Biography
James is a co-founder and Chief Science Officer at Helix. Helix’s mission is to empower every person to improve their life through DNA. Helix is accelerating the integration of genomic data into clinical care and broadening the impact of large-scale population health programs by providing comprehensive expertise in DNA sequencing, bioinformatics, and individual engagement. Powered by our proprietary Exome+® assay—a panel-grade exome enhanced by more than 300,000 informative non-coding regions—Helix offers health systems a scalable solution which enables the discovery of medically relevant, potentially life-saving, genetic information. Additionally, Helix offers a suite of DNA-powered products for continued individual engagement and discovery. At Helix, James has responsibility for the scientific teams which includes bioinformatics, laboratory operations, regulatory, quality, translational research and policy teams. Prior to Helix, James was a faculty member at Duke University where he focused on translational genomics and machine learning methodologies for electronic medical records. James has also explored a broad range of research topics in population genetics, Mendelian genomics, and computational psychiatry and has published dozens of papers in journals such as Nature, the New England Journal of Medicine and the Journal of Machine Learning Research. Earlier in his career, James was a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt at Merck Pharmaceuticals, a global biopharma company, and an Associate at Devon Park Bioventures, a Philadelphia based healthcare venture capital firm. James holds an M.D. and Ph.D. from Baylor College of Medicine, where he was a member of the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He also received a B.S. and M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Stanford University.