Richard Scheller Ph.D.

Dr. Scheller is Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Therapeutic Development at 23andMe, where is he responsible for translating genetic information into new therapies. Dr. Scheller received his bachelor of science in biochemistry in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and his doctorate in chemistry in 1980 from Caltech. After postdoctoral fellowships at Caltech and Columbia, he joined the Stanford faculty from 1982 until 2001. An investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute from 1994 to 2001, Dr. Scheller has been an adjunct professor at UC San Francisco since 2004. In 2014, he was named a trustee of Caltech. Hired in 2001 as senior vice president of research and member of the Genentech executive committee, from 2009 through 2014 he was executive vice president and head of Genentech research and early development, and a member of the Roche executive committee. Dr. Scheller's research elucidating molecular mechanisms governing neurotransmitter release earned him the 2013 Albert Lasker Basic Medical Research Award, the 2010 Kavli Prize in Neuroscience, and the 1997 US National Academy of Sciences Award in Molecular Biology. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.