Howard J. Jacob, Ph.D., Professor and Director, Human and Molecular Genetics Center, Medical College of Wisconsin
Dr. Jacob is a Professor and Director of the Human and Molecular Genectics Center received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of lowa in 1989. He completed two parallel post-doctoral fellowships in Functional Genomics and Molecular Genetics/Genomics at Harvard, Stanford and MIT with Victor J. Dzau, M.D. and Eric S. Lander, Ph.D. He was on the faculty at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School for nearly 4 years before moving to Milwaukee. He joined the Medical College of Wisconsin in 1996 as an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology with full Professorship and Tenure in 2001. He was appointed the Founding Director of the Human and Molecular Genetics Center (HMGC) and was awarded the Warren P. Knowles Chair of Genetics in 1999. He has published more than 200 peer reviewed articles.
Atul Butte, M.D., Ph.D., Chief, Division of Systems Medicine, Department of Pediatrics; Associate Professor, Stanford University School of Medicine; Director, Center for Pediatric Bioinformatics, Lucile Packard Children's Hospital
Dr. Butte is an Assistant Professor in Pediatrics, Medicine (Medical Informatics), and by courtesy, Computer Science, at Stanford University and the Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, and is a pediatric endocrinologist. Dr. Butte trained in Computer Science and received his M.D. from Brown University, trained in Pediatrics and Pediatric Endocrinology at Children’s Hospital Boston, and received his Ph.D. in Health Sciences from MIT and Harvard Medical School. Dr. Butte has authored nearly 100 publications and delivered more than 120 invited presentations in personalized and systems medicine, biomedical informatics, and molecular diabetes, including 20 at the National Institutes of Health or NIH-related meetings. Dr. Butte is on the Board of Directors of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). Dr. Butte has co-authored one of the first books on microarray analysis entitled "Microarrays for an Integrative Genomics" published by MIT Press.
Robert C. Green, M.D., MPH, Associate Director for Research, Partners Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine, Division of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Dr. Green, is a Medical Geneticist and a leading researcher in translational genomics and health Outcomes. Dr. Green directs the NIH-funded REVEAL Study, in which a cross-disciplinary team has conducted 4 separate multi-center randomized clinical trials collectively enrolling 1100 individuals to disclose a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease in order to explore emerging themes in translational genomics. Dr. Green also co-directs the first NIH-funded prospective study of direct-to-consumer genetic testing services and leads the Brigham-Harvard Medical School team in a new NIH initiative to explore the use of whole genome sequencing in clinical medicine. He is a member of the NIH-funded Workgroup on Incidental Findings in genetic research, a Board Member of the Council for Responsible Genetics and a member of the Informed Cohort Oversight Boards for both the Children’s Hospital Boston Gene Partnership Program and the Coriell Personalized Medicine Collaborative. Dr. Green is currently Associate Director for Research of the Partners Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.
Jeff Boyd, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Molecular Medicine, The Robert C. Young, MD, Chair in Cancer Research; Executive Director, Cancer Genome Institute; Chief, Division of Molecular Pathology, Professor and Co-Leader, Women's Cancer Program, Fox Chase Cancer Center
Dr. Boyd has studied the molecular genetics of women’s cancers for 25 years, having held faculty research positions at the National Institutes of Health, the University of Pennsylvania, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and the Fox Chase Cancer Center. He has held executive leadership positions at the Anderson Cancer Institute in Savannah, GA and the Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, where his current focus is on the development of a comprehensive cancer molecular medicine program.
Nazneen Aziz, Ph.D., Director of Molecular Medicine, Transformation Program Office, College of American Pathologists
Dr. Aziz is the Director of Molecular Medicine in the Transformation Program Office at the College of American Pathologists and Co-Founder of Vitrimark. In her prior positions, Dr. Aziz was Vice President of Research and Development at Interleukin Genetics, Vice President of External Research at Point Therapeutics and Director of Translational Research at Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research. In her industry career, she has focused on biomarker and genetic test development and development of drugs for cancer and diabetes. Prior to joining the biotechnology industry, she was Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and worked on the discovery of new genes and their function in recessive polycystic kidney disease.
Živana Težak, Ph.D., Associate Director for Science and Technology, Personalized Medicine, Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Device Evaluation and Safety (OIVD), Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), FDA
Dr. Težak, is an Associate Director for Science and Technology in the Office of In Vitro Diagnostic Device (IVD) Evaluation and Safety, Personalized Medicine Staff, at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Prior to joining the FDA in 2004, as a scientific reviewer in microbiology, genomics and molecular biology, Dr. Težak worked in biotechnology industry, holding research and development scientist positions in a bioinformatics and array developer company. Dr. Težak received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology from Florida State University in 1997. From 1998 to 2001 she was a research fellow at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Children's National Medical Center, working on neuromuscular disorders, human genetics, gene therapy, and high-throughput screening technologies. Her work resulted in a number of publications in peer-reviewed journals, book chapters and proceedings.
John West, CEO, Personalis, Inc.
Mr. West has worked in the field of DNA sequencing since 1982, most recently managing DNA sequencing businesses at Applied Biosystems (to 2004), Solexa (to 2007) and then Illumina (to 2008). In 2009, the Wests became the first family of four to be sequenced by the Illumina Individual Genome Sequencing service. Efforts to find interpretation for these genomes led to collaboration and publication with researchers at Stanford University, and eventual co-founding of Personalis, Inc. Personalis focuses on interpretation of human genome sequences, targeting accuracy suitable for regulatory approval and consistent with serious medical uses.
Cinnamon S. Bloss, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Scripps Translational Science Institute, Scripps Genomic Medicine
Dr. Bloss is an Assistant Professor at the Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI) in La Jolla, California. She is the lead researcher on STSI's Scripps Genomic Health Initiative, and her work on this project was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine and has been highlighted at a number of national and international scientific and health policy-related meetings. Dr. Bloss' other research interests include developing ways of combining genomics with traditional disease risk factors to make predictions about disease development, progression and response to treatment, as well as designing effective health interventions that leverage genomic information. She also conducts genetic association studies and has several collaborations to investigate the genetic underpinnings of neurological, behavioral, and other health-related phenotypes. Dr. Bloss received her B.A. in Psychology from Smith College, her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of California, San Diego, and completed a pre-doctoral internship in Clinical Neuropsychology at the University of Florida. Dr. Bloss completed a post-doctoral fellowship in Statistical Genetics and Genomic Medicine at The Scripps Research Institute.
Mike M. Moradian, Ph.D., Director of Operations / Molecular Genetics Scientist, Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regional Genetics Laboratory
Dr. Moradian serves as Director of Operations at Kaiser Permanente Southern California Regional Medical Genetics Laboratories. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, specializing in Genomics and Bioinformatics from University of California, Los Angeles. He is a board certified Molecular Genetics Scientist from the American Board of Bioanalysis (ABB), a Clinical Laboratory Bioanalyst with the State of California, and a Clinical Consultant/High Complexity Laboratory Director from ABB. Dr. Moradian has been involved in development and set up of dozens of complex genetic assays molecular pathology laboratories.
Gary M. Owens, M.D., Gary Owens Associates
Dr. Gary Owens provides high level consulting services in a number of health-related fields to his clients, with more than 25 years of experience in health care management. He has expertise in the evaluation and reimbursement of new drugs and devices, medical management program strategy, health plan operations, employer benefit design, formulary development and clinical formulary management. Prior to establishing Gary Owens Associates in 2007, Dr. Owens was Vice President for Medical Management and Policy at Independence Blue Cross (IBC) from 2003 to 2006. From 1996 to 2003, Dr. Owens was Vice President for Patient Care Management at IBC and was responsible for medical management services for 3.2 million members and nearly 7 billion dollars of annual medical spending activity. Dr. Owens is an honors graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and received his M.D. from Thomas Jefferson University.
Gholson J. Lyon, M.D., Ph.D., Adjunct Assistant Professor, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, New York University Child Study Center; Research Scientist, Center for Applied Genomics, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Utah Foundation for Biomedical Research
Dr. Lyon is a Research Scientist at the Center for Applied Genomics at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an adjunct Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at N.Y.U. School of Medicine. He is a board-certified child, adolescent and adult psychiatrist. He earned an M.Phil. in Genetics, working with Nobel laureate Martin Evans in Cambridge, U.K., then received his Ph.D. and M.D. through the combined Cornell/Sloan-Kettering/Rockefeller University training program. He has published peer-reviewed papers in biochemistry, genetics, pharmacology and molecular biology. In addition to his research interest in neuropsychiatric illnesses, Dr. Lyon is focusing on the discovery of rare heretofore undiscovered Mendelian diseases.
Randy Scott, Ph.D., Executive Chairman, Genomic Health
Dr. Scott is Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Genomic Health, Inc. He has served as Executive Chairman of the company since January 2009 and previously as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from August 2000 through January 2009. Randy was a founder of Incyte Corporation, a genomic information company, and served at Incyte in various roles, including Chairman of the Board from August 2000 to December 2001, President from January 1997 to August 2000 and Chief Scientific Officer from March 1995 to August 2000. Randy holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from Emporia State University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Kansas.
Andrew Grupe, Ph.D., Senior Director Pharmacogenomics, Celera/Quest Diagnostics
Dr. Grupe is the Senior Director for Pharmacogenomics at Celera, a wholly owned subsidiary of Quest Diagnostics. Dr. Grupe joined Quest Diagnostics with its acquisition of Celera in May 2011. Before taking on the pharmacogenomics responsibilities in 2007, he was Director of Celera’s CNS Research. Prior to joining Celera, Dr. Grupe was at Roche Pharmaceuticals, where he advanced small molecules up to early toxicity screening and was tasked with the identification of novel drug targets through genetics and genomics methods. Dr. Grupe earned his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Chemistry from the Ruhr University of Bochum and conducted his postdoctoral research at Genentech and the Universitätsklinik Hamburg Eppendorf. He is the author of numerous scientific papers that provide insight into common diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and inflammatory diseases from animal model system studies and human genetics and genomics studies.
Dietrich A. Stephan, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Silicon Valley Biosystems, Inc. (SVBio)
Stephan is a human geneticist who has worked across organizations to implement personalized genomic medical tools and strategies to benefit patients in a scalable fashion. He recently built the business plan and obtained funding for the Gene Partnership at Children’s Hospital Boston/HMS and the Cancer Genome Institute at Fox Chase Cancer Center, both efforts to re-architect the care delivery model to improve outcomes. Stephan assisted each organization by bringing next-generation genome sequencing to the clinical setting, with associated clinical decision support and sustainable business processes. Bringing this type of new care to patients in these academic medical center settings in a fully integrated fashion, in both heritable and acquired human diseases such as cancer, is a stepping stone to scaling in community-based settings to make a broad public health impact. SVBio is that scalable solution for the clinical marketplace.
In 2006, Dr. Stephan founded Navigenics Inc. The company provides the infrastructure for clinical delivery of complex and ever evolving personalized genetic risk assessments and clinical decision support for a plethora of chronic diseases so as to make a public health impact in common disease. Dr. Stephan joined Navigenics after serving as part of the leadership team of TGen in Phoenix, Arizona His roles at the Institute were Chairman of the Neurogenomics Division, Senior Investigator within the Institute, and Deputy Director for Discovery Research of the Institute overall. Stephan has published over 140 articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals, including publications in journals such as Science, the New England Journal of Medicine, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science and Nature Genetics. He trained at Carnegie Mellon University and the National Human Genome Research Institute.
Paul R. Billings M.D., Ph.D., CMO, Life Technologies
Board certified internist and clinical geneticist Dr. Paul R. Billings serves as Chief Medical Officer of Life Technologies Corporation, a new position aimed at improving patient care through expanding the use of medically relevant genomic technologies in clinical settings. Dr. Billings brings extensive expertise and health care experience in the areas of genomics and molecular medicine. Most recently, he served as Director and Chief Scientific Officer of the Genomic Medicine Institute at El Camino Hospital, the largest community hospital in the Silicon Valley. He was a member of the United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary's Advisory Committee on Genetics, Health and Society. He currently serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Food and Drug Administration, the Genomic Medicine Advisory Committee at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the IOM Roundtable on Genomics. Dr. Billings has had a distinguished career as a physician and researcher. He has been a founder or chief executive officer of companies involved in genetic and diagnostic medicine, including GeneSage, Omicia and CELLective Dx Corporation. Previously, he was senior vice president for corporate development at Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (LabCorp). He has held academic appointments at some of the most prestigious universities in the United States, including Harvard Medical School, U.C. San Francisco, Stanford University School of Medicine and U. C. Berkeley, and has served as a physician at a number of prestigious medical centers. He is the author of nearly 200 publications and books on experimental and clinical medicine. His work on genetic discrimination was instrumental in the creation and passage of the federal Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act of 2008. Dr. Billings holds an M.D. from Harvard Medical School and a Ph.D. in immunology, also from Harvard University. Dr. Billings is a long time Board Member and has previously served as Board Chair, of the Council for Responsible Genetics.
David I. Smith, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology; Chairman, Technology Assessment Group, Center for Individualized Medicine, Mayo Clinic
Dr. Smith is a Professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology at the Mayo Clinic. He runs an active research laboratory studying the molecular alterations that underlie cancer development. His group also studies long non-coding RNAs and the role that they play in cancer development. He is also the Chairman of the Technology Assessment Group for the Center for Individualized Medicine. The most exciting technological development in recent years has to be the advances that have been made in DNA sequencing. The utilization of massively parallel sequencing in so-called next-generation sequencers has resulted in dramatic improvements in sequence output and concomitantly dramatic decreases in the cost of genome sequencing. These technologies are rapidly being incorporated into modern medical practice and this is the topic of the talk that Dr. Smith will give.
Elissa Levin, Vice President, Genomic Services, Navigenics
Ms. Levin serves as Vice President of Genomic Services for Navigenics, and is a nationally-recognized leader in developing new models for the delivery of cutting-edge personal genetic and genomic services. As a board-certified Genetic Counselor whose experience ranges from the research lab to medical centers to the Internet, she is dedicated to developing forward-thinking approaches to responsibly realize the promise of personalized medicine as genetic and genomic technologies enter clinical practice. Ms. Levin was most recently Director of Clinical Services at DNA Direct, Inc., where she helped pioneer the first direct-to-consumer genetic counseling service, providing testing, education and counseling services for specific medical conditions. Ms. Levin earned a Master of Science degree in genetic counseling from Arcadia University in Philadelphia and is certified by the American Board of Genetic Counseling. Her broader efforts to improve healthcare by setting high standards for providing novel approaches to genetics support services have led to a broad range of media appearances and nationwide lectures and workshops.
Nazneen Aziz, Ph.D., Director of Molecular Medicine, Transformation Program Office, College of American Pathologists
Dr. Aziz is the Director of Molecular Medicine in the Transformation Program Office at the College of American Pathologists and Co-Founder of Vitrimark. In her prior positions, Dr. Aziz was Vice President of Research and Development at Interleukin Genetics, Vice President of External Research at Point Therapeutics and Director of Translational Research at Novartis Institute of Biomedical Research. In her industry career, she has focused on biomarker and genetic test development and development of drugs for cancer and diabetes. Prior to joining the biotechnology industry, she was Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School and worked on the discovery of new genes and their function in recessive polycystic kidney disease.
Gary Yamamoto, Laboratory Consultant, United States Department of Health and Human Services (US DHHS), Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
Mr. Yamamoto is California trained and licensed Clinical Laboratory Scientist, and Graduated from University of California, Los Angeles with a degree in Microbiology. He is experiences in all areas of the laboratory, with an emphasis in immunohematology and diagnostic immunology. As a result of the State’s commitment to the CLIA program, in 1992, he began working at the California Department of Public Health, Laboratory Field Services as a laboratory surveyor. In 1997, came to CMS’ San Francisco Regional Office as a Laboratory Consultant in the CLIA program.
Euan Ashley, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Cardiovascular Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine
Dr. Ashley is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine at Stanford University, California and Director of the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease. Born and raised in Scotland, Dr. Ashley graduated with 1st class Honors in Physiology and Medicine from the University of Glasgow in 1996. After completing residency at the University of Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital, he joined the Ph.D. program in Molecular Cardiology at the University of Oxford. In 2006, he joined the faculty of Stanford and started an independent laboratory funded by a K award from the NHLBI and a National Innovation award from the American Heart Association. In 2009, he was awarded an NIH Director’s New Innovator award. In 2010, he led the team that carried out the first clinical interpretation of a whole human genome, and in 2011, the team extended the approach to a family of four.
Francisco M. De La Vega, D.Sc., Department of Genetics, Stanford University School of Medicine
Dr. De La Vega is an accomplished Genomics and Computational Biology Scientist. He spent 13 years at Applied Biosystems (currently Life Technologies), where he was the Distinguished Scientific Fellow, Vice President of Next-Generation Sequencing Applications, and a distinguished inventor, founding member of the Life Technologies’ i2 (Invention x Innovation) Society. He is currently a Visiting Instructor at the Department of Genetics of the Stanford University School of Medicine where he studies the structure of human populations through whole-genome sequencing, how to interpret this variation for clinical purposes and coordinates a research project where knowledgeable genetics professionals are being sequenced to obtain a medical interpretation of their genomes. Francisco earned his Doctor of Science degree in Genetics and Molecular Biology at CINVESTAV (Mexico), studying the genetic regulation of protein biosynthesis in the bacteria/bacteriophage system with emphasis in the computational analysis.