Eric Steven Lander

A geneticist, molecular biologist and mathematician, Eric Lander is the Founding Director of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, as well as a professor of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School and a Professor of Biology at MIT. He pioneered the key principles for discovering the genes underlying human diseases and helped to bring them into reality as one of the principal leaders of the international Human Genome Project. His research has ranged over all aspects of the human genome ‐‐ including the genetic basis of inherited diseases and cancer, human population history, evolutionary forces, regulatory elements, long non‐coding RNAs, and three‐dimensional folding of the genome. Dr. Lander was appointed by President Obama in 2008 to co-chair the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology, which advises the White House on matters including health, manufacturing, energy, communications, nanotechnology and national security. Dr. Lander earned his BA from Princeton and PhD from Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. He has co-founded several successful biotechnology firms.