Dean Stamos, PhD
Dean is Chief Scientific Officer, Proteomics & Chemistry of Expedition Medicines.
Dean joined Expedition Medicines in 2022 as the founding chemist. Dean brings over 27 years of medicinal chemistry experience working in the areas of immunology, oncology, infectious diseases, pain, and neuroscience. His industry career started at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge and San Diego), serving as the primary architect in the discovery of multiple pre-clinical and clinical stage small molecules, including SPR-719/720 (licensed to Spero Therapeutics) for the treatment of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial Pulmonary Disease, and the non-opioid analgesic VX-458 (Suzetrigine) for the treatment of pain. In 2017, he joined Vividion Therapeutics as the founding head of chemistry and served on the senior leadership team responsible for platform growth, exploratory chemistry, and the discovery of novel E3 ligase chemistries as a foundation for covalent PROTACs.
As a passionate champion of chemistry, innovation, and change, he established several collaborations with world renowned academic institutions including the Scripps Research Institute, Scripps Institute for Oceanography, and Leiden University. He created the first chemical biology group at Vertex and spearheaded change management initiatives to unite cutting-edge science and disruptive technologies with industrial small molecule drug discovery. His pursuit of chemical innovation culminated in the creation of the Vividion Therapeutics’ chemical proteomics platform, where he served as a founding member of the leadership team and head of chemistry innovation. Dean also serves as a Science Partner at Flagship Pioneering, where he ideates new discovery and treatment paradigms to profoundly expand the range and reach of small molecule medicinal chemistry.
Dean earned a B.S in Chemistry from Indiana University and a Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at Harvard University in the labs of Prof. Yoshito Kishi. He is an inventor and co-author of more than 50 patents and publications.