Arts degree from UCLA and a Masters of HealthCare Administration.

Shawn M. Marcell, President & Chief Executive Officer, Metamark Genetics

Shawn M. Marcell, President & Chief Executive Officer, Metamark Genetics
Shawn Marcell joined Metamark in early 2013. An experienced executive with a record of building life science and technology businesses, raising capital, creating value, and setting the stage for growth and investor exit, Mr. Marcell previously served as general manager at Hologic Gen-Probe; vice president of molecular diagnostics at Sequenom; president and CEO of SensiGen, and Redpoint Bio; and senior vice president of the University City Science Center. Mr. Marcell has been a fellow and advisory board member of Weiss Tech House, University of Pennsylvania, and an adjunct faculty member at The Wharton School. He holds a BA in Economics from The George Washington University.

Stefan Roever, Co-founder & CEO, Genia Technologies

Stefan Roever, Co-founder & CEO, Genia Technologies
Stefan Roever has a broad entrepreneurial, software, and finance background. He was Co-Founder and CEO of Brokat Technologies, an encryption banking software company. Brokat reached a several billion dollar market cap and went public in 1998 on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on NASDAQ in 2000. Mr. Roever was honored with the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Germany. He is an active private equity investor and currently serves as Chairman of WRS Materials, a roll-up of wafer reclaim companies. Mr. Roever also is a two time award holder of Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum. He earned degrees in both economics and law from the University of Tuebingen.

Stephen Eck, M.D., Ph.D., VP & Global Head of Oncology Medical Sciences, Astellas Pharma Global Development

Stephen Eck, M.D., Ph.D., VP & Global Head of Oncology Medical Sciences, Astellas Pharma Global Development
Stephen Eck, M.D., Ph.D, is VP and Global Head of Oncology Medical Sciences at Astellas Pharma Global Development, where he is responsible for the oversight of oncology drug development plans, much of which focuses on special cancer populations for which unique biology enables the development of personalized therapies. Dr. Eck previously served as VP Translational Medicine & Pharmacogenomics at Eli Lilly where he was responsible for the clinical pharmacology components of drug development. Prior to that, Dr. Eck served in a variety of drug development leadership roles at Pfizer. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, serves on the SAB of the ACGT Foundation and is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the Fairbanks Institute.

Steve Miller, M.D., Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, Express Scripts

Steve Miller, M.D., Senior Vice President & Chief Medical Officer, Express Scripts
Dr. Steve Miller's focus is on supporting government relations, leading the Pharmacy & Therapeutics committee, managing the Medical Affairs team and interfacing with client groups. Steve has served as Chief Medical Officer since 2006 and has been a valuable leader in all clinical matters, including our e-prescribing initiatives, our specialty offering and overall product development. He received his medical degree from the University of Missouri-Kansas City, and he trained in the Pathology and Research fellowship at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and in cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco. Steve also earned his MBA at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Steve reports directly to Tim Wentworth.

Susan Gross, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Natera

Susan Gross, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, Natera
Dr. Gross, in addition to serving as Natera's CMO, holds an appointment as a Professor of Clinical Obstetrics & Gynecology and Women's Health, Pediatrics and Genetics at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and is the founding director of the Program for Jewish Genetic Health at Einstein/YU. She has also served as division director for Reproductive Genetics at Montefiore Medical Center, and founded the Human Genetics Laboratory at Jacobi Medical Center with the mission to provide equal access to state-of-the-art prenatal genetic services to the underserved. Dr. Gross served as the program director for the Medical Genetics Residency Training Program at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Residency Committee of the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME). She was a vice-chair of the Committee for Clinical Investigations (IRB) at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and has sat on national guideline and policy committees for both the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) as well as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AGOG). She has lectured and published extensively on prenatal screening and genetic testing with a focus on new technologies and public health policy. Dr. Gross received her medical degree from the University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where she completed her residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology, as well as a fellowship in Maternal Fetal Medicine. She is board certified in both Obstetrics and Gynecology and Medical Genetics.

Tim Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ancestry.com

Tim Sullivan, President and Chief Executive Officer, Ancestry.com
Tim Sullivan has served as our President and Chief Executive Officer and as a director since September 2005. Prior to joining us, Tim was Chief Operating Officer and then President and CEO of Match.com from January 2001 to September 2004. From May 1999 to January 2001, he served as Vice President of E-commerce for Ticketmaster Online-Citysearch, Inc. From June 1991 to May 1999, Tim held multiple positions at The Walt Disney Company, including Vice President and Managing Director of Buena Vista Home Entertainment Asia Pacific from July 1997 to May 1999. Tim holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and was a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Tom Caskey,M.D., Professor, Baylor College of Medicine

Tom Caskey,M.D., Professor, Baylor College of Medicine
Dr. Tom Caskey currently serves as Professor of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. He previously was the Director of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. Tom previously served as Senior Vice President, Human Genetics and Vaccines Discovery at Merck Research Laboratories, West Point and as President of the Merck Genome Research Institute. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine, Royal Society of Canada, and past President of the American Society of Human Genetics and the Human Genome Organization, and Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science. His genetic research has identified the genetic basis of ten major inheritable diseases and opened up the understanding of triplet repeat diseases (Fragile X, myotonic dystrophy and others). His personal identification patent is the basis of worldwide application for forensic science and he is also a consultant to the FBI in forensic science.

Tom Willis, Ph.D., CEO, Sequenta

Tom Willis, Ph.D., CEO, Sequenta
Prior to founding Sequenta, Tom has been an entrepreneur in the biotech industry for the past decade. After receiving his Ph.D. in physics from Stanford University, in 1996, he joined the Stanford Genome Technology Center (SGTC) to work on DNA sequence analysis technologies. He held several positions at the SGTC including Associate Director in charge of technology development. While at SGTC, Mr. Willis was the co-inventor of the Molecular Inversion Probe technology for high throughput genotyping. In 2001, co-founded ParAllele BioScience to develop and commercialize this technology. As its founding CEO, he led ParAllele through two rounds of VC financing and grew the company to over 80 employees. In 2005 ParAllele was acquired by Affymetrix at which time Tom served in several management positions at Affymetrix. He left in 2007 to pursue new startup opportunities. In addition to his role at Sequenta, Tom serves on the boards of SpinX Technologies and Boreal Genomics.

Vince Ramey, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, DNAnexus

Vince Ramey, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, DNAnexus
Vince is a bioinformatics expert who has conducted neuroscience, structural biology, and genomics research projects. During his graduate work he both worked at the bench and developed algorithms for electron microscope image analysis of microtubule binding proteins. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Genetics with a minor in Bioinformatics from UC Davis, and a PhD in Biophysics from UC Berkeley.