David Altshuler's guest appearances

David Altshuler

Tech Tonics

Purse Strings on WebmasterRadio.fm

All About That Base

Theory and Practice

Amy Abernethy

Daphne Koller

Michelle Meyer

Brian Smith

Clare Malone

David Sontag

Greg Corrado

Cori Bargmann

Eric Lander

David Liu

Zach Weinberg

Stephanie Tilenius

Eric Schmidt

Emily Nelson

Dave Albert

OwlTail

David Altshuler is Executive Vice President, Global Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.I first met David when I was a medical student, and I spent my last year of my MD-PhD working in his lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. At the time, a new type of DNA sequencer (Solexa, soon to be acquired by Illumina) had just arrived at the Broad, and I raised my hand to be one of the people in his lab to get it up and running.At the time, most of David's lab was working on genome-wide association studies (GWASs), but David believed that sequencing was the next horizon. This gave me the opportunity to work with him closely, and figure out how next-generation sequencing could impact human genetics.Theory and Practice is a presentation of GV and Google AI.Hosted by Anthony Philippakis (Venture Partner at GV) and Alex Wiltschko (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

David Altshuler is Executive Vice President, Global Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.I first met David when I was a medical student, and I spent my last year of my MD-PhD working in his lab at Massachusetts General Hospital. At the time, a new type of DNA sequencer (<a href="https://www.illumina.com/science/technology/next-generation-sequencing/illumina-sequencing-history.html" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Solexa</a>, soon to be acquired by <a href="https://www.illumina.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Illumina</a>) had just arrived at <a href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">the Broad</a>, and I raised my hand to be one of the people in his lab to get it up and running.At the time, most of David's lab was working on genome-wide association studies (<a href="https://www.genome.gov/genetics-glossary/Genome-Wide-Association-Studies" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">GWASs</a>), but David believed that sequencing was the next horizon. This gave me the opportunity to work with him closely, and figure out how next-generation sequencing could impact human genetics. Theory and Practice is a presentation of <a href="https://www.gv.com/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">GV</a> and <a href="https://ai.google/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Google AI</a>.Hosted by <a href="https://www.gv.com/team/anthony-philippakis/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Anthony Philippakis</a> (Venture Partner at GV) and <a href="https://research.google/people/105779/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow" target="_blank">Alex Wiltschko</a> (Staff Research Scientist with Google AI), Theory and Practice opens the doors to the cutting edge of biology and computer science through conversations with leaders in the field.

S2E7: Dr. David Altshuler on Translating the Human Genome Project Into Benefits for Human Health

David Altshuler was living the academic dream as professor and human geneticist at Harvard and MIT, where he was co-founder and Deputy Director of the Broad Institute.  Yet in December 2014, he left this life to join Vertex, in continued pursuit of his translational vision. Born in upstate New York, David moved to the Boston area when he was a toddler and hasn’t looked back (nor beyond the 617).  The son of a professor and an educator, David was inherently scholarly, attending MIT where he first experienced research in the lab of gene therapy pioneer Richard Mulligan, on the legendary third floor of the Whitehead Institute. David saw enough of research to convince himself he wanted to pursue clinical medicine, and then, while in medical school at Harvard, he saw enough to convince himself he wanted to pursue biomedical research as well, so he pursued a joint MD/PhD.  His PhD research resulted in what he describes as an exciting scientific result that didn’t fit neatly in an established framework, so it received scant attention – an observation that led to a fascinating conversation about incremental vs disruptive research on the podcast, and inspired this blog post from Lisa. Ultimately, David found his passion and his calling in human genetics, working initially for and then subsequently in partnership with legendary scientist Eric Lander, with whom David helped co-found the transformational Broad Institute, and served as Deputy Director.  Interestingly this decision in the mid 1990’s to work on the human genetics of polygenic, common diseases (vs monogenic, rare diseases, say) was viewed by many well-intended mentors as committing “career suicide.”  Good thing he persisted. More recently, David made another brave decision, leaving a comfortable and distinguished academic career to become a senior pharma R&amp;D executive, serving as Executive VP of R&amp;D at Vertex.  We are so thrilled not only that David joined us on today’s show, but that he was so generous about sharing the complexities and uncertainties of his journey, and the key choices along the way.  We’re sure you will be captivated as well! This podcast is sponsored by Manatt Health—a multi-disciplinary professional services firm that includes a full service law firm and a broad-based strategic business and policy consulting practice to help our clients grow and prosper.  Manatt Health supports the full range of stakeholders in transforming America’s healthcare system. Podcast Notes: The captivating book about the scientific process David references is Discovering, by Robert Root-Bernstein, available from Amazon here. Luke Timmerman “Long Run” interview with Janelle Anderson, discussed on podcast, here. David’s Forbes piece on cell engineering, focusing on company Janelle helped found; here.

David Altshuler was living the academic dream as professor and human geneticist at Harvard and MIT, where he was co-founder and Deputy Director of the Broad Institute.  Yet in December 2014, he left this life to join Vertex, in continued pursuit of his translational vision. Born in upstate New York, David moved to the Boston area when he was a toddler and hasn’t looked back (nor beyond the 617).  The son of a professor and an educator, David was inherently scholarly, attending MIT where he first experienced research in the lab of gene therapy pioneer Richard Mulligan, on the legendary third floor of the <a href="http://wi.mit.edu/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Whitehead Institute</a>. David saw enough of research to convince himself he wanted to pursue clinical medicine, and then, while in medical school at Harvard, he saw enough to convince himself he wanted to pursue biomedical research as well, so he pursued a joint MD/PhD.  His PhD research resulted in what he describes as an exciting scientific result that didn’t fit neatly in an established framework, so it received scant attention – an observation that led to a fascinating conversation about incremental vs disruptive research on the podcast, and inspired <a href="https://venturevalkyrie.com/do-scientists-fall-into-the-same-innovation-not-traps-as-industry-sources-say-yes/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">this</a> blog post from Lisa. Ultimately, David found his passion and his calling in human genetics, working initially for and then subsequently in partnership with legendary scientist Eric Lander, with whom David helped co-found the transformational <a href="https://www.broadinstitute.org/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Broad Institute</a>, and served as Deputy Director.  Interestingly this decision in the mid 1990’s to work on the human genetics of polygenic, common diseases (vs monogenic, rare diseases, say) was viewed by many well-intended mentors as committing “career suicide.”  Good thing he persisted. More recently, David made another brave decision, leaving a comfortable and distinguished academic career to become a senior pharma R&amp;D executive, serving as Executive VP of R&amp;D at Vertex.  We are so thrilled not only that David joined us on today’s show, but that he was so generous about sharing the complexities and uncertainties of his journey, and the key choices along the way.  We’re sure you will be captivated as well! This podcast is sponsored by Manatt Health—a multi-disciplinary professional services firm that includes a full service law firm and a broad-based strategic business and policy consulting practice to help our clients grow and prosper.  Manatt Health supports the full range of stakeholders in transforming America’s healthcare system. Podcast Notes: The captivating book about the scientific process David references is Discovering, by Robert Root-Bernstein, available from Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Discovering-Inventing-Frontiers-Scientific-Knowledge/dp/0674211758/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=robert+root-bernstein+discovering&amp;qid=1569972607&amp;sr=8-1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>. Luke Timmerman “Long Run” interview with Janelle Anderson, discussed on podcast, <a href="https://timmermanreport.com/2019/08/from-pharma-vc-to-cell-therapy-startup-janelle-anderson-on-the-long-run/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>. David’s Forbes piece on cell engineering, focusing on company Janelle helped found; <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidshaywitz/2019/08/28/the-engineers-captivating-pharma-make-cells-not-software/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">here</a>.

Tech Tonics: David Altshuler, Physician-Scientist In Pursuit Of The New

Genetics field trip! In this episode we hopped in Jenny's car and headed to Vertex Pharmaceuticals where we spoke with Chief Scientific Officer, David Altschuler. Previously, as a core member of the Broad Institute, David's academic research focused on using human population genetics to identify therapeutic targets for complex diseases. In our conversation, David tells us about his transition into industry and how his former research strategy now informs his scientific vision at Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

David Altshuler on how human genetics informs drug discovery