Hal V. Barron (born 1962) is an American clinician-scientist and drug developer who served as president of research and development at GlaxoSmithKline from March 2018 until 2022, when he resigned in order to join the

cellular reprogramming Induced pluripotent stem cells (also known as iPS cells or iPSCs) are a type of pluripotent stem cell that can be generated directly from a somatic cell. The iPSC technology was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka's lab in Kyoto, Japan, who showed in ...

venture

Altos Labs Altos Labs, Inc. is an American biotechnology research company. Altos Labs' goal is to develop life extension therapies that can halt or reverse the human aging process. Specialized cell therapies based on induced pluripotent stem cells are to ...

in August of that year. Prior to this he served as president of research and development at

Calico Calico (; in British usage since 1505) is a heavy plain-woven textile made from unbleached, and often not fully processed, cotton. It may also contain unseparated husk parts. The fabric is far coarser than muslin, but less coarse and thick than ...

. He has served as executive vice president, head of global product development, and chief medical officer of

Hoffman-La Roche F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche, is a Swiss multinational healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on the SIX S ...

Career

Barron joined Genentech in 1996 as a clinical scientist and was promoted in 2002 to Vice President of Medical Affairs. In 2002 Barron was promoted to vice president of medical affairs and in 2003 he became the senior vice president of development. In 2004 he was appointed chief medical officer and in 2009 he was appointed executive vice president. On September 18, 2013, Barron was named President of Research and Development of Calico, a new company focusing on the biology of aging. The company was created and funded by Google. On November 8, 2017, Barron became the new CSO and research chief at GlaxoSmithKline amid a shake-up from its new CEO Emma Walmsley. Barron was quoted: "GSK is a company with a rich history of innovation, with many talented scientists who care deeply about translating great science into therapies that make a meaningful difference for patients. I believe there is a significant opportunity to accelerate this effort and am looking forward to joining Emma and the team on this mission.” In April 2019, it was publicly reported that Barron spent excessively on travel expenses during the previous year. The total expenses exceeded $807,000 (£620,000). Shareholders, investors, and rank-and-file employees have all expressed concern tilting towards outrage that he has been allow to spend so freely while others are constrained and employee layoffs continue. In January 2022, it was announced that Barron will join Altos starting on 1 August 2022 at newly created biotech company Altos Labs, based in San Francisco. Barron's current academic positions at the

University of California, San Francisco The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) is a public land-grant research university in San Francisco, California. It is part of the University of California system and is dedicated entirely to health science and life science. It con ...

include Associate Adjunct Professor of

Epidemiology Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evide ...

and Biostatistics, and Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine/

Cardiology Cardiology () is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery disease, heart failure, valvular h ...

. He has been issued several patents for his work in

thrombosis Thrombosis (from Ancient Greek "clotting") is the formation of a blood clot inside a blood vessel, obstructing the flow of blood through the circulatory system. When a blood vessel (a vein or an artery) is injured, the body uses platelets (t ...

and angiogenesis, and has published more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He was a member of the board of directors at Alexza Pharmaceuticals, and is a current member of the board of directors at Juno Therapeutics.

Education

Barron received his medical degree from Yale School of Medicine and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering physics from

Washington University in St. Louis Washington University in St. Louis (WashU or WUSTL) is a private research university with its main campus in St. Louis County, and Clayton, Missouri. Founded in 1853, the university is named after George Washington. Washington University is r ...

. He completed his training in medicine and cardiology at the

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Hal V 1962 births Biotechnologists Living people Genentech people GSK plc people Hoffmann-La Roche people Yale School of Medicine alumni Washington University in St. Louis alumni Washington University physicists University of California, San Francisco faculty University of California, San Francisco alumni American epidemiologists Biostatisticians American cardiologists American corporate directors American transhumanists