Dr. Elias Zerhouni

Dr. Elias Zerhouni served as the 15th director of the NIH under President George W. Bush and as a presidential envoy for science and technology under President Barack Obama. Elias has worked as a global health research senior fellow at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and served as president of research and development at Sanofi, a multinational pharmaceutical giant.
 
Dr. Zerhouni, who is currently Professor Emeritus Radiology and Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University, also served as Chair of the Department of Radiology and Executive Vice Dean of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. He is the author of more than 200 publications, and an inventor whose research has saved countless patients with suspected lung or breast cancer from unnecessary surgeries and advanced the field of cardiovascular MRI. Dr. Zerhouni is President of OPKO Health, a multinational biopharmaceutical and diagnostics company, and co-founder of OPKO’s ModeX Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing innovative, multispecific biologic drugs for cancer and infectious diseases. He is a board member for the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health, the Lasker Foundation, and Research!America. He’s an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Medicine and the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and a recipient of the Legion of Honour medal from the French National Order.