Founder, Board of Directors

Michael Wilson is the Debbie and Andy Rachleff Distinguished Professor of Neurology at UCSF’s Weill Institute for Neurosciences. He is the founding director of the UCSF Center for Encephalitis and Meningitis, and his lab does translational research on neuroinflammatory disorders with the aim of developing improved diagnostics and therapeutics, including metagenomic next-generation sequencing of cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue. Michael went to college at University of Chicago, medical school at UCSF, neurology residency at the Harvard Neurology Residency Program at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals and postdoctoral fellowship at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories and UCSF’s Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. He spends his free time with his wife and two kids, likes to run and fly fish and can’t give up rooting for the Chicago Cubs.

Founder

Pardis Sabeti is a core institute member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, a professor at the Center for Systems Biology and the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University, a professor in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Disease at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The Sabeti lab has pioneered genomic and computational technologies for detecting, tracking, and containing deadly pathogens, including Ebola, Zika, Lassa, SARS-CoV-2, and Plasmodium falciparum malaria. During the 2014 Ebola epidemic in West Africa, Sabeti’s team generated the first large-scale genomic dataset of a high-risk pathogen outbreak, led the field in making outbreak data available publicly in real-time, and showed that the Ebola virus was transmitting from human-to-human and mutating to do so more easily. During the COVID-19 pandemic, they led genomic investigations that elucidated the first superspreader events, variants of concern, and transmission from vaccinated individuals. Sabeti is a member of the National Academy of Medicine. Her honors include TIME magazine’s “Person of the Year” as one of the Ebola fighters, 100 Most Influential People, and Impact award. They also include World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, National Geographic Emerging Explorer, Smithsonian Magazine American Ingenuity Award for Natural Science, NIH Innovator, and NHGRI’s inaugural Outstanding Award for Enhancing Diversity Equity Inclusion and Accessibility.

Sabeti is a co-founder of SHERLOCK Biosciences and serves on the Board of its 221B Foundation, aiming to bring at-cost point-of-need diagnostics to low and middle income countries. She is a co-founder of Delve Bio, and serves on the boards of Danaher Corporation and Polaris Genomics.

Founder

Dr. Joseph DeRisi is the President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub SF and a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF. He employs an interdisciplinary approach combining genomics, bioinformatics, biochemistry, and bioengineering to study parasitic and viral infectious diseases in a wide range of organisms, for the purpose of discovering and studying novel or unrecognized diseases. His current work extends his focus beyond infections to include autoimmune disease as well. Early work in his lab contributed to the identification of the SARS coronavirus in 2003. In a parallel effort, Dr. DeRisi studies P. falciparum, the causative agent of the deadliest form of human malaria. Dr. DeRisi was one of the early pioneers of DNA microarray technology, which he helped develop with his PhD mentor, Dr. Patrick O. Brown, at Stanford University. He is nationally recognized for his efforts to make this technology accessible and freely available.

In 2004, he was chosen for a MacArthur Fellowship. In addition to being a Searle Scholar and a Packard Fellow, Dr. DeRisi has received the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment, and was named an Eli Lilly and Company Research Award Laureate. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015, and the National Academy of Sciences in 2016, and the National Academy of Medicine in 2017.

He received a B.A. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (1992) from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Dr. DeRisi completed his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Patrick O. Brown in the department of Biochemistry (1999), Stanford University. Prior to joining the UCSF faculty, Dr DeRisi was a Sandler Fellow in 1999. Dr. DeRisi was also a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator from 2006-2016, which he left to take on the role of Co-President of the Chan Zuckerberg Biohub. Dr. DeRisi is continuing to pursue efforts toward data-driven diagnostics for infectious disease, and recently, autoimmune disorders as well. Dr. DeRisi is a Founder of Delve Bio Inc.

Founder

Charles Chiu, M.D./Ph.D. is Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases at University of California, San Francisco and Director of the UCSF Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. Chiu currently leads a translational research laboratory focused on the development and clinical validation of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) and host response profiling assays for diagnosis of infections, outbreak investigation, and pathogen discovery. He is a principal developer of a CRISPR-Cas12a based assay for the diagnosis of COVID-19, for which FDA Emergency Use Authorization was obtained in July of 2020, and has achieved FDA breakthrough device designation for mNGS assays for pathogen identification from cerebrospinal and respiratory fluids. Chiu also leverages machine learning based approaches to develop host response classification models based on RNA gene expression for differential diagnosis of central nervous system infections, infection-associated chronic illnesses (Lyme disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and long COVID), and hyperinflammatory syndromes such as sepsis and multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Chiu’s work is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), Abbott Laboratories, Chan-Zuckerberg Biohub, the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation, and the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine. Dr. Chiu has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed publications, holds over 15 patents and patent applications, is a co-founder of Delve Bio, and serves on the scientific advisory board of Delve Bio, Biomeme, Mammoth Biosciences, Flightpath Biosciences, Biomesense, and Poppy Health.

Founder & CEO

Brad is Delve Bio’s CEO and co-founder. Most recently, Brad was a senior associate at Xontogeny, where he made seed and series A investments across the life sciences. Previously, Brad was a computational biologist at Intellia Therapeutics applying his expertise to CRISPR/CAS9 therapeutics. Prior to Intellia, Brad was a computational associate at The Broad Institute where he developed algorithms for the analysis of cancer genome sequencing data. Brad holds a BS in Biology and Economics from Georgetown University and an MBA in finance and entrepreneurship from Boston College. In his free time, Brad enjoys making homemade pasta and rooting for the San Francisco 49ers and his beloved Georgetown Hoyas.

Founder, Board of Directors

Michael Wilson is the Debbie and Andy Rachleff Distinguished Professor of Neurology at UCSF’s Weill Institute for Neurosciences. He is the founding director of the UCSF Center for Encephalitis and Meningitis, and his lab does translational research on neuroinflammatory disorders with the aim of developing improved diagnostics and therapeutics, including metagenomic next-generation sequencing of cerebrospinal fluid and brain tissue. Michael went to college at University of Chicago, medical school at UCSF, neurology residency at the Harvard Neurology Residency Program at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals and postdoctoral fellowship at Boston University’s National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories and UCSF’s Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. He spends his free time with his wife and two kids, likes to run and fly fish and can’t give up rooting for the Chicago Cubs.

Mike is a General Partner of S32, a venture capital firm investing at the frontiers of technology. Prior to joining S32 in 2017, he served as CEO of Foundation Medicine, a company which transformed the way pharmaceutical companies and physicians evaluate the genomic changes underlying a patient’s cancer, until he transitioned to Chairman through the close of Roche’s (RHHBY) acquisition of FMI in August 2018. Previously, he was President and COO of Clarient, a national leader in molecular pathology, which was acquired by GE Healthcare in 2010.

He currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors for Nusano, Singular Genomics (OMIC), Adaptive Biotechnologies (ADPT), Octave BioSciences, TwinStrand Genomics, Exai Bio, Delve Bio, and the American Cancer Society. He previously served on the board of Thrive Earlier Detection, which was acquired by Exact Sciences (EXACT) in 2021, and Tango Therapeutics (TNGX). Mike brings a breadth of understanding in personalized medicine, with a particular interest and focus on defeating cancer.

During the COVID pandemic, Mike served as a Senior Advisor to the Rockefeller Foundation’s efforts on COVID-19 testing.

Mike received a BA from Boston College, an MBA from Drexel University and an MD from Jefferson Medical College.

Chris Garabedian founded Xontogeny in June of 2016 to support multiple promising technologies from early development through clinical proof of concept, and formed a partnership with Perceptive in 2017 to establish the firm’s venture fund strategy. As a member of the Perceptive Investment Team, Chris will help source and identify venture opportunities for investment as part of the Xontogeny portfolio and beyond. Chris has a broad base of experience and a track record of success across his 25 years in the pharma and biotech industries, including at two of the most successful biopharma companies over the last 20 years, Gilead and Celgene. Most recently, Chris served as the President and CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics from 2011 to 2015, overseeing the turnaround of a company that is now a commercial stage leader in the genetic technology space after leading the development of the company’s Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy program. Prior to Sarepta, Chris served as VP of Corporate Strategy for Celgene from 2007 to 2010. Prior to Celgene, Chris served in a number of global leadership roles at Gilead from 1997 to 2005, including as VP of Corporate Development, VP of Medical Affairs and VP of Marketing. Chris is currently on the Board of Directors of MassBio, on the Board of Advisors for the Keck Graduate Institute and serves as a Senior Advisor for the Boston Consulting Group.

Dr. J has years of experience leading healthcare innovation efforts in diagnostic testing, medical devices, virtual care and digital health, pharmaceutical and companion diagnostics development. Dr. J served as CMO, CSO and SVP for Quest Diagnostics over a period of 14 years. In that role, he was responsible for R&D, Medical Affairs, Medical Quality and Regulatory. He also ran Quest’s self-insured health plan for over 60,000 members as well as the Employer Population Health business. Dr. J ran Quest’s scientific and medical response to Covid-19 and received a C. Everett Koop Award for best population health program in 2020 for his work with Quest’s employee health plan.