Ashley Van Zeeland

Ashley Van Zeeland, MBA ’12 is a neuroscientist, focusing on genomics, genetics, and biotechnology in the fields of autism and anorexia nervosa.  Her work on autism revealed that genetic variants were linked to different communication pathways within the brain and her research associated anorexia nervosa to an enzyme regulating cholesterol metabolism.

Ashley received her BA in Psychology from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 2002. In 2009, received her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles. She then attained her MBA from the Rady School of Management in 2012. While attending the Rady School of Management, Ashley co-founded Cypher Genomics in 2011 after developing the idea through Rady’s Lab to Market course series and its business accelerator mystartupXX. In 2012, the Cypher Genomics business pitch beat out hundreds of other companies from around the country and Ashley was named a PitchFest Finalist by the San Diego Venture Group. In 2013, Ashley was named a San Diego Young Influential, an award which highlights young entrepreneurs and successful business leaders who are the next generation of Top Influentials in San Diego County.

Prior to co-founding Cypher Genomics, Ashley served as Director of Strategic Partnerships at the Scripps Translational Science Institute, where she focused on novel public-private partnerships to accelerate translational research.

Currently, Ashley serves as the Vice President of Corporate and Business Development at Illumina. Her previous roles at Illumina include Vice President of Product Development and Vice President, Head of Illumina Open Innovation.