Thomas Kaiser

Chief Science Officer

Avicenna Biosciences, Inc.

There is art in failing elegantly.

About Thomas

I loved mathematics when I was a child but was encouraged by a family friend, who was a doctor, to study medicine instead.
When I got to college, I decided to pursue mathematics as well as biochemistry so that I could become a physician.
As I got further into chemistry I became very interested in the field of organic synthesis, which was a launching pad into becoming a physician—though I still kept up with mathematics as a hobby.
After graduating with my bachelor’s degree in biochemistry, I earned a PhD in organic chemistry from Texas A&M University.
I then went to Emory University, where I was a postdoctoral fellow, working with nucleoside chemistry, antiviral drug design, and machine learning.
As I got more and more into medicinal chemistry, I decided I should go back to school and train as a physician so that I could better understand real clinical problems and patient needs.
I earned my medical degree from the University of Oxford while working full-time on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic to fund my education.
I co-founded Avicenna Biosciences, where we use machine learning to augment medicinal chemistry in order to develop better medicines.