Adam de la Zerda, PhD

Adam de la Zerda is an Associate Professor at the Departments of Structural Biology and Electrical Engineering (by courtesy) at Stanford University – School of Medicine. He completed his undergraduate degree in Computer Engineering and Physics from the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology in 2005 Summa Cum Laude. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 2011, where he developed the Photoacoustic Molecular Imaging technique with Sanjiv Sam Gambhir. He was then a postdoctoral fellow at the lab of Carolyn Bertozzi at UC Berkeley – Chemistry Department, before joining the Stanford faculty in 2012.

Prof. de la Zerda’s research interests span the broad field of Molecular Imaging. His lab focuses on developing new optical imaging instrumentation and chemistry tools to study the complex spatiotemporal behavior of biomolecules in living subjects. The lab uses animal models for cancer and ophthalmic diseases such as age-related macular degeneration. His research efforts span both basic science and clinically translatable work.

Prof. de la Zerda has received many awards and honors for his work, including the Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research, the AFOSR Young Investigator Award, Baxter Faculty Scholar Award, Dale F. Frey Award, Forbes Magazine 30 Under 30 in Science and Healthcare for 2012 and 2014, NIH Director’s Early Independence Award, Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Era of Hope Distinguished Predoctoral Poster Award, Best Poster Presentation at SPIE Photonics West, the Young Investigator Award at the World Molecular Imaging Congress, the Department of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program Award for Predoctoral researchers, the Bio-X Graduate Student Fellowship, first place at the Bay Area Entrepreneurship Contest and was selected as a Chan Zuckerzerg Biohub Investagator. He published over 20 papers in leading journals including Nature Medicine, Nature Nanotechnology and PNAS, some of which received significant press coverage from Forbes Magazine, US News and The Washington Post. He holds a number of patents and is the co-founder of a medical device company OcuBell Inc. and founder of Visby Medical.

Honors and Awards

2017 Junior Investigator - Chan Zuckerberg BioHub
2016 Speaker - TEDxStanford
2015 Pew-Stewart Scholar for Cancer Research – Pew Charitable Trusts and Stewart Trust
2014 10 Outstanding Medical School Professors Under 40 –Career&Education.com
2014 AFOSR Young Investigator Research Program Award – US Air Force
2014 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and Healthcare – Forbes Magazine
2013 Baxter Faculty Scholar Award – Baxter Foundation
2012 Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science and Healthcare – Forbes Magazine
2012 Dale F. Frey Award – Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation
2012 NIH Director’s Early Independence Award – NIH Director Office
2011 Era of Hope Distinguished Predoctoral Poster Award
2011 Jane Coffin Childs Memorial Fund Postdoctoral Fellowship
2011 Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship Award
2010 Bio-X Travel Award – Stanford University
2009 Best Poster Presentation Award – SPIE Photonics West 2009
2008 Young Investigator Award – World Molecular Imaging Congress
2008 Bio-X Travel Award – Stanford University
2008 Student Travel Award – World Molecular Imaging Congress
2008 Bio-X Graduate Student Fellowship
2008 Predoctoral Traineeship Award – Breast Cancer Research Program, DoD
2007 1st Place, The Bay-Area Entrepreneurship Contest
2006 The 2006 Technion President Excellency Award
2005 Stanford School of Engineering Graduate Fellowship Award
2005 The 2005 Technion President Excellency Award
2005 Amdocs Ltd. Excellency Scholarship
2004 The 2004 Technion President Excellency Award
2004 Check Point Ltd. Excellency Scholarship
2003 The 2003 Technion President Excellency Award