Maurizio Vecchione, MSc
Maurizio Vecchione, MSc is Chief Innovation Officer of the Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation, CEO of the Washington Global Health Alliance, and General Partner at AdAstral Funds.
Maurizio is focused on driving high-impact solutions to improve the health of the planet and all humans on it. He believes that solving some of the world’s biggest problems will unlock some of the greatest opportunities. He is an advocate for climate and health innovation and health equity, an impact fund leader, and a global transformation architect. Read Terasaki Institute: Innovating Personalized Health through Convergent Science and Bioengineering.
Maurizio has spent the last 30 years at the forefront of biomedicine in global and public health, focusing on innovation to improve the lives of the world’s most vulnerable people. He has helped build nine startups and launch more than 50 commercial products spanning health technologies and therapeutics, telecommunications, information systems, and material sciences. Watch Maurizio Vecchione & Alex Goldberg: Solving Global Moonshots with AdAstral and AdAstral’s business strategy around impact.
Since 2020, he has been the CIO at Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation (TIBI). The Institute believes in a more comprehensive approach to solving challenges to optimal health — from genetic predisposition to disease to socioeconomic barriers. Their approach integrates the knowledge provided by “omics” with the latest advances in biology, materials science, engineering, clinical science, and entrepreneurship.
This integrative approach can be used to develop various medical innovations, including treatments for cancer, cardiovascular diseases, drug addiction, infectious diseases (e.g., COVID-19), and musculoskeletal diseases. Watch Implementation of innovation for good with Maurizio Vecchione.
As the CEO of the Washington Global Health Alliance since 2020, Maurizio leads the WGHA and guides the alliance of 70+ global health leaders to have a greater collective impact globally. WGHA connects and informs Washington’s global health community, creating a culture of collaboration. Founded in 2007, WGHA was the first organization of its kind and is working to achieve health equity.
Previously, between 2020 and 2023, Maurizio was the President of Openwater, where they are pioneering the use of infrared and ultrasound to safely and effectively treat the world’s most devastating diseases. They manipulate the phase of infrared light, ultrasound, and electromagnetic waves to enable the potential diagnosis and treatment of diseases through manipulation or destruction of cells individually without harming surrounding tissue.
Between 2013 and 2020, he was the Executive Vice President for Global Good and Research at Intellectual Ventures (IV), which he built and led, with funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust, the world’s largest charitable trust.
He oversaw collaboration with Bill Gates to invent and deploy technology to address some of humanity’s most daunting challenges. He simultaneously managed the Global Good Fund, the research programs of the Intellectual Ventures Laboratory, and the Institute for Disease Modeling. Read A Legacy of Inventing for Humanity and Planet.
Maurizio has built companies and global alliances for breakthrough programs in women’s health, infectious disease prevention and elimination, primary care, chronic disease management, and cancer.
His prior experience includes being Chief Executive Officer at Arrogene Nanotechnology from 2012 to 2014, CompuMED between 2007 and 2012, Trestle between 2003 and 2007, BT/Microwave Photonics from 2001 to 2003, and Styleclick (Now InterActive) between 1983 and 2001.
Maurizio was the Cofounder, Executive Vice President, and CTO at Styleclick between 1988 and 1996. He was also briefly the COO until 1998, followed by CEO and President until 2001.
He has pioneered the use of Artificial Intelligence in medical applications, including being involved in breakthroughs in cervical cancer screening through machine learning and automatic interpretation of ultrasound images via AI. Read Congress must renew crucial FDA funds that support patients across the world.
He serves on the Leadership Board of the University of Washington Department of Global Health, the Advisory Board of the UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center, the Leadership Council for UW Medicine/UW School of Public Health Department of Global Health, and is the Pacific Leadership Fellow at the University of California, San Diego.
Additionally, Maurizio serves on the Board of Trustees of the Italian Scientists and Scholars in North America Foundation, which promotes collaboration between North American researchers and Italian Academic and Government institutions. Read MEET Italy | Maurizio Vecchione on The Power of Developing World Technology: Reverse Innovation and Maurizio Vecchione: The Other Side of the Curve.
He was an invited panelist and Speaker at the Nobel Prize Summit 2021.
He is on the Editorial Board of IEEE Spectrum, Advisor to Bill Gates’s private office, Gates Ventures, and an executive partner in Ethos Capital.
As an inventor himself, Maurizio is named on multiple U.S. patents and patent applications related to imaging, image processing, nano-bio-polymers, and telecommunications. He is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Chemical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the American Computing Machinery Society, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
He has also occasionally been an advisor to the US Government, the EU, and multilateral organizations such as WHO and UNICEF on innovation and population health matters.
Maurizio has blended scientific research and innovation with impact investing throughout his career, delivering double-bottom-line investor return and social impact.
Maurizio studied Computational Physics at the Institute for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy and Physics at the University of California, Berkeley. He earned his Master’s Degree of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies at Arizona State University in 2021.
Watch AI FOR GOOD 2019 INTERVIEWS: Maurizio Vecchione, Executive Vice President, Global Good Fund.
Visit his LinkedIn profile, ResearchGate profile, and Google Scholar page. Follow him on Facebook, Crunchbase, Instagram, and Twitter.
