Josh Wheeler, MD, PhD

Physician-scientistClinical developmentPrecision medicineAIDiagnosticsBiopharma strategy

Physician-scientist and biotech leader spanning clinical development, translational medicine, AI, diagnostics, product strategy, and biopharma commercialization. I lead global programs that move biology-informed technologies from concept through productization, clinical validation, regulatory evidence, and commercial deployment.

My work sits at the point where science becomes product: technology that changes how biopharma companies design development programs, understand resistance, and deploy precision medicine in trials.

About

I lead research innovation at Genialis, across clinical and translational development, precision oncology, clinical trial assays, regulatory strategy, and go-to-market execution.

I have taken frontier RNA foundation models from conceptualization through productionization and deployment, building the therapeutic-intelligence workflows that stratify clinical trials and carrying that work into diagnostic integration and purpose-built clinical trial assays. I led development of the Genialis Supermodel and the teams that turned it into products.

I have worked in precision medicine as a scientist, a physician, and an industry leader. I am a brain cancer survivor. That combination uniquely positions me as someone who builds and implements technology to advance precision medicine.

Before Genialis, I trained and worked at Stanford across pathology, molecular diagnostics, precision oncology, and computational biology.

What I lead

Clinical development & translational strategy

I lead biomarker-driven clinical development from biological hypothesis through patient stratification, translational evidence, response and resistance biology, and trial implementation.

AI productization & precision medicine

I lead development, productization, and commercialization of biology-informed foundation models and the AI systems built on them, applied to therapeutic-response prediction and indication strategy.

Diagnostics, assays & regulatory

I lead clinical trial assay development, analytical and clinical validation, and regulatory strategy for biomarker programs, and I manage diagnostic and laboratory providers across APAC, EMEA, and the Americas.

Biopharma partnerships, corp dev & GTM

I lead strategic relationships with biopharma, diagnostics, technology, and data partners, translating scientific opportunity into product strategy, clinical-development programs, and go-to-market execution.

Selected impact

  1. Built and commercialized a foundation-model platform

    I led development of the Genialis Supermodel, the company's biology-informed foundation model trained on nearly one million harmonized transcriptomes, and drove its translation from research concept into product architecture, therapeutic-response applications, and associated IP. krasID, launched in 2024, was the first product built from that platform.

  2. Took AI from model to clinical deployment

    I have run programs from computational discovery through validation, assay translation, partner infrastructure deployment, and clinical use, including co-developed clinical trial assays supporting Phase 1b programs and diagnostic products progressing through analytical validation.

  3. Built and lead a global partner ecosystem

    Programs I lead span North America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, Australia, and South America, I coordinate scientific teams, diagnostic providers, laboratories, and external partners from program design through deployment.

  4. Turned scientific programs into commercial partnerships

    I lead corporate development, partnership strategy, and go-to-market around precision-medicine programs, turning partner clinical-development needs into products, evidence strategies, and commercial programs.

  5. Established external scientific and clinical credibility

    Senior or contributing author on 10+ oncology abstracts and presentations across AACR, ASCO, ESMO, and other international meetings, including five senior-author AACR and ASCO presentations between 2024 and 2026 spanning KRAS-targeted therapy, ADCs, real-world evidence, and clinical trial stratification.

Selected external validation

Trastuzumab deruxtecan: response modeling and resistance monitoring in metastatic breast cancer ASCO · 2026 Genialis Supermodel: monotherapy and combination response in KRAS-mutated cancers AACR · 2025 An RNA-based survival model predicting real-world response to trastuzumab deruxtecan, abstract 6883 AACR · 2026 Sotorasib: response duration and clinically actionable resistance mechanisms JCO / ASCO · 2025 Genialis krasID: machine learning to personalize KRAS inhibitor therapy AACR · 2024 Prediction of tumor response and clinical benefit from KRAS therapeutic agents Patent application WO2025208027A1 · WIPO 2025 Presenter, PanCAN Scientific Summit PanCAN · 2024

Career foundation

Stanford University pathology, molecular diagnostics, precision oncology, computational biology  ·  University of Colorado Anschutz MD, NIH-funded MSTP  ·  Duke University, Center for Human Genetics computational genetics and systems biology  ·  University of Colorado Boulder PhD, biochemistry and RNA biology  ·  Appalachian State University BS

Earlier work spans RNA biology, computational genetics, pathology, and biomedical AI, including first authorships in Cell and Nature.

Contact

I publish as Joshua R. Wheeler.