Speaker Profile
Ph.D., Professor, Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, UCSF
Biography
As an early pioneer of protein design, William DeGrado coined the term "de novo protein design" and has been instrumental in the discovery of small molecule drugs for a variety of human diseases.His work focuses on the design of small molecule drugs, peptides, proteins, and peptide mimetics. Dr. DeGrado is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Inventors, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is also a past President of the Protein Society and the scientific founder of PolyMedix, which discovered brilacidina drug currently licensed to Cellceutix and in Phase 3 clinical trials for drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.His research spans de novo protein and peptide design, peptide mimetics, the structure and function of membrane proteins (including integrins and viral ion channels), small molecule drug design, and bioinorganic chemistry.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2025 Silicon Valley
Track Chair: Keith Yamamoto, UCSF
- PMWC 2025 Award Ceremony:
Pioneer Honoree: Robert Califf, FDA
Luminary Honoree: Ida Sim, UCSF
- Fireside Chat: Keith Yamamoto, UCSF, Robert Califf, FDA, and Kathy Giacomini, UCSF
- Keynote: Harnessing Computational Tools in Precision Medicine: Implementation and Future Directions
- Ida Sim, UCSF
- AI-driven Advances in Precision Medicine (PANEL)
Chair: Sharat Israni, Bakar Institute, UCSF
- Peter Norvig, Google
- Susan Lynch, UCSF
- Olivier Gevaert, Stanford
- Michelle Arkin, UCSF
- New Federal Programs Driving Transformative Health Breakthroughs (PANEL)
Chair: Keith Yamamoto, UCSF
- Charles Romine, NIST
- Erwin Gianchandani, NSF
- Jim Brase, Lawerence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) - AI-Driven Protein Design (PANEL)
Chair: Tanja Kortemme, UCSF
- Franziska Seeger, Genentech
- William Degrado, UCSF - AI and Ethical Challenges (PANEL)
Chair: Alex John London, Carnegie Mellon University
- Jianying Hu, IBM
- Cora Han, University of California Health
- Ida Sim, UCSF
