Eric Lai

Dr. Eric Lai has more than 20 years’ experience in drug and IVD molecular diagnostic development. Dr. Lai was SVP of Genomic Medicine at Takeda, and before that he was SVP of Research & Development at Gen-Probe (now part of Hologic) and VP of Pharmacogenetics at GlaxoSmithKline. Dr. Lai received his Ph.D. from Columbia University and did his post-doctoral training in Dr. Hood’s lab at CalTech in the early days of the Human Genome Project. Dr. Lai focused on clinical applications of Pharmacogenomics in drug development and safety. In 2002, he discovered the association of HLA5701 to Abacavir hypersensitivity. This discovery is frequently cited in FDA guidance as one of the most important demonstrations of precision medicine.