Lex Van Der Ploeg

Dr. Lex Van der Ploeg is a successful entrepreneur with expertise in diagnostic and therapeutic technologies for cancer, neurodegenerative disorders, metabolic disorders, and infectious diseases. Lex earned his M.S. in Biochemistry summa cum laude in 1980 from the University of Amsterdam and his PhD in Biochemistry/Enzymology/Genetics in 1984 from the University of Amsterdam/Netherlands Cancer Research Center. Lex functioned as a tenured faculty member at Columbia University from 1984-1991 and as an adjunct faculty member through 2009. Over the past decade, Lex was instrumental in the maturation of 5 biotech companies, including the development of Setmelanotide at Rhythm (IPO in 2017) and Relamorelin at Motus, which was sold to Allergan in 2016. Lex was the SVP of Integrative Medicine and Translational Science at Abraxis Bioscience (2009-2011), which was acquired by Celgene in 2010. Lex supported the sale of Deuteria Pharmaceuticals to Celgene (2012) and the development of DRX-065 at DeuteRx, which was sold to Poxel in 2018. Since 2012, Lex has been a member of the board of directors for Retrotope, developing therapeutics for neurodegenerative disorders. Prior to these activities, Lex started and grew the Merck Boston Research laboratories to a group of over 300 scientists focused on cancer and neuroscience (2004-2008). At Merck (1991-2008), Lex was responsible for the discovery of the growth-hormone secretagogue (ghrelin) receptor and contributed to the discovery of the target for ivermectin and the development of vorinostat. During this time, Lex led the development of numerous drug-development programs, including building of Merck’s Obesity program, collaboratively with Banyu research laboratories in Japan between 1996 and 2003, restructuring the Merck San Diego site (2003). Since 2019, Lex has served as Founder, Chair, President, and CEO for Yao The Bard, LLC (dba RIFFIT, Boston/Cambridge), a digital therapeutics biotech company focused on the treatment of diverse learning disabilities and other neurologic indications. Yao is developing RIFFIT, a novel software that applies digital therapeutics to enable learning.