Meet David Hysong — 30 year old adenoid cystic carcinoma patient and CEO of SHEPHERD Therapeutics. Here’s his remarkable story is below for consideration to pass along or speak with him about his journey:
Hysong finished his master’s degree in intellectual history in 2011 and found himself with a year’s lag time before he planned to enter the U.S. Navy. He was young, good looking, and smart. Most people in his position would probably have kicked back, gotten a job to pay the bills, and had some fun. However, David Hysong is not “most people.”
His story continues, and on a dare, he applied to Harvard Divinity School in 2012 for enrollment in the Fall. A series of educational and life adventures soon followed — good and bad, including his cancer diagnosis — and after graduation in May 2015, Hysong considered medical school. He took preparatory courses while working 80-hour weeks at two jobs to pay off medical and student debts. The schedule, in the wake of cancer treatment and graduate school, began to burn him out. Hysong then took a break for a few weeks. The clouds cleared and he was inspired to undertake what he calls “an impossible task”: a biotech start up that searched for cures to rare cancers like his.
Now, welcome SHEPHERD Therapeutics. His Genzyme and Harvard connections enabled him to assemble a world-class team of scientists. The firm’s goal is to find cures for the more than 250 rare cancers that make up 42 percent of cancer diagnoses in the United States. Hysong says that Shepherd is well on its way.
“We’ve raised close to $6.5M and we’re only just now finalizing our product portfolio,” he says. “The cool thing is, a lot of the times, therapeutics are approved when they represent a 30 percent survival rate or 40 percent survival rate. For the diseases we’re looking at, our preliminary data show about an 80 percent survival rate. We really think we’re going to be very successful and save a lot of lives.”
You can read David’s full story on Harvard Divinity School’s website, here: http://hds.harvard.edu/news/2017/12/07/Hysong-idealism-in-action#
Hysong was on the 2016 Forbes 30 Under 30 Healthcare list, and he was named as part of a class of 2017’s Future Biotech Giants. Not to mention he’s been covered by Southern Living, and he has spoken at the Forbes Under 30 Summit. SHEPHERD Therapeutics has offices in Boston and Nashville.
