Renee Wegrzyn

Dr. Renee Wegrzyn serves as Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Transfyr, an AIxBio start-up focused on making science interpretable, robust, and transferable by addressing “science friction," the bottlenecks that get in the way of breakthroughs.

Prior to Transfyr, Dr. Wegrzyn served as the first director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) from 2022 to 2025. She led the building of the agency from “zero-to-one,” managed a $4 billion portfolio for health innovation, and created a culture of innovation to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone. She previously served as a vice president of business development and Head of innovation at Ginkgo Bioworks (Biosecurity) and worked for over a decade at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), including as a program manager with a portfolio focused on gene editing and biomanufacturing, and as a technical advisor to the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA).

Dr. Wegrzyn received the Superior Public Service Medal for her work and contributions and was recognized in TIME’s list of Top 100 Innovators. Before joining DARPA, she led teams in private industry across a range of specialties including biosecurity and gene therapies.

Dr. Wegrzyn served on the scientific advisory board for the National Academies Standing Committee on Biotechnology Capabilities and National Security Needs, as well as several public and private boards. She holds doctoral and bachelor’s degrees in applied biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, was a fellow in the Center for Health Security Emerging Leaders in Biosecurity Initiative and completed her postdoctoral training as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow in Germany.