Speaker Profile
M.D.,Ph.D., Professor of Medicine (Oncology); C.M.A, Stanford
Biography
Ash completed his PhD in Biophysics MD at Stanford in 2003 under Pat Browns mentorship. Supported by HHMI NIH MSTP, he built and applied the lymphochip microarray platform to profile gene expression in DLBCL and other tumors. This work led to discovery of DLBCL subtypes and a framework for cell-of-origin. Following his clinical subspecialty Hematology Oncology training, he completed his postdoctoral studies with Ron Levy Irv Weissman. His lab studies genomic biomarkers of tumors, whether detected through primary tissue biopsies or non-invasively using liquid biopsies. His group has developed several methods for ctDNA detection including CAPP-Seq, PhasED-Seq, and EPIC-Seq, and developed digital cytometry methods (CIBERSORTx), applying it broadly to human cancers (PRECOG; EcoTyper). His group applies such genomic tools for early detection, diagnosis, and monitoring of diverse tumors. His group builds and employ tools from functional genomics, computational biology, molecular genetics, and disease models.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Christina Curtis, Stanford
PMWC Award Ceremony Honoree
• W.E. Moerner, Stanford – Nobel Laureate
• Priscilla Chan, Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
• Serge Saxonov, 10x Genomics
Fireside Chat
• Moderator: Christina Curtis, Stanford
• W.E. Moerner, Stanford
• Priscilla Chan, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Fireside Chat with Serge Saxonov, 10x Genomics
Unraveling Tissue Architecture with Single-Cell & Spatial Multi-Omics
• Joakim Lundeberg, SciLifeLab
• Garry P. Nolan, Stanford
• Tae Hyun Hwang, Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Tumor Evolution & Clonal Dynamics: From Models to Monitoring
• Chair: Christina Curtis, Stanford
Multi-Omics-Driven Early Detection: Beyond Liquid Biopsy
• Ash Alizadeh, Stanford
• Alex Aravanis, Moonwalk Biosciences
Personal Omics at Scale: What Longitudinal Profiles Add to Early Detection
• Michael Snyder, Stanford
AI in Molecular Diagnostics: Integrating Multi-Omics & Clinical Data
• Chair: Marina Sirota, UCSF
• Olivier Gevaert, Stanford
• Rebecca Critchley-Thorne, Castle Biosciences
Nanomechanical Signatures for Cancer Diagnostics: Insights from Tumor Biophysics
• Chair: Marija Plodinec, Artidis
