C. Thomas Caskey, MD, FACP
Managing Director, Cogene Ventures

Dr. C. Thomas Caskey serves as Managing Director of Cogene Ventures where he focuses on expansion-stage investments in the biopharmaceuticals and biotechnology platform sectors.

Previously, Dr. Caskey served as Senior Vice President, Human Genetics and Vaccines Discovery at Merck Research Laboratories and President of the Merck Genome Research Institute. He currently serves as an Adjunct Professor, Department of Molecular & Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine and a Distinguished Professor in the Institute of Molecular Medicine at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center in Houston.

He has received numerous academic and industry-related honors. His genetic research documented the Universality of the Genetic Code, discovered the mechanism of peptide chain termination, identified the genetic basis of 10 major heritable diseases, opened the understanding of triplet repeat diseases (Fragile X, myotonic dystrophy and others), developed the STR method of personal identification (now used worldwide) for forensic studies, and developed a viral vector vaccine for HIV (now in Phase III at Merck).

Dr. Caskey is currently a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine. He is Past President of the American Society of Human Genetics and the Human Genome Organization. He served as Chair of the Advisory Panel on Forensic Uses of DNA Tests, U.S. Congress Office of Technology Assessment, 1989-1990. He served on Texas Governor Perry's Council on Science and Biotechnology Development and on the President's Advisory Council of Austin College.

In 2004 he was elected to the Governor's Board of the Texas Academy of Science, Engineering and Medicine. He currently serves as President of the newly-formed Academy of Medicine, Engineering and Science of Texas. Dr. Caskey is Chairman of the Board of Lexicon Genetics Incorporated (NASDAQ: LEXG) and Odyssey Thera Corporation. Dr. Caskey is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and holds a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Duke University School of Medicine.