The 2011 Einstein Professor of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Dr. Leroy Hood delivers a lecture at GIBH.

On July 26th, 2011, the 2011 Einstein Professor of CAS, Dr. Leroy Hood delivered an academic lecture entitled “Systems Biology, Transformational Technologies and the Emergence of Proactive P4 Medicine” at GIBH. Duanqing Pei, the director general at GIBH hosted this seminar and awarded Dr. Hood an “Einstein Professor of CAS ” Certificate.

At the seminar, Dr. Hood introduced the establishment and development of systems biology, systems medicine and P4 medicine (predictive, personalized, preventive, and participatory), and discussed how emerging technologies have been facilitating the development in those disciplines. He used mice model of neurodegenerative diseases (Prion) and cerebral tumor (glioblastoma) from his lab as an example and elaborated about how these systems have been applied in therapeutic treatment research. In the end, he predicts that future developments will transform medical science in the next 5 to 20 years from the current disease coping model to a P4 model, having a major impact on the health care field. After the seminar, Dr. Hood also exchanged views further with GIBH’s scientists and students.

Dr. Leroy Hood, president and co-founder of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, is a pioneer in systems approaches to biology and medicine. Dr. Hood's research has focused on the study of molecular immunology, biotechnology, and genomics. His professional career began at Caltech, where he and his colleagues developed the DNA sequencer and synthesizer and the protein synthesizer and sequencer--four instruments that paved the way for the successful mapping of the human genome and lead to his receiving this year's prestigious Russ Prize, awarded by the Academy of Engineering. A pillar in the biotechnology field, Dr. Hood has played a role in founding more than fourteen biotechnology companies, including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Darwin, The Accelerator, and Integrated Diagnostics. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Lasker Award, the Kyoto Prize, and the Heinz Award in Technology. Dr. Hood has also received 17 honorary degrees from prestigious universities in the US and other countries.