Dr. Leroy E. Hood graduated from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in 1964 with
an MD and from Caltech with a PhD in biochemistry in 1968. After three years as a Senior
Investigator at NIH, his academic career began at Caltech, where he and his colleagues developed
the DNA gene sequencer and synthesizer, and the protein synthesizer and sequencer–four
instruments that paved the way for the successful mapping and understanding of the human
genome. A pillar in the biotechnology field, Dr. Hood has played a role in founding fifteen
biotechnology companies including Amgen, Applied Biosystems, Integrated Diagnostics and
Arivale. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of
Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. Of the more than 6,000 scientists world-wide who
belong to one or more of these academies, Dr. Hood is one of only fifteen people nominated to all
three. Dr. Hood has co-authored numerous textbooks in biochemistry, immunology, molecular
biology and genetics, as well as a popular book on the human genome project, The Code of Codes
and he is just finishing up a text on systems biology. He is the recipient of numerous national and
international awards, including the Lasker Award for Studies of Immune Diversity (1987), the
Kyoto Prize in advanced technology (2002), the Heinz Award for pioneering work in Systems
Biology (2006), and the coveted NAE 2011 Fritz J. and Delores H. Russ Prize for developing
automated DNA sequencing. In addition to having received 17 honorary degrees from prestigious
universities in the U.S. and abroad, Dr. Hood has published over 750 peer-reviewed articles and
currently holds 36 patents. In 2013, he received the National Medal of Science from President
Obama. Hood has been named by The Best Schools as one of the 50 Most Influential Scientists in
the World Today (2014) http://isb.io/top50. Scientific American has named Hood as one of the top
6 in their selection of 100 biotech visionaries world-wide (2015) http://isb.io/visionary.

Originally published at reilly.nd.edu.