Co-Chief Science Officer
Systems Biologist and entrepreneur Shai Shen-Orr is a Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the Technion, where he heads the Systems Immunology & Precision Medicine Laboratory. His work, developing novel computational AI approaches to studying immune variation, spans from advancing basic understanding of drivers of immune system variation to applications for leveraging immune system variation to further immune-based precision medicine. By identifying diagnostic biomarkers that evaluate immune health, he has developed a first-of-its-kind metric that gauges one’s “immune age,” a more accurate measure of health than chronological age, which has shown promise for the early diagnosis and improved treatment of immune-mediated disease, beyond present clinical factors. His research has been cited widely and has been featured in systems biology textbooks.
With a background in informatics and computational biology, Prof. Shen-Orr is the director of the Zimin Institute for AI Solutions in Healthcare at the Technion, whose goal is to ensure academic innovation in the field makes impact in the real-world, and the founding director of the Technion Institute for Healthy Aging. With Co-CSO Prof. John Tsang, he developed the vision for the Human Immunome Project and oversees its scientific design protocols.
Based on his academic research, Prof. Shen-Orr co-founded CytoReason, a PharmaAI global leader in computational modeling (ranked top 50 in the industry by Crunchbase). The company, where he serves as chief scientist, develops an artificial intelligence model that integrates the breadth of molecular data in health and disease to provide data-driven insights. CytoReason’s systems are installed at six of the top 15 pharma where they help guide decision makers in drug development and diagnostics. Prof. Shen-Orr holds a bachelor’s degree from the Technion, a PhD from Harvard University, and performed his postdoctoral studies at Stanford University.