Ashley Brenton, PhD, is the vice president of real-world evidence and genomics for Optum Life Sciences. She is responsible for leading the data strategy, development, business development and operations for genomics. In this role, she bridges the gap between clinical genomics and product development to leverage the wealth of Optum data into commercial data sets and strategic alliances.
Prior to joining Optum, Dr. Brenton was the chief science officer at Mycroft Bioanalytics, where she led corporate valuation and sales strategy of the intellectual property portfolio, including the world’s largest clinicogenomics biobank in chronic pain. Previously, Dr. Brenton developed and commercialized several precision medicine tests and algorithms while building clinicogenomics data sets. In addition to her product development in this space, she has established herself as a thought leader, publishing numerous manuscripts that support the integration of clinicogenomics in health care.
Before entering the life sciences industry, Dr. Brenton was a molecular biologist in academia. She received a Bachelor of Arts in Public Health Studies from Johns Hopkins. She earned a PhD from University of California Davis and a viral pathogenesis fellowship from the Scripps Research Institute.
Alexa Woodward, PhD, is the partnerships and strategy manager for Optum clinicogenomics. She is responsible for data partnerships and supporting business strategy. She facilitates and maintains collaborations with both industry and academic partners. She also helps drive product development and strategy for a variety of clinicogenomics use cases. Prior to her role at Optum, Dr. Woodward’s academic research focused on computational methods to detect and characterize genetic heterogeneity.
Dr. Woodward received her Bachelor of Science in Cellular and Molecular Biology from California State University, Chico. She received a Master of Science in Bioethics from Columbia University and a PhD in Genetic Epidemiology from the University of Pennsylvania.