SC09 announced today it has selected world renowned Biologist, Dr. Leroy Hood, as a plenary speaker. Dr. Hood will be discussing the new direction of what is referred to as ‘P4’ in medicine -- predictive, personalized, preventive and participatory, and how it will affect healthcare in the future.

Dr. Hood is currently the President and Co-Founder of the Institute for Systems Biology, focusing on pioneering systems biology, the platform for P4 medicine. Dr. Hood is a renowned author, speaker, and holds numerous patents and several awards for his research on DNA sequencing. He is a well known advocate for making science education and research accessible and understandable to the general public, especially children.

Most recently, Dr. Hood's lifelong contributions to biotechnology have earned him the prestigious 2004 Biotechnology Heritage Award, and for his pioneering efforts in molecular diagnostics, the 2003 Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics. In 2006 he received the Heinz Award in Technology, the Economy and Employment for his extraordinary breakthroughs in biomedical science at the genetic level. In 2007 he was elected to the Inventors Hall of Fame (for the automated DNA sequencer). He has published more than 650 peer-reviewed papers, received 14 patents, and has co-authored textbooks in biochemistry, immunology, molecular biology, and genetics and is just finishing a text book on systems biology. In addition, he coauthored with Dan Keveles a popular book on the human genome project, The Code of Codes.

Dr. Hood will be speaking at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, November 18^th, to kick off Bio-Computing Day at SC09. Approximately 11,000 attendees will descend on Portland, Oregon for SC09, many of whom are leading computational scientists, researchers, and supercomputing experts from around the globe, working on High Performance Computing (HPC) platforms and supercomputers researching life-changing issues such as disease understanding, drug discovery, renewable energy, and global climate change.

SC09 has adopted the theme of “Computing for a Changing World.” In addition to Bio-Computing, the conference will include a special focus on initiatives related to Sustainability and the 3D Internet.

The SC09 exhibition hall will feature more than 275 participating organizations as exhibitors, covering 255,000 sq. ft. of floor space.