EMERGING LEADERS
ASHLEY VAN ZEELAND , M . B . A . ’ 12 , stands at the precipice of a medical revolution . As the cofounder and CEO of Cypher Genomics , a company at the forefront of genomic interpretation , she ’ s a major player in shaping the future of healthcare .
While working with Scripps Translational Science Institute on genetic medicine research , Van Zeeland became intrigued by the prospect of whole-genome analysis . This drive would lead to the genesis of Cypher Genomics , which benefitted greatly from her M . B . A . education at the Rady School of Management .
“[ UC San Diego ] gave me all the tools I needed to be able to still be a scientist and understand scientific aims and problems and technologies , but also understand the
“ At UC San Diego , there ’ s a tangible sense that something big is happening and we ’ re all going to be a part of it .” viewpoints of how to solve problems from more of a business perspective ,” she says .
Cypher Genomics ’ first patient was Lilly Grossman , who had lived her entire life with an idiopathic human disease — a hard-to-diagnose affliction that is unresponsive to standard treatment . Lilly bounced from specialist to specialist before Cypher Genomics ’ method of genome sequencing uncovered a key mutation in Lilly ’ s DNA . Correctly identified , her disease was then targeted , and where doctors said she would likely only live to 20 , the soon-to-be college freshman now has a full life expectancy .
Cypher Genomics was recently acquired by Human Longevity Inc ., led by another Triton pioneer in genomics , J . Craig Venter , Muir ’ 72 , Ph . D . ’ 75 . Today , Van Zeeland is the company ’ s chief technology officer , helping build the world ’ s largest database of genomic data to transform medicine and improve the quality of life the world over .
— Sherilyn Reus , Sixth ’ 16
DAVID PETERSON , M . A . ’ 05 , is a master of languages — he has learned nearly 20 , can speak a bit of eight , and has created 40 . A luminary in the constructed language ( or “ conlang ”) community , Peterson is technically-minded with a literary streak and a highly sought-after creative spark .
While earning his master ’ s degree in linguistics at UC San Diego , Peterson took what was once a small hobby and developed it into a full-time career . Scribbling in his notebooks , Peterson ’ s first attempt at conlang was “ Megdevi ,” which Peterson describes as little more than “ a fancy , bizarre way to speak English .” From then on , Peterson dove into more complex worlds of fictional languages — far from English , yet mirroring idiosyncrasies of natural languages for much more realistic results .
According to Peterson , creating language is strikingly similar to programming , puzzle-making or problem-solving , and
“ Creating a language is strikingly similar to programming , puzzlemaking or problem-solving .”
combines a respect for grammar and a keen sense of aesthetics . Peterson is best known for creating the Dothraki and High Valyrian languages for the hit HBO series Game of Thrones , but has also created languages for other television series and feature films .
Additionally , Peterson served as a cofounder and original board member of the Language Creation Society , also serving as its president from 2011 to 2014 . Peterson has authored two books , including the best-selling Art of Language Invention ( 2015 ), which landed him beside Trevor Noah on Comedy Central ’ s The Daily Show and is packed with early linguistic insights gleaned from his days at UC San Diego .
— Sherilyn Reus , Sixth ’ 16
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