Biochemistry, ’76

Known for his passion for changing the world through genomics, Richard Myers served as professor and chair in the department of genetics at Stanford University from 1993-2008, where his work contributed to more than 10 percent of the data for the Human Genome Project. Myers was born in Selma, Alabama and moved to Tuscaloosa at age 10. He received his bachelor’s degree in biochemistry from The University of Alabama in 1976 and his doctoral degree in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley in 1982. He then completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard University and served on the faculty at the University of California at San Francisco for seven years before moving to Stanford.

Since 2008, Myers has served as the president, scientific director and faculty investigator for the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville, Alabama, which has advanced the understanding and treatment of conditions from ALS to childhood genetic disorders. The institute also operates as a global leader in whole genome sequencing and using genomics in medicine and agriculture. Myers has received numerous awards, including the UA Darden Lecture Award in 2002, the UA Blount Initiative Award in 2003 and an Honorary Doctorate in Human Letters from UA in 2005. In 2018, he was named as one of the most cited researchers in the world.