David Shaywitz, MD, PhD

A summa cum laude graduate of Harvard college (biochemistry ’89), David Shaywitz continued his training in Boston through the MSTP MD/PhD program at Harvard (HST-MD) and MIT (PhD). After spending a year working with Dr. Dennis Ausiello to co-found and develop the Harvard PASTEUR program in translational science, he completed his internship, internal medicine residency, and endocrinology fellowship, all at MGH, and conducted his postdoctoral research with Doug Melton at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. He then embarked on a private sector career that has encompassed drug discovery, development, strategy and strategic planning, commercialization, and partnering; genomics and big data (he served as Chief Medical Officer at DNAnexus 2014-2017), digital health, and venture capital (2017-2019 Senior Partner, Takeda Ventures, Palo Alto).

In January 2020, he founded Astounding HealthTech Advisory Services. Astounding serves as a trusted advisor and experienced thought partner to senior R&D leaders as they work through the challenges of effectively leveraging emerging digital and data opportunities in the context of complex pharmaceutical organizations.

He has also written extensively about medicine, innovation, technology, and business for a range of popular publications, and since 2015 has co-hosted the popular Tech Tonics podcast with Lisa Suennen, focused on “the people and passion at the intersection of technology and health.” DBMI Chair Isaac Kohane was a guest on the podcast in 2017.