Board of Directors


Dr. Jeffrey Herz, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO, Algomedix

Jeffrey Herz, Ph.D., is the founder of Algomedix and serves as the current Chairman of the Board, President and CEO. He has more than 25 years senior R&D management and drug discovery and development experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry focused on the R&D IP business interface and has held senior scientific and corporate development positions at venture-backed companies, Omeros (NASDAQ: OMER) and Molecumetics.

Dr. Herz established the TRPA1 drug development program for chronic pain at Algomedix and has led development efforts that have created a leading position for this potential first-in-class non-opioid analgesic. Prior to founding Algomedix, Dr. Herz was the founding scientist at Omeros and created a pipeline of products protected by a diverse IP estate while leading pharmaceutical research programs in multiple therapeutic areas, including pain and inflammation. This work resulted in three products which progressed from inception to late-stage clinical trials, and one FDA approved product on the market.

Dr. Herz previously served as founder and President of Applied Receptor Sciences and has held positions of increasing responsibility during his work with biotechnology companies. He began his industry with Panlabs and then transitioned to the Molecumetics, where Dr. Herz led drug discovery and interfaced with the CEO and President to advance small molecule drug development. Dr. Herz received his B.A. in Biology from the College of Creative Studies at the Univ. of California at Santa Barbara and received his Ph.D. in Physiology and Anatomy from the University of California at Berkeley with a concentration in cellular physiology, biochemistry and biophysics. His completed post-doctoral research in the Dept. of Pharmacology in the Medical School of the University of California at San Diego where he held an individual NIH post-doctoral research fellowship and an American Heart Association fellowship. He subsequently served on the faculty at the Univ. of Texas at Austin while conducting teaching and research before entering the biotechnology industry.

Dr. Herz has received numerous grants and awards for his pharmacological and drug development research. He the inventor of more than 225 US issued and international patents and patent applications, has authored or co-authored numerous scientific publications, and is an invited speaker at many meetings on topics which include drug discovery and development, and molecular medicine.

 

Dr. Leroy Hood
Institute for Systems Biology

Dr. Hood’s outstanding contributions have had a resounding effect on the advancement of science since the 1960s. Throughout his career, he has adhered to the advice of his mentor, Dr. William J. Dreyer: “If you want to practice biology, do it on the leading edge, and if you want to be on the leading edge, invent new tools for deciphering biological information.”

Hood was involved in the development of six instruments critical for contemporary biology – namely, automated DNA sequencers, DNA synthesizers, protein sequencers, peptide synthesizers, the ink jet printer for constructing DNA arrays and large scale synthesis of DNA and the nanostring instrument for the single molecule analysis of RNA (and later DNA). These instruments opened the door to high-throughput biological data and the era of big data in biology and medicine. He helped pioneer the human genome program, making it possible with the automated DNA sequencer. Under Hood’s direction, the Human Genome Center sequenced portions of human chromosomes 14 and 15.

In 1992, Hood created the first cross-disciplinary biology department, Molecular Biotechnology, at the University of Washington. In 2000, he left the UW to co-found Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), the first committed to systems approach to biology and disease. He has pioneered systems medicine in the years since ISB’s founding and has argued for a healthcare that is predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory (P4). Hood has made many seminal discoveries in the fields of immunology, neurobiology, cancer biology and biotechnology and, most recently, has been a leader in the development of systems biology and its applications to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, as well as pioneering technologies and strategies that bring systems biology to personalized medicine.

Hood is now pioneering new approaches to P4 medicine and most recently, has embarked on creating a P4 pilot project on 108  well individuals, that is transforming healthcare and leading to a new healthcare discipline termed scientific wellness.

In addition to his groundbreaking research, Hood has published 750 papers, received 36 patents, 17 honorary degrees and more than 100 awards and honors. He is one of only 15 individuals elected to all three National Academies – the National Academy of Science, the National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Medicine. Hood has founded or co-founded 15 different biotechnology companies including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Rosetta, Darwin, Integrated Diagnostics, Indi Molecular and Arivale.

Hood has also had a life-long interest in K-12 science education and ISB has been a leader in this area