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Sean Eddy, Ph.D. - Chairman
Dr. Eddy is a group leader at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Janelia Farm Research Campus near
Washington, DC. His research interests are in the development of computational algorithms for genome
sequence analysis. He is co-author of the textbook Biological Sequence Analysis: Probabilistic Models
of Proteins and Nucleic Acids, and helped create the widely used Pfam database of protein families. Dr.
Eddy received a bachelor's degree from the California Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. from the
University of Colorado at Boulder, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular
Biology in Cambridge and a faculty member at the Washington University School of Medicine in Saint Louis.
He has consulted and served on advisory boards for several companies in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
sector.
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David Bird, Ph.D.
Dr. Bird is Co-Director of The Center for the Biology of Nematode Parasitism, a joint academic-industry
center located in North Carolina, and a Professor of Plant Pathology at NC State University. He also holds
an International Fellowship at Rothamsted Research, UK, and is Adjunct Professor of Agricultural Biotechnology
at Murdoch University, Australia. Dr. Bird serves on several advisory boards, including the Genome Research
Laboratory and also the Bioinformatics Research Center, both at NCSU. The author of issued patents, as well
as many publications, Dr. Bird is a leading molecular biologist in the field of plant nematology. His main
research support has come from the National Science Foundation, the United States Department of Agriculture,
and the United Soybean Board. Prior to his appointment at North Carolina, Dr. Bird was an Assistant Professor
of Nematology at the University of California - Riverside, and worked as a post-doctoral fellow with Donald
Riddle, Ph.D. at the University of Missouri. He received a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Adelaide,
Australia. He has consulted for several major crop protection companies.
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Timothy Geary, Ph.D.
Dr. Geary, a Tier I Canada Research Chair, is Director and Professor at the Institute of Parasitology at
McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. His research interests include parasite genomics & proteomics;
chemotherapy of parasitic infections; drug resistance in parasites; molecular interactions at the host:parasite
interface. He has authored over 150 scientific publications on these and related topics.
Prior to his appointment at McGill, Dr. Geary spent twenty years in the pharmaceutical industry, most
recently with Pfizer Animal Health, on work including the molecular identification of drug targets through functional
genomic analysis of nematode physiology and the subsequent engineering of recombinant systems for high-throughput
screening for new antiparasitic leads. Dr. Geary received a bachelor degree from University of Notre Dame and a Ph.D.
in Pharmacology from University of Michigan.
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Ernest Jaworski, Ph.D.
Dr. Jaworski is the retired Director of Plant Biotechnology at Monsanto Company in St. Louis and a
winner of the 1998 National Medal of Technology for his pioneering work in the application of
biotechnology to agriculture. He had a long and distinguished career with Monsanto beginning in 1952
and including significant work in herbicide and fungicide chemistry programs. His most remarkable
achievement was his development of Monsanto's plant biotechnology program in the 1980's, at which
time, he recruited and directed the teams responsible for developing insect resistant (BT) and glyphosate
resistant (Roundup Ready) crops. Dr. Jaworski has also served as the interim Director of the St. Louis-based
Donald Danforth Plant Science Center and was one of the founders of Oxford Glycosystems, Limited. Dr. Jaworski
received a Ph.D. and a M.S. in biochemistry from Oregon State University and a B.S. in chemistry from the
University of Minnesota.
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Craig Mello, Ph.D.
Dr. Mello is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and The Blais Professor in Molecular
Medicine at the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Mello is the co-recipient of the 2006 Nobel Prize
in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi) and is a member of the
National Academy of Sciences. He holds the first patent on the use of RNAi for gene silencing, an
approach that has revolutionized functional genomics, and is the co-founder of RXi Pharmaceuticals,
a company working on RNAi-based human therapeutics. A nematologist known as a technological innovator
in C. elegans molecular genetics, Dr. Mello studies both the biochemical pathway responsible for RNAi
and the regulation of gene expression in embryogenesis. Prior to joining the University of Massachusetts,
he was a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Jim Priess at the University of Washington in Seattle
and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Dr. Mello received a Ph.D. from Harvard University and a
Sc.B. from Brown University. He also conducted graduate studies in the laboratory of Dr. David Hirsh,
at the University of Colorado. Dr. Mello's pioneering research on RNAi has been recognized with the
prestigious National Academy of Sciences Molecular Biology Award, the Wiley Prize in the Biomedical
Sciences, The MGH Warren Triennial Prize, the Rosenstiel Award, the Gairdner Foundation International
Award, the Massry Prize, the Paul Ehrlich and Ludwig Darmstaedter Prize, and the first Paul Janssen
Award for Biomedical Research. RNAi was named the 2002 Breakthrough of the Year by Science magazine.
Dr. Mello has been a member of the Divergence SAB since 2000.
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Gilbert Omenn, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Omenn is a Professor of Internal Medicine, Human Genetics and Public Health at the University
of Michigan, Ann Arbor. A prominent leader in medical research and public health, he served as
Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs and Chief Executive Officer of the University of
Michigan Health System from 1997 to 2002. He was formerly Dean of the School of Public Health at
the University of Washington, Seattle, where he was also a Professor of Medicine and Environmental
Health. He was President of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2006.
He is a longtime director of Amgen Inc. and of Rohm & Haas Company. He is a member of the
Council and leader of the Plasma Proteome Project for the international Human Proteome Organization.
Dr. Omenn has authored over 400 research papers and scientific reviews and authored/edited 18 books on
public health and medicine. During his academic career,
he has been principal investigator of the beta-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial (CARET); director
of the Center for Health Promotion in Older Adults; a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator;
and a founding director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program. In government service,
Dr. Omenn has chaired the Presidential/Congressional Commission on Risk Assessment and Risk Management
("Omenn Commission"), served on the National Commission on the Environment, chaired the NAS/NRC/IOM
Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, and served as Associate Director of the Office of
Science and Technology Policy and Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget in the
Executive Office of the President during the Carter Administration. Dr. Omenn received an M.D., magna
cum laude, from Harvard Medical School, a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of Washington, and a
B.A. from Princeton.
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Tim Schedl, Ph.D.
Dr. Schedl is a Professor in the Department of Genetics at Washington University School of Medicine
in St. Louis and an established expert in C. elegans reproductive biology and genetics. He is the
discoverer of the first known tumor suppressor gene in C. elegans (gld-1) and is currently investigating
the molecular mechanisms which control germline development and meiosis. Dr. Schedl has authored more
than 40 journal articles and has been the recipient of numerous grants, including support from the
National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. Before joining the faculty at
Washington University, he was a post-doctoral fellow with Judith Kimble Ph.D. at the University of
Wisconsin where he did pioneering work uncovering the genetic pathway responsible for germline sex
determination in C. elegans. Dr. Schedl received a Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin, working
in the laboratory of W.F. Dove, and a B.A. in chemistry and biology from Lawrence University in
Appleton, Wisconsin.
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Wilfred van der Donk, Ph.D.
Dr. van der Donk is the Richard E. Heckert Professor of Chemistry at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an Investigator of the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute. His research interests are in the areas of
chemical biology and include catalytic mechanisms of enzymes and their
inhibition and antibiotic biosynthetic pathways. He received his BS and MS
from Leiden University, the Netherlands, his Ph.D. from Rice University, and
did postdoctoral studies at MIT with JoAnne Stubbe before starting his
independent career at the University of Illinois. He was a
Burroughs-Wellcome New Investigator in the Pharmacological Sciences, an
Arnold and Mabel Beckman Young Investigator, a fellow of the Alfred P. Sloan
Foundation, and a Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar. In 2004 he received the
Pfizer Award in Enzyme Chemistry. In 2006 Dr. van der Donk was the recipient
of the Cope Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society, and in 2007 he
was named the Tetrahedron Young Investigator in Bioorganic and Medicinal
Chemistry.
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