Arc Institute welcomes first Scientific Advisory Board members; appoints two new members to Board of Directors

(Press-News.org) Today, Arc Institute, the scientific research organization pioneering new models for scientific discovery and translation, is announcing the creation of its Scientific Advisory Board and its first two Scientific Advisors, as well as the appointment of two new members to the Arc Board of Directors.

New Scientific Advisory Board

Dr. Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., and Dr. Aviv Regev, Ph.D., join as the first two members of Arc’s Scientific Advisory Board and will provide strategic guidance, share their deep expertise, and play a key role in guiding and advancing Arc’s mission to accelerate scientific progress and understand the root causes of complex human disease. Both have extensive experience conducting multi-disciplinary research into multifaceted biomedical challenges, across both academic and commercial settings.

Dr. Bertozzi is the Baker Family Director of Sarafan ChEM-H, Anne T. and Robert M. Bass Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences and Professor, by courtesy, of Chemical and Systems Biology and of Radiology, and an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Stanford University. Her research focuses on translational chemical biology with particular applications in glycoscience, leading to the development of new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. In 2022, Dr. Bertozzi was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for her invention of the field of bioorthogonal chemistry, which allows researchers to study molecules in living things without interfering with natural biological processes. She is also a prolific entrepreneur and the co-founder of Redwood Bioscience, Enable Biosciences, Palleon Pharma, InterVenn Biosciences, OliLux Biosciences, and Lycia Therapeutics. Dr. Bertozzi is also an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Engineering, as well as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society.

Dr. Regev serves as the Executive Vice President and Head of Research and Early Development at Genentech (gRED), a member of the Roche Group, where she leads efforts in drug discovery and drug development. She is also the co-founding co-chair of the international Human Cell Atlas initiative. Dr. Regev pioneered the development of foundational experimental methods and computational algorithms in single-cell genomics, and is a leader in deciphering intra- and intercellular molecular circuits in cells and tissues. Previously, Dr. Regev served as a Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Founding Director of the Klarman Cell Observatory, Co-Director of the Cell Circuits Program at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, and Investigator at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Among other honors, Dr. Regev is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Medicine, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and an elected foreign member of the UK Royal Society.

“We’re delighted to welcome Drs. Bertozzi and Regev as thought partners who bring rich scientific insight and expertise from both academia and industry to the Arc research community,” said Patrick Hsu, Arc Co-Founder and Core Investigator. “Their unique perspectives and experience leading groundbreaking interdisciplinary research will serve as an inspiring model for the science we’re conducting at Arc.”

Board of Directors Expansion

In addition, Reid Hoffman, Partner at Greylock and Co-Founder of LinkedIn and Susan Li, Chief Financial Officer of Meta join Nat Friedman, former CEO of Github, on Arc’s Board of Directors, bringing combined decades of experience in leadership roles at some of the world's most respected technology companies.

Entrepreneur, executive, and investor Reid Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, and has been at Greylock since 2009. Before starting LinkedIn, Reid served as Executive Vice President at PayPal, where he was also a founding board member. Reid serves on Microsoft’s Board of Directors as well as some other company boards and several not-for-profit boards, including CZI Biohub, the Stanford Institute for Human-Centered AI, and the MacArthur Foundation’s Lever for Change.

As CFO of global technology pioneer Meta, Susan leads the company’s finance and facilities organizations. Prior to becoming CFO, Susan served as Vice President of Finance and spent more than a decade and a half leading Meta’s finance, business planning, and treasury teams. She joined Meta, then called Facebook, in 2008 and was previously an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. She also served on the Board of Alaska Air Group from 2018 to 2023. Susan has received many accolades in recognition of her work, including Barron’s Most Influential Women in Finance, Forbes Power Women, and Forbes 40 under 40.

Investor and entrepreneur Nat Friedman is the former CEO of software developer platform GitHub, where he led the launch of the Copilot tool, one of the first broadly-used AI products. Nat enjoys pushing the boundaries of technology, most recently as the co-creator of the Vesuvius Challenge, an ML and computer vision competition to read the volcano-carbonized papyrus scrolls of Herculaneum. Nat has been advising Arc since 2021.

“Susan, Reid and Nat have remarkable experience in building and shaping influential organizations, and we’re grateful to have their insights as we progress Arc on a path of intentional growth,” said Silvana Konermann, Arc Executive Director, Co-Founder and Core Investigator. “Their leadership at the cutting edge of technology will be especially valuable as the interface between biomedical research and machine learning is a major focal point for Arc’s science.”

Please visit the Arc Institute website for biographies of all new Scientific Advisory Board and Board of Directors members.

 

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