Carlson has over 25 years experience as a drug hunter in biotech and big pharma and came to the Wyss in 2020 to help promote therapeutic innovation across the Institute. Trained as a biochemist, pharmacologist and molecular biologist, Carlson has a scientific reputation as an expert in receptor biology, allosterism and cell signaling. Carlson has extensive experience both as a hands-on scientist and as a leader of drug discovery teams and organizations. He has extensive expertise in small molecule and peptide-based therapeutics and biomarker discovery and has brought numerous compounds into clinical development across a variety of disease indications. Having worked in both biotech start-ups and big pharma, Carlson has been on both the selling and buying sides of the table and understands well the business of drug discovery/development. Carlson received his Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and did a postdoctoral fellowship at the National Cancer Institute.