Founding Director Dr. Renee Wegrzyn

Dr. Renee Wegrzyn is the inaugural director of ARPA-H. She brings to her post a distinguished record of service to the public and of achievement in the private sector.

Prior to Dr. Wegrzyn’s appointment by President Biden, she worked in the private sector as the Vice President of Business Development at Ginko Bioworks. There she worked on applications of synthetic biology to outpacing infectious diseases.

Earlier, she served as Program Manager with a $250 million portfolio in the Biological Technologies Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)—the organizational paradigm for the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. She also served as a technical advisor to the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). At DARPA, Wegrzyn leveraged the tools of synthetic biology and gene editing to enhance biosecurity, support the domestic bioeconomy, and thwart biothreats. Wegrzyn received the Superior Public Service Medal for her work and contributions at DARPA.

Dr. Wegrzyn has also served as a Senior Advisor to the Nuclear Threat Initiative and as a member of the scientific advisory board for the National Academies Standing Committee on Biotechnology Capabilities and National Security Needs, and worked as the Senior Lead Technologist at Booz Allen Hamilton and the Leader of the Assay Development Group at Adlyfe, where her work included biosecurity and gene therapy.

She earned her BSc and PhD in Applied Biology from Georgia Tech, conducted post-doctoral research at the Center for Molecular Biology of Heidelberg University, and served as a fellow at the Center for Health Security Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity in the Bloomberg Schoolf of Public Health at the Johns Hopkins University.