C. Thomas Caskey, M.D., F.A.C.P., is Director and Chief Executive Officer of the Brown Foundation Institute of Molecular Medicine for the Prevention of Human Diseases (IMM) and Executive Vice-President of Molecular Medicine and Genetics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston. He has served on the Company's Board of Directors since 2007.
Dr. Caskey was Chief Executive Officer and President of Cogene Biogene Ventures and Cogene Ventures, venture capital funds designed to support early-stage biotechnology and life sciences companies using genome technology for drug discovery. He served as Senior Vice-President, Human Genetics and Vaccines Discovery at Merck Research Laboratories, West Point, PA and as President of the Merck Genome Research Institute. He was Chairman of the board of Lexicon as the company transformed itself from a mouse discovery company to a Nasdaq listed pharmaceutical corporation.
Dr. Caskey is a graduate of the University of South Carolina (Phi Beta Kappa) and Duke Medical School (Alpha Omega Alpha). He has received numerous academic and industry-related honors. His genetic research documented the Universality of the Genetic Code, discovered the mechanism of peptide chain termination, identified the genetic basis of 10 major heritable diseases, opened the understanding of triplet repeat diseases (Fragile X, myotonic dystrophy and others), developed the STR method of personal identification (now used worldwide) for forensic studies, and developed a viral vector vaccine for HIV. He is Past President of the American Society of Human Genetics and the Human Genome Organization. He served as Chair of the Advisory Panel on Forensic Uses of DNA Tests, U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, 1989-1990. He served as President of the Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas from 2004-2006. Dr. Caskey currently serves on the Governor’s Committee of 17, which has oversight of the Texas 200 million Emerging Technology Fund. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine.