Leroy Hood, MD, PhD, is a co-founder and president of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, WA. Dr. Hood and colleagues invented the automated gene sequencer and several other instruments that made the Human Genome Project possible and is globally recognized as the visionary pathfinder for the conceptualization and implementation of systems biology. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy and the National Academy of Engineering, one of only seven living individuals elected by peers to all three organizations. He is a member of the Inventors National Hall of Fame and the recipient of the Kyoto Prize, the Lasker Prize, and the Heinz Award. He was also instrumental in the founding of Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Systemix, Darwin, Rosetta and more.