J. Leighton Read

J. Leighton Read is a successful entrepreneur, CEO, and high-tech investor. Some of the companies he has founded or co-founded include Affymax NV acquired by Glaxo; Aviron, the biotechnology company acquired by MedImmune that developed FluMist(tm); and Avidia, acquired by Amgen. He is a general partner in four funds at Alloy Ventures in Palo Alto, California. He has a long-standing interest in the psychological principles that underlie successful electronic games and is Chairman of Seriosity, Inc. (www.seriosity.com).

Leighton received a BS from Rice University in psychology and biology, an MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, and internal medicine training at Duke and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital,where he held appointments at the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health. His publications cover decision theory in medicine, cost-effectiveness analysis, and medical innovation policy. He produced a successful interactive computer game in 1984 to promote healthy lifestyles based on text-based adventure games and behavior modification.

He is a frequent public speaker and serves as a director of six young companies in the fields of biotechnology, nanotechnology, cleantech, and software and serves as a trustee or director of BeneTech, BioVentures for Global Health, The UC Berkeley Foundation and School of Public Health Council and the Santa Fe Institute. His awards include several as coinventor of technology underlying the Affymetrix GeneChip(tm) and Ernst & Young's California Life Science Entrepreneur of the Year.