Scientific Advisory Board

Carl Peck, MD

Dr. Peck joined the FDA as Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in October 1987 and was named Assistant Surgeon General for the United States in October 1990. In 1994, Dr. Peck joined the faculty of the Georgetown University Medical Center, where he is the founding Director of the Center for Drug Development Science (CDDS); in 2004, CDDS became affiliated with the UCSF School of Pharmacy. He obtained his MD from the University of Kansas in 1968, trained in internal medicine and undertook a research fellowship in clinical pharmacology at the University of California, San Francisco. In 1980, Dr. Peck became Director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Professor, Departments of Medicine and Pharmacology, Uniformed Services University, Bethesda, Maryland. In 1999, Commissioner Henney presented him with the FDA Distinguished Alumnus Award. Dr. Peck is currently the Chairman of NDA Partners, LLC.

Lawrence A. Rheins, PhD

Dr. Rheins is currently Vice President of Science and Technology at Floratech International, a specialty skin and personal care raw materials company. In 1996, he founded DermTech International and served as the company’s CEO until 1999. Thereafter, he served as Executive Vice President until DermTech’s clinical operations were sold in 2004. Prior to founding DermTech, Dr. Rheins was Executive Director at Advanced Tissue Sciences, Technical Director at Hill Top Research and Manager of the Skin Care Laboratory at The Procter and Gamble Company. He is co-inventor of DermTech’s proprietary Epidermal Genetic Information Retrieval technology and the author of over 50 articles and book chapters on immunology, toxicology, dermatology and in vitro alternatives. Dr. Rheins received his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and PhD (immunology) degrees from the University of Cincinnati.

Eric J. Topol, MD

Dr. Topol is a leading cardiologist, geneticist and administrator. He is the Chief Academic Officer for Scripps Health where he leads the Scripps Translational Science Institute. Additionally, he is a senior consultant in the Division of Cardiology at Scripps Clinic. Prior to his appointment at Scripps, he was Chairman of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio where, for 12 years under his direction, the cardiovascular program was ranked number one in the nation in patient care and research by US News and World Report. In addition to his work as a physician, Dr. Topol is recognized as a groundbreaking researcher and has played a key role in helping identify the association between genetics and health risks. His genetics research was recognized as a Top 10 Research Advance by the American Heart Association (2002 and 2004). He has been the principal investigator on more than 15 international, multi-center research trials involving 40 countries and more than 190,000 patients. Dr. Topol trained at the University of Rochester (medical school), University of California, San Francisco (internal medicine), Johns Hopkins (cardiology) and was a tenured professor at the University of Michigan.

William Wachsman, MD, PhD

Dr. Wachsman is an Associate Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology-Oncology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Staff Physician in the VA San Diego Healthcare System. His expertise is in the areas of microarray technology and biomarker discovery. Dr. Wachsman directs the Microarray Shared Resource and leads the AIDS-related Malignancy Specialized Cancer Unit at Moores Cancer Center at UCSD. He is also Associate Director of the GeneChip Core Laboratory and Staff Physician at the VA San Diego Healthcare System and Attending Medical Staff at UCSD Medical Center. Dr. Wachsman has received numerous fellowships and honors in the medical field and authored 60 publications as well as being named as inventor on two patents. Dr. Wachsman received his B.S., M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from Case Western Reserve University.