Silicon Valley August Seminar

Online

Date: Thursday, August 15
Time: 5:30 – 7:00 pm

If you would like to attend, register in advance for this webinar.

After the webinar, you are invited to talk to the speaker and mingle with other alumni in a post-webinar social via a Zoom meeting.

We look forward to seeing you.

Peter Tong

The Human Phenome Initiative: The Largest Paradigm Change in Medicine Ever
by Leroy Hood

Big-data-driven health employs the tools of genomics and phenomics (blood analyses, gut microbiome, and digital health of body and brain, genome sequence) on individuals to follow and optimize their health trajectory. I will discuss the 7 paradigm changes I have participated in across 55 years that deal with human complexity and ultimately an ideal healthcare. These changes included developing 6 instruments for reading and writing DNA and proteins, the Human Genome Project, the global and holistic approach to biology termed systems biology and the emergence of data-driven health through the creation of a scientific or quantitative wellness company, Arivale. In 2021, I founded a non-profit company, Phenome Health, whose mission is to popularize data-driven health and promotes a 2nd genome-like project, The Human Phenome Initiative. Our goal is to analyze with genome and phenome analyses a million individuals over a 10-year period. I will discuss how we are going about these ambitious endeavors, and our major partners in these objectives. The Human Phenome Initiative will provide the validation for catalyzing a US healthcare system focused on wellness and prevention, rather than our current system of disease care.

A world-renowned scientist and recipient of the National Medal of Science in 2011, Lee co-founded the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) in 2000, served as its first President from 2000-2017 and is a Professor and Chief Strategy Officer. In 2016, ISB affiliated with Providence Health and Services where Lee now serves as Emeritus Science Advisor. Lee also is Professor and Chief Innovation Officer at the Buck Institute for Aging.

He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine. Of the more than 6,000 scientists worldwide who belong to one or more of these academies, Lee is one of only 20 people elected to all three. He is also in the Inventors’ Hall of Fame for developing the automated DNA sequencer, which made the Human Genome Project possible.

He received his MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and his PhD in biochemistry from Caltech. Lee was a faculty member at Caltech from 1967-1992, serving for 10 years as the Chair of Biology. During this period, he and his colleagues developed four sequencer and synthesizer instruments that paved the way for the Human Genome Project’s successful mapping and understanding of the human genome. He and his students also deciphered many of the complex mechanisms of antibody diversification. In 1992, Lee founded and chaired the Department of Molecular Biotechnology at the University of Washington, the first academic department devoted to cross-disciplinary biology.

Lee is currently carrying out studies in Alzheimer’s Disease, cancer, and data-driven wellness. He is proposing a 2nd genome-like project, “The Human Phenome Initiative,”  targeting one million patients over 10 years with genome/phenome analyses, so as to bring scientific (quantitative) wellness to the contemporary U.S. health care system.

Lee has played a role in founding 18 biotechnology companies including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Arivale, and Nanostring. He has co-authored textbooks in biochemistry, immunology, molecular biology, genetics, and systems biology. In addition to having received 18 honorary degrees from prestigious universities in the U.S. and abroad, Lee has published more than 1000 peer-reviewed articles and currently holds 36 patents.

Lee is the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including the Lasker Award for Studies of Immune Diversity (1987), the Kyoto Prize in advanced technology (2002), the Heinz Award for pioneering work in Systems Biology (2006), the National Academy of Engineering Fritz J. and Delores H. Russ Prize for developing automated DNA sequencing (2011), and the National Academy of Science Award for Chemistry in Service to Society (2017).

‍Our Alumni Volunteers‍

The following alumni work together to serve you:
Avni Gandhi, Dave Adler, Jane Frommer, Mike Klein, Xinh Huynh, and Peter Tong.