Katey Einterz Owen, PhD, joined our board of directors in 2021. Dr. Owen has worked for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation since 2013, where she currently serves as Director, Vaccine Development and Director, Neglected Tropical Diseases, maintaining end-to-end responsibility for the Gates Foundation’s investments in these areas, including facilitation of the Foundation’s interactions with pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Owen is active on the boards of The End Fund to end neglected diseases and GHIT, the Global Health Innovative Technology Fund. Previously she held senior roles in product development, manufacturing, and commercialization at Merck & Co., Inc. Prior to industry, Katey carried out academic research at the National Institute for Medical Research in London. She earned her PhD in molecular virology and her BS in genetics from Purdue University.
Profile Type: Board of Directors
Robert Hershberg, MD, PhD
Dr. Robert Hershberg has served on our board of directors since February 2013. Rob has been employed in positions of ascending responsibility at Celgene Corporation since August 2014, and currently serves as Executive Vice President, Business Development and Global Alliances. Rob previously served in several roles at VentiRx Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, which he co-founded in 2006, and was Chief Executive Officer of VentiRx from 2012 until the company’s acquisition by Celgene in February 2017. Rob currently serves on the board of directors of Nanostring Technologies, Inc., and as a clinical faculty member at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He holds a PhD in Biology from University of California, San Diego’s Affiliated PhD Program with the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and an MD and a BA from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Michelle Griffin
Michelle Griffin has served on our board of directors since March 2019. Michelle currently serves on the board of directors of Acer Therapeutics, Inc, a public company, including as chair of the audit committee. Michelle also currently serves on the board of directors of HTG Molecular Diagnostics, Inc., a public company, including as chair of the audit committee. She previously served on the board of directors and as chair of the audit committee of PhaseRx, Inc., a public company, from 2016 to 2018, OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals Inc., a Nasdaq listed company, from 2008 to 2011 and Sonus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a public company, from 2004 to 2008. Michelle served as Executive Vice President, Operations, and Chief Financial Officer at OncoGenex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2011 to 2013, served as Acting Chief Executive, Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Trubion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. from 2009 until its acquisition in 2010 and as its Chief Financial Officer from 2006 to 2009; and served as Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Dendreon Corp. from 2005 to 2006. Michelle holds a BS in marketing from George Mason University and an MBA from Seattle University.
Peter Neupert
Peter Neupert has served as a member of our board of directors since December 2013. Peter currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of Fred Hutch. Peter served as an Operating Partner at Health Evolution Partners, a private equity fund, from February 2012 to July 2014. Prior to joining Health Evolution Partners, Peter served as Corporate Vice President, Health Solutions Group at Microsoft from August 2005 to January 2012, and as the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the board of directors of Drugstore.com, which he founded in 1998.
Peter currently serves on the board of directors of Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings, a public clinical laboratory company, and he previously served as a member of the board of directors of NextGen Healthcare, Inc., a public software company, and several private companies. Peter holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a BA in Philosophy from Colorado College.
Chad Robins
Chad Robins is the chief executive officer, co-founder and chairman of Adaptive Biotechnologies (Nasdaq: ADPT), a commercial-stage biotechnology company that aims to translate the genetics of the adaptive immune system into clinical products to diagnose and treat disease. The company operates across two business segments: Minimal Residual Disease (MRD), with its industry leading clonoSEQ® franchise, and Immune Medicine, a drug and target discovery and data platform.
In 2019, Chad guided Adaptive through its initial public offering, which was one of the year’s most successful biotech IPOs. Under his leadership, Adaptive launched clonoSEQ®, the first and only FDA-authorized next-generation sequencing-based test to detect and monitor MRD in hematologic malignancies.
Chad has also propelled Adaptive into the burgeoning health tech space, bringing cloud computing and machine learning together with Adaptive’s technology to map the immune response of many diseases, resulting in unparalleled T-cell receptor biology data sets. This work fuels Adaptive’s Immune Medicine business, advancing differentiated targeted therapies in cancer and autoimmunity.
Chad actively engages in the biotech and health policy communities. He chairs the boards of AltPep—an amyloid platform focused on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease; and the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine (C21)—a CEO-led board focused on policy and market access for the diagnostics industry. Chad also serves on the boards Life Science Washington, where he was the former Chair, Washington Roundtable, Digital Biotechnologies, and Headlight.
Chad graduated with honors from Cornell University and obtained his MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. Prior to Adaptive, Chad held executive-level positions in real estate, investment banking, private equity, and medical technology