Osman Kibar (born 1971) is a Turkish American billionaire. He is the founder of the biotechnology firm Biosplice.

Early life and education

Kibar was born in 1971 in

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, as the grandson of , who was the mayor of

from 1964 to 1973. His father, Seli Kibar, was an economist. He attended İzmir Gazipaşa Primary School and then

Robert College The American Robert College of Istanbul ( tr, İstanbul Özel Amerikan Robert Lisesi or ), often shortened to Robert, or RC, is a Selective school, highly selective, Independent school, independent, mixed-sex education, co-educational Secondary ...

. For college, he moved to the United States to attend a 3-2 program, studying economics at Pomona College and electrical engineering at

Caltech The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

, and receiving a bachelor degree from both. He did his masters and doctorate on biophotonics at UC San Diego.

Career

In the late 1990s, when he was finishing his doctorate, he invented a cancer diagnosis system, which he turned into a company called Genoptix. The company went public a few years later, and was purchased by

Novartis Novartis AG is a Swiss-American multinational pharmaceutical corporation based in Basel, Switzerland and Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States (global research).name="novartis.com">https://www.novartis.com/research-development/research-loc ...

in 2011 for $476 million. After completing his education, Kibar moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where he worked for the hedge fund sponsor

Pequot Capital Pequot Capital Management was a multibillion-dollar hedge fund sponsor that closed in 2010. The firm's investment funds invested in a range of markets through a variety of strategies. The firm invested in public equities as well as private equit ...

. He subsequently moved back to San Diego and in August 2011 founded a biotechnology company named Wintherix with an investment of $3.5 million from his friend Cevdet Samikoğlu. He later renamed the company Samumed, and subsequently Biosplice. Its investors include

Ali Sabancı Ali İsmail Sabancı (May 5, 1969; Adana) is a Turkish businessperson and a third generation member of thSabancıFamily. He is the Chairperson of 'Esas Holding Education life Ali Sabancı earned his M.B.A. degree with a major in International ...

and Ergun Özen. The company researches cures for articular cartilage damage, hair loss, degenerative disc disease, lung tissue regeneration,

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

psoriasis Psoriasis is a long-lasting, noncontagious autoimmune disease characterized by raised areas of abnormal skin. These areas are red, pink, or purple, dry, itchy, and scaly. Psoriasis varies in severity from small, localized patches to complete ...

, damaged

tendon A tendon or sinew is a tough, high-tensile-strength band of dense fibrous connective tissue that connects muscle to bone. It is able to transmit the mechanical forces of muscle contraction to the skeletal system without sacrificing its ability ...

s, and

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. , Kibar has a net worth of $2.9 billion. He ranked eighth on ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

Turkey''s 2017 list of the 100 richest Turks.

Personal life

Kibar is married and has four children. Despite his wealth, he spends money extremely frugally, saying that all the activities he enjoys, such as reading, playing go, and moviegoing, are free. Kibar is also a successful

poker Poker is a family of comparing card games in which players wager over which hand is best according to that specific game's rules. It is played worldwide, however in some places the rules may vary. While the earliest known form of the game w ...

player, and won the first tournament he ever entered in 2006.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kibar, Osman Biotechnologists American billionaires Turkish billionaires American people of Turkish descent Robert College alumni 1974 births Living people People from İzmir Pomona College alumni University of California, San Diego alumni California Institute of Technology alumni Pomona College trustees American poker players