MANAGEMENT

Kári Stefánsson, M.D., Dr. Med. founded deCODE in August 1996. Dr. Stefánsson was previously a professor of Neurology, Neuropathology and Neuroscience at Harvard University and Director of Neuropathology at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. From 1983 to 1993, he held faculty positions in Neurology, Neuropathology and Neurosciences at the University of Chicago. Dr. Stefánsson received his M.D. and Dr. Med. from the University of Iceland and is board-certified in neurology and neuropathology in the United States. Dr. Stefansson is recognized as a leading figure in human genetics. He has shaped deCODE’s scientific approach and been actively engaged in leading its gene discovery work, serving as senior author on most of the company’s publications in major scientific journals.

Þórunn received her Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in biology from the University of Iceland and completed a Ph.D. degree in molecular biology and immunology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1990. She subsequently went to Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore where she was a postdoctoral fellow 1990-1992, Instructor of Medicine 1992-1994 and Assistant Professor of Medicine 1994-1998. After returning to Iceland, Þórunn was a Visiting Associate Professor of Medicine at the University of Iceland until she joined Iceland Genomics Corporation, where she served the role of Chief Operating Officer. In 2006, Þórunn moved to deCODE genetics and became the Head of Division of Oncology. Þórunn´s research interests focus on the link between genetic variation and cancer predisposition, progression and treatment outcomes.

Patrick is a Medical Doctor (MD) specializing in Epidemiology and Public Health and graduated from the University of Toulouse in France in 2002. He also completed a Master of Advanced Studies (MAS) in Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Paris in 2000. He joined deCODE´s Department of Statistics in 2002 and has contributed to genetic discoveries in various conditions. He is currently leading the Clinical Sequencing effort at deCODE.

Gísli received his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Mathematics from the University of Iceland in 1986 and completed a PhD degree in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1991. During the years 1991 to 2000 he worked at the Mathematics Institute at Stockholm University, first as a post-doctoral fellow (forskarassistent) and later as an assistant professor (lektor).

Hreinn Stefánsson, PhD, joined deCODE genetics in 1996 and has led the CNS division since 2000. He received his PhD in biochemistry from Lund University, Sweden and a BSc in biology from University of Iceland. Hreinn has published several articles on the genetics of common/complex diseases including Schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. Together with his colleagues and collaborators he has contributed to better understanding of the impact conferred by neuropsychiatric copy number variants (CNVs) on psychiatric disorders and cognition.

Bjarni received his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in mathematics from the University of Iceland in 1996, and completed a PhD in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization from Carnegie Mellon University 2001. He was a research scientist at Celera Genomics, Rockville MD, from 2001 until he joined deCODE in 2004. He has been an associate professor of Biomedical Engineering at Reykjavík University from 2006. Since 2013 he has been Head of Sequence Analysis at deCODE.

Páll received his Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree in Mathematics from the University of Iceland in 2003 and completed a PhD degree in Algorithms, Combinatorics and Optimization from Carnegie Mellon University in 2009. He was a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Chicago from 2009 to 2011 and a faculty at the Department of Computer Science at the University of Iceland from 2011. He joined deCODE in 2013 and from 2019 he has lead the effort on analysis of RNA sequencing data. His work is focused on development of efficient algorithms for working with high-throughput sequencing data and analysis of RNA sequencing datasets. Páll is a professor of computer science at the University of Iceland.

Tanya Zharov has been the deputy CEO and Compliance Officer of deCODE genetics from January 2016. Tanya was the General Counsel and Compliance Officer of the Icelandic securities firm Virding 2014-2015 after a merger with Audur Capital. In 2008 she joined Audur Capital an Icelandic securities firm as founding partner, General Counsel and Compliance Officer. From 1999-2007 Tanya was VP, Corporate Governance and Administration at deCODE genetics and served as the company’s Corporate Secretary from 1999. During her tenure Tanya led the legal work of the first IPO by an Icelandic company in the US, she was responsible for the company´s SEC filings and was Compliance Officer. Prior to that Tanya was a tax partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers specializing in international tax and corporate law.
Tanya finished her law degree, Cand. Juris, from the University of Iceland. She is a European Patent Attorney.
Tanya has served on several boards in the public and private sector.

Jóhann Hjartarson has been the General Counsel of deCODE genetics since 1998 and served as Chief Compliance Officer 2013-2016. Prior to joining deCODE, Jóhann was a professional chessplayer and has held the title of International Grandmaster since 1985. He has served on boards of directors of several publicly traded companies in Iceland in recent years. Jóhann holds a law degree (cand. juris) from the law faculty of the University of Iceland. He is a member of the Icelandic Bar Association and a European Patent Attorney.