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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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B

Speaker Biographical Sketches
1

Russ B. Altman, M.D., Ph.D., is the Kenneth Fong Professor and a professor of bioengineering, genetics, medicine, and (by courtesy) computer science, and past chairman of the Bioengineering Department at Stanford University. His primary research interests are in the application of computing technology to basic molecular biological problems of relevance to medicine. He is particularly interested in informatics methods for advancing pharmacogenomics, the study of how human genetic variation affects drug response. Other work focuses on the analysis of functional sites within macromolecules with an emphasis on understanding the action, interaction, and adverse events of drugs. Dr. Altman holds an M.D. from Stanford Medical School, a Ph.D. in medical information sciences from Stanford, and an A.B. from Harvard College. He has been the recipient of the U.S. Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. He is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Medical Informatics, and the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He is a past president, founding board member, and fellow of the International Society for Computational Biology. He is an organizer of the annual Pacific Symposium on Biocomputing. He leads one of seven National Institutes of Health–supported National Centers for Biomedical Computation, focusing on physics-based simulation of biological structures. He won the Stanford Medical School graduate teaching award in 2000. He is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Dr. Altman is the chair of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) science board, advising the FDA commissioner.

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1 This text was revised after the prepublication release.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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He is the president-elect of the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics. He is the founder of Personalis, Inc., which focuses on using next-generation sequencing for clinical diagnostics.

Aris Baras, M.D., M.B.A., serves as vice president and co-head of the Regeneron Genetics Center (RGC). Previously, he held various roles and responsibilities at Regeneron in research and development strategy and business development, technology development, and translational medicine, where he contributed to the development of new technologies and therapeutics. Prior to Regeneron, Dr. Baras worked with Liquidia Technologies, a nanotechnology company developing vaccines and respiratory therapeutics, where he contributed to the advancement of novel technologies for inhaled therapeutics and drug candidates in early stages of development. While at Duke University, Dr. Baras conducted research in immunology and oncology studying the mechanisms of action and resistance of B-cell depleting immunotherapies as well as ErbB2/HER2targeting therapeutics in the setting of inflammatory breast cancer.

In his current role, Dr. Baras co-leads Regeneron’s broad research programs in human genetics, with responsibility for overall scientific strategy, ensuring operational excellence, and establishing critical research collaborations, encompassing large-scale sequencing and genetic analysis, such as with the Geisinger Health System (GHS) and a network of 20 other academic, National Institutes of Health, and health system collaborators. Dr. Baras co-founded the RGC and established a collaboration with the GHS in 2013, with the goal of enrolling and sequencing as many as 250,000 participants from the MyCode Community Health Initiative at Geisinger, linking genomic data to health record data with the goal of guiding drug development activities and genomic medicine implementation. To date, more than 60,000 consented MyCode participants have been sequenced. Initial research efforts at the RGC have produced important new findings and gene discoveries. Examples include the identification, in collaboration with Columbia University Medical Center and Dr. Wendy Chung, of multiple families with disease-causing variants in a novel PAH gene, TBX4, and the discovery of marked reductions in the odds of coronary artery disease among carriers of known and novel inactivating mutations in ANGPTL4 in the first 40,000 sequenced MyCode participants at GHS. In establishing the RGC, Dr. Baras helped build a fully integrated genetics program spanning large-scale sequencing and operations, informatics and analytical expertise, and translational and functional genomics capabilities. Samples from nearly 100,000 par-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

ticipants have been sequenced at the RGC across dozens of ongoing projects and collaborations, which he oversees. Dr. Baras received his bachelor’s degree in biology and economics, his M.D., and his M.B.A., all from Duke University.

Chas Bountra, Ph.D., is a professor of translational medicine in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine and an associate member of the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Oxford. He is also a visiting professor in neuroscience and mental health at Imperial College, London. Dr. Bountra is an invited expert on several government and charitable research funding bodies and an advisor for many academic, biotech, and pharma drug discovery programmes. Prior to coming back to Oxford, Dr. Bountra was the vice president and head of biology at GlaxoSmithKline. He was involved in the identification of more than 40 clinical candidates for many gastrointestinal, inflammatory, and neuro-psychiatric diseases. More than 20 of these molecules progressed into patient studies, and more than five of these delivered successful “proof of concept” data and hence progressed into late-stage development. He was involved in the launch and development of the first treatment for irritable bowel syndrome (alosetron) and was the first to show that neurokinin NK1 antagonists are anti-emetic in preclinical and clinical studies. His current interests are (1) using X-ray structures of novel human proteins to generate small molecule inhibitors, screening in human cells to identify novel targets for drug discovery, and then developing clinical candidates for evaluation in patients, precompetitively; (2) focusing on epigenetic and genetically identified proteins, because these are likely to represent better targets for drug discovery, for many cancer, inflammatory, metabolic, and neuropsychiatric diseases; (3) working with colleagues in Oxford to build major programs in rare diseases and in Alzheimer’s disease and creating a “bioescalator” for the rapid translation of Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) science; and (4) building stronger links with local hospitals, patient groups, regulatory agencies, private investors, contract research organizations, biotech companies, and large pharma companies to create a new, more efficient ecosystem for pioneer drug discovery. Dr. Bountra believes the SGC has become a leader in human protein structural biology and epigenetics chemical biology and that it is arguably one of the most successful open-innovation public–private partnerships in the world. Furthermore, with the many recent local developments (e.g., Target Discovery Institute, Kennedy Institute), he

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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believes Oxford is emerging as one of the major academic drug discovery centers in Europe. He has given more than 300 invited lectures. In 2012 he was voted one of the “top innovators in the industry.”

Lon Cardon, Ph.D., joined GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in 2008, initially as special vice president of genetics and shortly thereafter combining genetics with the departments of statistics, epidemiology, computational biology, and clinical pharmacokinetics to form the quantitative sciences division. Most recently he was the head of Alternative Discovery and Development, a pan-therapeutic division focused on novel disease areas and research paradigms in drug discovery and development. In 2015 he created and continues to lead GSK’s Target Sciences, a new division aimed at harnessing the latest discoveries and technologies in genomics and other forms of “big data” to advance the next generation of drug targets. He is a member of the research and development executive team and chairs the governance body responsible for investment in all of GSK’s discovery performance units. Prior to joining GSK, Dr. Cardon was a senior academic in the United Kingdom and the United States as a professor of bioinformatics at the University of Oxford until 2006 and then as a professor of biostatistics at the University of Washington and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. He undertook his Ph.D. training at the Institute for Behavioral Genetics at the University of Colorado and conducted his postdoctoral research in the Department of Mathematics at Stanford University. He has received a number of scientific awards, including election to the United Kingdom’s Academy of Medical Sciences and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He has authored more than 200 scientific publications and 15 books and chapters.

John Carulli, Ph.D., is the Director of Translational Genomics at Biogen. His research is focused on discovering genetic contributions to disease, validating genetically defined drug targets, and translating genomic discoveries into clinical applications. Dr. Carulli’s research has spanned a number of therapeutic areas, including bone disease, autoimmune disease, and neurodegenerative disease. Human Genetics has revealed rare and common variants that can be directly targeted by drugs or that may identify pathways to target. Dr. Carulli’s work in Mendelian genetics has identified rare variants in LRP5 that cause autosomal dominant high bone mass, directly identifying a target and pathway that are subjects of osteoporosis drug discovery. Together with academic and industrial

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

collaborators, his work has also identified common variants associated with rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus that also highlight pathways that can be targeted. In addition to identifying drug targets, human genetics and genomics discoveries have clinical applications including genetic testing and biomarker development. Dr. Carulli’s team at Biogen is working with collaborators to develop tests and treatments for spinal muscular atrophy and myotonic dystrophy. This work includes detailed transcriptomic analysis of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) animal models and the impact of experimental drugs on the transcriptome. Additionally, the team has developed a rapid and inexpensive SMA genotyping assay suitable for newborn screening from dried blood spots. The goal of this work is to identify the right patients, to treat them at the right time, and to monitor the impact of treatment on their disease.

Sohini Chowdhury, M.A., joined The Michael J. Fox Foundation (MJFF) in 2005. In her current role at MJFF, Ms. Chowdhury oversees a team that focuses on three areas: (1) increasing engagement and developing partnerships with various stakeholders, including industry (pharma and biotech), insurance companies, and academic networks/medical groups; (2) developing and implementing strategies to improve recruitment for Parkinson’s disease trials; and (3) managing pre-competitive partnerships, including the Parkinson’s Progression Markers Initiative, an approximately $65 million clinical biomarker study. Prior to joining MJFF, Ms. Chowdhury worked at the World Economic Forum for 5 years. As the senior community manager of the forum’s Technology Pioneers program, she was responsible for annually selecting and integrating innovative biotech, energy, and information technology companies into forum activities. Ms. Chowdhury also worked directly for the forum’s chief executive officer, acting as his liaison with key forum stakeholders and overseeing several in-house projects. Ms. Chowdhury graduated with an M.A. from Georgetown University and holds a B.A. in international studies from Vassar College.

Mark Daly, Ph.D., is the founding chief of the Analytic and Translational Genetics Unit (ATGU) at Massachusetts General Hospital and an assistant professor in the Harvard Medical School. His research has historically focused on the development and application of statistical methods for the discovery and interpretation of genetic variation responsible for complex human disease, and with the recent creation of the ATGU, he and other core faculty are now focused on the interpretation of ge-

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

nome sequence and the use of genome information in clinical settings. Dr. Daly is also a senior associate member and a co-director of the Program in Medical and Population Genetics at the Broad Institute, where he leads many large-scale genome-sequencing studies in autism and inflammatory bowel disease. Dr. Daly’s group has developed numerous methods and widely used software tools, including GENEHUNTER and HAPLOVIEW, genetic analysis tools used in thousands of laboratories worldwide, and GRAIL and DAPPLE, Web-based utilities for the interpretation of the results of genome-wide association studies (GWASs), and they have contributed to additional widely distributed tools developed in the Broad community such as PLINK and GATK. Dr. Daly’s earlier work at the Whitehead Institute and Whitehead/Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Center for Genome Research (precursor to the Broad Institute) was instrumental in developing an understanding of patterns of variation in the human and mouse genomes and in the use of these patterns in disease gene mapping. While developing computational and statistical methods that can be broadly applied, his group has several primary medical genetics research foci. His lab serves as the analytic hub for the Psychiatric GWAS Consortium, an international consortium leading the largest collaborative GWAS studies in five major psychiatric disorders. He also has a long-standing effort in the mapping of genes for Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, where he helped found and lead the International Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) Genetics Consortium, an international effort that has identified more than 150 genetic risk factors. More recently, his group has launched, with the support of the Helmsley Trust, a major exome sequencing effort to better elucidate functional alleles from the gene mapping to date, and in collaboration with Dr. Ramnik Xavier’s group at the Center for the Study of Inflammatory Bowel Disease, the team pursues the functional interpretation and clinical ramifications of emerging findings from these continued gene discovery efforts. Dr. Daly also leads an extensive research program in neuropsychiatric genetics at ATGU—particularly in autism, schizophrenia, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—and has led large-scale GWAS and exome sequencing efforts in this area. The ATGU serves as the analytic hub for the Psychiatric Genomics Consortium, an international consortium leading the largest collaborative GWAS studies in five major psychiatric disorders. More recently, the group has facilitated numerous studies using exome sequencing to articulate the genetic origins of rare inherited diseases, early-onset and pediatric cancers, and severe adverse drug responses. Dr. Daly received his B.S. in physics

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

from MIT and his Ph.D. in human genetics from Leiden University, Netherlands. Dr. Daly was a recipient of the 2014 Curt Stern Award from the American Society of Human Genetics.

Margaret (Meg) G. Ehm, Ph.D., is a director of genetics at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania. She develops and manages external alliances that bring together GSK with academic and industry groups to build innovative capabilities capitalizing on genetic data that will drive the identification of high-quality drug targets. Her recent work has focused on the use of electronic health record data and genetic information to drive drug discovery and development. Prior to this role, she led the statistical genetics group at GSK through a series of progressively more challenging roles within the international pharmaceutical company. She received her B.S. degree from Vanderbilt University in mathematics and computer science and her M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from Rice University in statistics. She completed a brief postdoctoral post at North Carolina State University in 2001 where she remains an adjunct professor of statistics.

Geoffrey Ginsburg, M.D., Ph.D., is the founding director for the Center for Applied Genomics in the Duke University Medical Center and the founding executive director of the Center for Personalized and Precision Medicine in the Duke University Health System. He is a professor of Medicine, Pathology, and Biomedical Engineering at Duke University. He is an internationally recognized expert in genomics and personalized medicine with funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Department of Defense (DOD), Air Force, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Gates Foundation, and industry. Prior to Duke he was at Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc. where he was vice president of Molecular and Personalized Medicine and responsible for developing pharmacogenomic and biomarker strategies for therapeutics. Dr. Ginsburg serves as an expert panel member for Genome Canada, as a member of the Board of External Experts for the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), as co-chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health, as a member of the advisory council for the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, as co-chair of the Cures Acceleration Network, as an advisor to the Pharmacogenetics Research Network, and as a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of the Health Sector.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

Sally John, Ph.D., is the vice president of genomics and computational biology at Biogen Idec, where her group focuses on applying human genetics, genomics and analytical methods to support drug discovery and development, from identification of new targets through to understanding genetic variability in drug response and patient stratification. She is a passionate advocate of the value of human genetics to support early drug discovery and has founded a number of groups within industry to strengthen the application of genetics, including a human genetics group at Pfizer and the statistical genetics group at AstraZeneca. Her most recent position prior to Biogen Idec was as the head of clinical genetics and bioinformatics at Pfizer. She gained a Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the University of Manchester, United Kingdom, and held academic positions including senior lecturer in genetic epidemiology at the University of Manchester. Her academic focus of research has been in the area of inflammatory genetics, including rheumatoid arthritis, asthma and pain, and genetic epidemiology methods as applied to the analysis of complex traits. She is active in the external and pre-competitive community and has acted as the co-chair of the International Serious Adverse Events Consortium, an industry-led precompetitive consortium focusing on the genetic basis of drug-induced serious adverse events.

Lynn M. Matrisian, Ph.D., M.B.A., is the vice president of scientific and medical affairs at the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, based in Manhattan Beach, California, and Washington, DC. She focuses on understanding the scientific and medical activities within the pancreatic cancer field and facilitating these activities through a grants program, a patient support program, and special research initiatives. Under her guidance, the grants program was expanded to include mechanisms focused on translational and clinical research activities, and the Know Your Tumor and patient-report outcomes registry initiatives were initiated. She continues to work with various stakeholders within the field to advance the organization’s goal to double survival from pancreatic cancer by the year 2020. Dr. Matrisian is formerly a professor and the founding chair of the Department of Cancer Biology at Vanderbilt University. She received her Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Arizona and M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University. She is a past president of the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR), a fellow of the AACR Academy, and the recipient of the Paget-Ewing award from the Metastasis Research Society. She served as co-chair of the National Cancer Institute’s (NCI’s) Translational Research Working Group and as a

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

special assistant to the director of the NCI. Research in her laboratory revolved around the molecular mechanisms underlying tumor progression and metastasis, with emphasis on the biology of matrix-degrading proteinases.

Tim Rolph, D.Phil., is the vice president of program value enhancement at Pfizer Inc. Formerly the chief scientific officer of Pfizer’s Cardiovascular and Metabolic Disease Research Unit, he established it in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During his leadership, ertuglifozin was discovered and progressed to Phase 3 in partnership with Merck as a fixed-dose combination with Januvia™. He received a B.Sc. in biochemistry from the University of London (UK), and a D.Phil. from University of Oxford (UK). His pre- and postdoctoral training was at the Nuffield Institute for Medical Research, studying metabolic adaptations of skeletal and cardiac muscle during development. Subsequently, he joined Glaxo’s veterinary research and development, initially studying modulation of growth for food production, then carrying out research for anti-parasitic vaccines against protozoan (anti-coccidial for poultry, Para-cox™) and metazoan species (gastrointestinal helminths). Beginning in a similar role at Pfizer, he became the leader of human anti-infective research at Sandwich (UK), during which the prototypical CCR5 antagonist maraviroc (Celzentry™) was discovered and launched as a novel antiretroviral for HIV. He then became head of research at Pfizer’s Sandwich laboratory and more recently at Groton, Connecticut. Through his career, he has led groups that have taken many different therapeutic mechanisms into Phase 2, covering HIV, diabetes, and inflammatory and renal diseases.

Nadeem Sarwar, M.Pharm., M.R.Pharm.S., M.Phil., Ph.D., has expertise in human genetics-guided drug discovery and precision medicine. He has executive-level experience in academia (Tenured Faculty, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom), big-pharma (Senior Director, Pfizer Inc.), mid-size pharma (Vice President, Genetics & Human Biology, Eisai Inc.) and biotech-like organizations (President, Eisai Andover innovative Medicines [AiM] Institute). His research interests stem from the intersection of innovation in human genetics and collaborative business models to accelerate delivery of novel, targeted therapeutics. He has experience of several therapeutic areas including dementia, immunooncology, auto-immunity and cardiometabolic diseases. His research has been published in leading medical journals (e.g., New England Journal

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

of Medicine, Lancet, JAMA), presented at international meetings (e.g., American Diabetes Association, Prix Galien Foundation, Hitachi Innovation), and covered by international media (e.g., BBC, Bloomberg, Forbes). He has been invited to provide expert insights on human genetics and drug discovery for The World Dementia Envoy, Genomics England, The UK Minster for Life Sciences, and Scottish Enterprise.

Dr. Sarwar is the founder and president of the newly launched Eisai AiM Institute, an industry unique discovery innovation unit within the greater Boston biopharma hub of 90 integrated scientists in Andover, Massachusetts. The AiM Institute’s exclusive mission is to realize human genetics driven drug discovery, with a predominant focus on delivering precision medicines for the subset of patients with immune-driven pathology in dementia (immunodementia) and oncology (immunooncology). The AiM Institute currently has assets in early stage clinical trials, late stage pre-investigational new drug (IND) and early stage preclinical discovery. To realize the vision of human genetics driven drug discovery, Dr. Sarwar has established a number of entrepreneurial collaborations and scientific partnerships (including cross-sector, open innovation and precompetitive) with a range of collaborators. Dr. Sarwar joined Eisai in 2013 as vice president and global head of Genetics & Human Biology, in which capacity he established and served as director of the Integrated Human Genomics (IHGx) Research Unit. In October 2015 he was named to his current position, and launched the Eisai AiM Institute in June 2016.

Before joining Eisai, Dr. Sarwar served as senior director, head of Population Research and head of Cardiometabolic Genetics at Pfizer Inc., where he was also a member of the Atorvastatin Core Advisory Board. Key projects under his leadership at Pfizer included leading the development and initiation of a new Cardiovascular Therapeutic Area Strategy; establishing and serving as co-director of the University of Cambridge/Pfizer Center for CV Genomics; creating a “genes to targets” strategy delivering novel targets into the exploratory cardiometabolic research portfolio; and serving on the clinical design team for a 20,000 participant phase 3 outcome trial.

Prior to working in the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Sarwar was a tenured faculty member at the School of Clinical Medicine, University of Cambridge, where he led large-scale research consortia and new bioresources to identify causal and predictive disease risk factors. He served as Principal Investigator of the IL6R Genetics Consortium and the Triglycerides & Coronary Disease Genetics Consortium; and Steering

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

Committee & Leadership Team member of the Emerging Risk Factors Collaboration, the Pakistan Risk of Myocardial Infarction Study, Generation Scotland, and the Reykjavik Study Predictive Biomarkers Project.

Dr. Sarwar served as chair of The World CNS Summit; The Drug Discovery Stream of the Festival of Genomics; and The External Advisory Board of the National Institute on Aging (NIA) Longevity Genomics Study. In addition, he serves as industry lead for the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) Genetics Core; sits on the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s Roundtable on Genomics and Precision Health; serves on the Genetics Scientific Advisory Group of the European Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease Consortium; and facilitates the Industry Partnership for Human Genetics.

Richard H. Scheller, Ph.D., joined 23andMe in January of 2015 as its chief scientific officer and head of therapeutic development. He is responsible for translating genetic information into new therapies. Hired in 2001 as the senior vice president of research and member of the Genentech executive committee, from 2009 through 2014 he was the executive vice president and head of Genentech research and early development and a member of the Roche executive committee. Dr. Scheller received his bachelor of science in biochemistry in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and his doctorate in chemistry in 1980 from Caltech. After postdoctoral fellowships at Caltech and Columbia, Dr. Scheller joined the Stanford faculty from 1982 until 2001. An investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1994 to 2001, Scheller has been an adjunct professor at the University of California, San Francisco, since 2004. In 2014 he was named a trustee of Caltech.

Dr. Scheller’s research elucidating molecular mechanisms governing neurotransmitter release earned him the 2013 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the 2010 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, and the 1997 U.S. National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Kári Stefánsson, M.D., Dr.Med., has served as the president, the chief executive officer and a director of deCODE genetics since he founded the company in August 1996. Dr. Stefánsson was appointed the chairman of the board of directors of deCODE genetics in December 1999. From

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

1993 until April 1997, Dr. Stefánsson was a professor of neurology, neuropathology, and neuroscience at Harvard University. From 1983 to 1993, he held faculty positions in neurology, neuropathology, and neurosciences at the University of Chicago. Dr. Stefánsson received his M.D. and Dr.Med. from the University of Iceland and is board-certified in neurology and neuropathology in the United States. He has published numerous articles on the genetics of common/complex diseases and has been among the leaders of the world in the discovery of variants in the sequence of the human genome that are associated with the risk of common/complex traits. Dr. Stefánsson was chosen by Time magazine as 1 of the 100 most influential men of the year for 2007 and by Newsweek as 1 of the 10 most important biologists of the 21st century. He was the recipient of the Jakobus Award in 2007, the World Glaucoma Association Award for present scientific impact in 2007, the European Society of Human Genetics Award in 2009, and the Andre Jahre Award in 2009.

Danilo A. Tagle, Ph.D., is the associate director for special initiatives at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS). He leads and provides scientific and programmatic oversight and coordination to the following trans-National Institutes of Health (NIH) programs: (1) NIH Microphysiological Systems (a.k.a. tissue chip) program, (2) Extracellular RNA Communication program, and (3) SPARC (Stimulating Peripheral Activity to Relieve Conditions) program. These activities involve coordination with other NIH institutes and centers as well as partnerships with other government agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, and Defense Threat Reduction Agency, and the private sector. Prior to joining NCATS, Dr. Tagle was a program director for neurogenetics at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), where he was involved in developing programs in genomics-based approaches for basic and translational research in inherited brain disorders. Dr. Tagle obtained his Ph.D. in molecular biology and genetics from Wayne State University School of Medicine in 1990. He was an NIH National Research Service Awards postdoctoral fellow in human genetics at the laboratory of Dr. Francis S. Collins at the University of Michigan. Prior to joining NINDS in 2001, Dr. Tagle was an investigator and the section head of molecular neurogenetics at the National Human Genome Research Institute beginning in 1993, and he has been involved in the highly collaborative effort towards the positional cloning of genes for Huntington’s disease, ataxia-telangiectasia, and Niemann-Pick type C

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

disease. In addition to being the associate director for special initiatives, Dr. Tagle recently served as the acting director for the NCATS Office of Grants Management and Scientific Review and also as the executive secretary to the NCATS Advisory Council and the Cures Acceleration Network Review Board. He has served in numerous committees and advisory boards, and was on the editorial board of the journal Gene as well as the International Journal of Biotechnology. He has more than 150 scientific publications and has garnered numerous awards and patents. Central to Dr. Tagle’s accomplishments and goals is leveraging key resources and expertise through partnerships with various stakeholders in biomedical research, including various government agencies, nonprofit organizations, patient advocacy groups, industry, and pharmaceutical corporations.

Joe Vockley, Ph.D., is the chief operating officer and chief scientific officer of the Inova Translational Medicine Institute. Dr. Vockley brings 25 years of experience in academic, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology contract research organizations and government research. He has broad and deep expertise in the fields of genetics, genomics, molecular diagnostics, bioinformatics, and large program management.

Dr. Vockley is a results-oriented manager and scientist. He is an inventor on numerous U.S. and international genomic and bioinformatic technology patents in the areas of DNA diagnostics, laboratory methods for microarray analysis, gene discoveries, and bioinformatic tool development. His basic research interests are in the fields of cancer and inborn errors of metabolism.

Dr. Vockley has previously held positions of chief scientific officer, vice president of research, director of genomics, and director of bioinformatics. Most recently, he was the director of the National Cancer Institute’s Cancer Genome Atlas Project and the Cancer Genome Atlas Program Office.

David Wholley, M.Phil., manages the Research Partnerships Division of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, which is responsible for major research collaborations, including the Accelerating Medicines Partnership, the Biomarkers Consortium, the LungMAP precision medicine trial in lung cancer, and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Mr. Wholley has also served as the director of the Genetic Association Information Network, a public–private partnership dedicated to helping discover the genetic basis of common disease, and he led the

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×

development of a major public–private partnership in drug safety with the biopharmaceutical industry and the Food and Drug Administration. Prior to joining the foundation in 2006, Mr. Wholley’s career spanned nearly 25 years in health care technology business management, including extensive experience in product development, sales, marketing, corporate strategy, and partnership and project development. Mr. Wholley has held senior management roles in several venture-funded technology startup companies, including as head of global marketing and development for First Genetic Trust, Inc., which developed software for large-scale collaborative genetic research and personalized medicine. During a 16-year career at IBM, he co-led the corporate strategy team that guided IBM’s formation of its life sciences industry organization. Mr. Wholley holds an M.Phil. from Rutgers University and a certificate in business administration from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
×
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Page 80
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Page 81
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Page 82
Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Suggested Citation:"Appendix B: Speaker Biographical Sketches." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2016. Deriving Drug Discovery Value from Large-Scale Genetic Bioresources: Proceedings of a Workshop. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/23601.
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Next: Appendix C: Statement of Task »
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The process of discovering and developing a new drug or therapy is extremely costly and time consuming, and recently, it has been estimated that the creation of a new medicine costs on average more than $2 billion and takes 10 years to reach patients. The challenges associated with bringing new medicines to market have led many pharmaceutical companies to seek out innovative methods for streamlining their drug discovery research.

One way to increase the odds of success for compounds in the drug development pipeline is to adopt genetically guided strategies for drug discovery, and recognizing the potential benefits of collecting genetic and phenotypic information across specific populations, pharmaceutical companies have started collaborating with healthcare systems and private companies that have curated genetic bioresources, or large databases of genomic information. Large-scale cohort studies offer an effective way to collect and store information that can be used to assess gene–environment interactions, identify new potential drug targets, understand the role of certain genetic variants in the drug response, and further elucidate the underlying mechanisms of disease onset and progression.

To examine how genetic bioresources could be used to improve drug discovery and target validation, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a workshop in March 2016. Participants at the workshop explored the current landscape of genomics-enabled drug discovery activities in industry, academia, and government; examined enabling partnerships and business models; and considered gaps and best practices for collecting population data for the purpose of improving the drug discovery process. This publication summarizes the presentations and discussions from the workshop.

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