Speaker Profile
PMWC PIONEER AWARD
Ph.D., Vice President, Quantitative Medicine & Genomics, Abbvie
Biography
Howard J. Jacob brings decades of genome knowledge from academia and the clinical setting to address the current state of whole genome sequencing and its potential for both patients and those interested in learning more about their own DNA. He joined AbbVie in January 2019 to lead one of the largest Genomics Research Center efforts in the field with access to over one million genomes and clinical data and has since established the Quantitative Medicine and Genomics function. Jacob earned his Ph.D. at the University of Iowa and then completed a post-doctorate at MIT, Harvard, and Stanford. Prior to his work at AbbVie, he led the clinical teams at the worlds first stand-alone genomic medicine clinic, as well as a whole genome clinical sequencing lab. Jacob has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles. He founded four companies and is on the advisory boards for numerous academic and commercial organizations.
Talk
Common Diseases Arent Always What They Seem
Despite advances in molecular diagnostics, the effect of rare diseases on the diagnosis of common diseases in clinical trials has not been comprehensively investigated. New data shows the value of systematic genome sequencing in understanding the phenotypic heterogeneity of common diseases and the benefits of molecular phenotyping in patient care.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2026 Silicon Valley
Track Chair: TBA
PMWC Award Ceremony Honorees
• Mark Daly, Broad Institute
• Daniel MacArthur, CPG/Genomes/gnomAD
• Gordon Sanghera, Oxford Nanopore
• Howard J. Jacob, Abbvie
The Data Factory: Building Systems to Integrate Millions of Genomes for Variant Interpretation
• Chair: Stephen B. Montgomery, Stanford
• Carlos D. Bustamante, University of Oklahoma
• Mark Daly, Broad Institute/FinnGen
• Manuel Rivas, Stanford
• Mark McCarthy, Genentech
• Nilah Ioannidis, UC Berkeley
Biobanks to Bedside: Cutting VUS in Cancer, Cardio & Rare—What’s Working Now
• Chair: Ben Neale, Broad Institute
• Daniel MacArthur, CPG/Genomes/gnomAD
Beyond the Read: Integrating Long-Read Data into the Clinical Variant Pipeline
• Chair: Gordon Sanghera, Oxford Nanopore Technologies
• Hanlee P. Ji, Stanford
DNA to FDA: How Genetic Targets Win Labels & Coverage
• Russ B. Altman, Stanford
Common Diseases in Clinical Cohorts – Not Always What They Seem
• Howard J. Jacob, Abbvie
DNA to FDA: How Genetic Targets Win Labels & Coverage
• Chair: Razelle Kurzrock, Medical College of Wisconsin
• Russ B. Altman, Stanford
25+ Years of the Human Genome — What Made It to the Bedside
• Chair: Ralph Snyderman, Duke
• J. Craig Venter, Craig Venter Institute (JCVI)
• Brook Byers, KPCB
• Lee Hood, Phenome Health
