About Dr. Gerald Chan
Dr. Gerald Chan is a scientist and a venture capitalist who has started over two dozen tech companies by licensing IP from universities and moving the technology into downstream product development.
Gerald pioneered the development of drugs that target the innate immune system. He is the Chairman of Nasdaq-listed company Apellis Pharmaceuticals, a pioneer in the use of complement inhibition for treating geographic atrophy of the retina, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria, and C3 glumerulopathy. He sits on the board of Neutrolis which is developing treatment for Neutrophil Extracellular Traps which are involved in the pathology of lupus, rheumatoid arthritis and stroke. He started Adiso Therapeutics which is developing a gut-restricted drug to inhibit neutrophil migration underlying the pathology of ulcerative colitis.
Gerald started Stealth BioTherapeutics and took eighteen years to develop a mitochondria targeting drug for the ultra-rare disease of Barth Syndrome, for myopathy arising from mutations that result in mitochondrial dysfunction, and the dry form of age-related macular degeneration.
He sits on the boards of several privately held digital health companies which are using AI to improve the delivery of healthcare including Linus Health which has developed digital tools to quantify and screen for cognitive decline, and Prescryptive which is building a total technology stack to disrupt Pharmacy Benefit Management.
Gerald received his BSc and MSc degrees in Engineering from UCLA, a Master of Science degree in Radiological Medical Physics and a Doctor of Science degree in Radiation Biology from Harvard University. He completed his post-doctoral training in the Laboratory of Biochemical Pharmacology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has been conferred honorary doctoral degrees from eight universities. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and an honorary fellow of the British Academy of Social Sciences.