Mathew Pletcher currently serves as Senior Vice President and Head of the Gene Therapy Research and Technical Operations organization for the Astellas Gene Therapy Center of Excellence. Mathew received a Ph.D. in human genetics from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and conducted a post-doctoral fellowship at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation, publishing the first haplotype map of mouse inbred strains. After establishing his own laboratory at the Scripps Research Institute in Florida and acting as the director of its Genetics and Genomics Core Facility, Mathew joined Pfizer Global Research and Development, eventually serving as Director of Medical Genetics for Pfizer’s Rare Disease Research Unit. Mathew took on the role of the Chief Science Officer for Autism Speaks, the world’s largest advocacy and research organization for autism. As part of this role, he led MSSNG, a collaboration between Autism Speaks, Google, and the Hospital for Sick Children, to make available in an open-access database over 10,000 whole genome sequences from families with autism. Mathew next moved to Roche Research and Early Development and there was the Head of Rare Disease, ad interim, directing early clinical studies and research activities for rare neuromuscular, neurodevelopmental, and neurodegenerative diseases including Angelman syndrome, spinocerebellar ataxia, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, and Huntington disease. He has also founded the RDH12 Fund for Sight, a non-profit organization devoted to the development of a gene therapy for a genetic form of Leber Congenital Amaurosis, an inherited retinal disorder, is a board member of Odylia Therapeutics, a non-profit enterprise focused on developing gene therapies for ultra-rare diseases, and holds an adjunct faculty appointment with the University of North Carolina.