Claes Wahlestedt

Dr. Wahlestedt, M.D., Ph.D. is Leonard M. Miller Professor and Director of the Center for Therapeutic Innovation at the University of Miami where he also serves as Associate Dean for Therapeutic Innovation. A native of Sweden, Dr. Wahlestedt obtained his MD and Ph.D. degrees from Lund University. Prior to joining the University of Miami, Dr. Wahlestedt was a founding professor and a director at The Scripps Research Institute’s Florida campus. Before that, he was an endowed professor, founding genome center director, and department chair at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm. He has also been a faculty member at Cornell University Medical College and at McGill University. At different stages in his career, he has directed large R&D organizations in the pharmaceutical industry for Astra-Zeneca and Pharmacia/Pfizer. In recent years, he has co-founded several biotechnology companies. Dr. Wahlestedt is a drug discovery as well as a genome/transcriptome researcher with over 300 publications. He has extensive experience across different therapeutic areas with various therapeutic modalities, in particular small molecules and oligonucleotides.