About Daria

Dr. Daria Mochly-Rosen is the George D. Smith Professor for Translational Medicine and a Professor of Chemical and Systems Biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Originally from Israel, where she earned her Ph.D. in chemical immunology, she is a global leader in translating academic research into real-world patient treatments. In 2006, Daria founded SPARK at Stanford. This program’s mission is to help academic scientists cross the difficult “valley of death”—the gap between a laboratory discovery and a commercially viable drug or diagnostic tool. She created SPARK after leaving academia to start her own pharmaceutical company, KAI Pharmaceuticals (later acquired by Amgen), to develop her groundbreaking research on protein kinase C for cardiovascular disease. The highly successful SPARK model challenges traditional academic thinking by providing scientists with hands-on education, mentorship from industry experts, and project funding. Because of its success in generating new therapies and companies, the model has been adopted by over 70 institutions worldwide, forming the SPARK Global network. Daria’s current research focuses on developing pharmacological agents to treat diseases like Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative illnesses. She has co-founded other biotech companies, including Mitoconix Bio, and continues to share her expertise through numerous patents and a book, A Practical Guide to Drug Development in Academia: The SPARK Approach.