Dr. H. Michael Shepard and his team recently won the 2019 Lasker Award which is considered by many to be on par with the Nobel Prize. Shepard is a cancer biologist. His team identified a critical breast cancer biomarker, then developed the drug Herceptin, which has proven to be a very successful treatment for more than just breast cancer.  

Shepard grew up in Sacramento. He graduated from Del Campo High School and attended UC Davis for his undergraduate studies. Shepard earned his PhD at Indiana University.

He’s a founder, president and Chief Scientific Officer of Receptor BioLogix. It’s a California-based biopharmaceutical company focusing on developing a newly discovered class of protein therapeutics called Intron Fusion Proteins (IFP). Their goals are to treat cancer, autoimmune, metabolic and other diseases. Shepard holds more than twenty-five patents. 

Shepard will be honored Friday night at the San Juan Education Foundation’s Evening with the Stars. 

Listen to an extended cut of our conversation with Shepard below.