Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Burrill and Company, CEO and Co-founder, Arête Therapeutics Inc.

Flush with $15 million in seed financing from leading investors in the medical and biotechnology fields, John Hamer and a team of UC Davis scientists are hopeful that what began as a chance discovery in a campus entomology laboratory more than a quarter century ago will one day produce effective treatments for the nation’s number one killer—heart disease.

Hamer, who earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from UC Davis in 1987, has been shuttling between San Francisco and UC Davis as co-founder, CEO and president of Arête Therapeutics, Inc. The cardiovascular drug company is based on discoveries made by co-founder Bruce Hammock, a cancer researcher and professor of entomology.