Speaker Profile

Biography
Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for the Institute for Systems Biology and Senior Vice President and Chief Science Office for Providence St. Joseph Health, 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 National Academy 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 national academies (NAS, NAE and NAM). Dr. Hood has also played a role in founding more than 15 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 Arivale (bringing scientific wellness to consumers)—that hopefully will become a platform company for a healthcare that is predictive, preventive, personalized and participatory (P4 medicine).