Renee Wegrzyn

Renee Wegrzyn is the first director of the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), appointed in October 2022 by President Biden. Previously, Wegrzyn served as vice president of business development at Ginkgo Bioworks and head of innovation at Concentric by Ginkgo. Wegrzyn comes to ARPA-H with over a decade of experience at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and as a technical advisor to the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). Wegrzyn received the Superior Public Service Medal for her work and contributions at DARPA. Before joining DARPA, she led teams in private industry across specialties including biosecurity and gene therapies. Wegrzyn served on the scientific advisory board for the National Academies Standing Committee on Biotechnology Capabilities and National Security Needs, among other government and private sector boards.