{"$schema":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/jsonresume/resume-schema/v1.0.0/schema.json","basics":{"name":"Yaron Golan","label":"CEO & CTO","image":"https://saywise-production-profilepicturestoragebucket-kbfooccc.s3.amazonaws.com/profile-pictures/1dce17ef-9790-42a0-8daf-47bdfb1fed0f/linkedin-1791244057419.png","summary":"Technology and innovation executive with 20+ years building genomics platforms and leading scientific teams. Architect of the GeneCards Suite used by 5M+ researchers worldwide.","location":{"city":"Hong Kong, Hong Kong"},"profiles":[{"network":"LinkedIn","username":"yarongolan","url":"https://linkedin.com/in/yarongolan"}]},"meta":{"canonical":"https://saywise.com/member9861","version":"v1.0.0","lastModified":"2026-10-06T00:05:37.844Z"},"x_saywise":{"handle":"member9861","pronouns":null,"availability":null,"oneLiner":"Technology and innovation executive with 20+ years building genomics platforms and leading scientific teams. Architect of the GeneCards Suite used by 5M+ researchers worldwide.","profileUrl":"https://saywise.com/member9861","markdownUrl":"https://saywise.com/member9861/profile.md","pdfUrl":"https://saywise.com/member9861/resume.pdf","archetype":{"code":"HS-DG","name":"Launchpad Navigator","url":"https://saywise.com/sca/e426a88efb0f","rarity":"One of the first Launchpad Navigators on Saywise"},"aiStack":[{"name":"Claude","description":"My daily driver for coding, testing and deployment","url":"https://claude.ai","storyCount":0},{"name":"Grok Bot","description":"My operating partner for running my company","url":null,"storyCount":0},{"name":"ChatGPT","description":"My strategic thought partner","url":"https://chatgpt.com","storyCount":0}],"qa":[{"question":"What kind of work energizes you?","url":"https://saywise.com/q/1b01f09b2021","answers":[{"title":"Post","url":"https://saywise.com/s/c9893e0f6d8d","text":"Solving user needs with technology. It's not about creating the most sophisticated technological solution—it's about providing your users with the simplest, easiest way to achieve their goals or solve their needs. That focus on what users actually need, to predict what they will find useful - that's what got 5 million researchers in academia and pharma to adopt GeneCards and use it as their daily driver."}]},{"question":"What AI tools do you use the most?","url":"https://saywise.com/q/10c2b363a976","answers":[{"title":"Post","url":"https://saywise.com/s/2f7f3b1306ac","text":"I use a combination of AI tools for strategy, operations, sales, customer support, development, testing and deployment - and also as a PA in my personal life. Today, it's mostly Grok Bot, Claude and Codex. I also built our own proprietary harness for biomedical research based on our knowledge graph, which we use to demonstrate our products' capabilities and identify business opportuntiies."}]}]},"work":[{"name":"LifeMap Sciences, Inc.","position":"Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer; Chief Technology Officer (prior to 2016)","location":"Hong Kong, Israel, China","url":"https://lifemapsc.com","startDate":"2012-05-01","endDate":"2021-01-01","summary":"Created and commercialized TGex, a clinical genomics platform used for 100,000+ clinical cases. The platform helps clinical geneticists find disease-causing variants from sequenced exomes or genomes and produce clinical reports. Deployed in US cloud, in-country in China, and behind hospital firewalls for paediatric and rare-disease services at HKU/Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong Children's Hospital, Beijing Children's Hospital, Shanghai Children's Medical Center and others across Europe. Extended interpretation beyond the 2% of the genome covered by exomes to ~20%, adding structural and copy-number variants and non-coding regulatory regions. Made clinical cases fast and repeatable with exomes fully annotated in under five minutes and phenotype-driven ranking placing causal variants first. Built the Greater China go-to-market through partnerships with Shanyi, Illumina and direct hospital deployments. Led a joint bid with Accenture for the Hong Kong Genome Institute's genomic data platform."},{"name":"Koala Technologies, Ltd.","position":"Vice President, Research & Development","location":"Israel","startDate":"2006-07-01","endDate":"2007-11-01","summary":"Led R&D for Tournamino, an early online prediction-market platform built around real-world event outcomes. The model was later popularized by Polymarket and Kalshi."},{"name":"Xennex, Inc.","position":"Founder & Chief Technology Officer","location":"Boston, Tel Aviv, Hong Kong","url":"https://xennex.xyz","startDate":"2002-12-01","endDate":"2012-05-01","summary":"Founded and led Xennex, the technology company behind GeneCards, built on a scientific collaboration with the Weizmann Institute of Science (2003–2025). Built an Israel-based team of software engineers, curators and bioinformaticians. Designed and implemented GDPR and HIPAA programmes and security controls for patient data. Oversaw infrastructure security, access controls, backup and disaster recovery for multi-terabyte data environments. Built LifeMap Discovery (2011–2015), a research database of embryonic development and stem cells published in PLoS ONE. Turned GeneCards from an academic database into a self-sustaining commercial platform with enterprise licences from top-tier pharma and biotech, scientific-advertising business and usage-analytics system for pricing. Sold Xennex to LifeMap Sciences (then a BioTime subsidiary) in May 2012."},{"name":"e4eNet, Inc.","position":"Chief Technology Officer","location":"Greater Boston Area","startDate":"2000-04-01","endDate":"2002-10-01","summary":"- Created an innovative platform for online collaboration in the electronic manufacturing. Our solution connected OEMs, FABs and EMS in an effort to enhance product time to market and reduce overall product development costs. The platform was based on Lotus Domino and Java with a MIL-C grade security standard and had top tier OEMs and manufacturers as customers including IBM, Cisco, EMC, Celestica and others. - Managed a 15 person R&D team which included 3 development teams, QA, UI, technical writing and IT. - Lead product specification development and deployment throughout product lifecycle. - Created innovative data hub-and-spoke based data synchronization platform with MIL-C grade security."},{"name":"Valor Computerized Systems, Inc.","position":"Project Manager; Vice President R&D, e4eNet subsidiary","location":"Israel, Hong Kong","url":"https://valor.com","startDate":"1999-07-01","endDate":"2004-09-01","summary":"Worked on enterprise engineering and manufacturing software for the global electronics industry. Led the e4eNet B2B collaboration venture, whose technology and team were acquired by IBM in 2002. Created a patented part-management solution for electronics manufacturing by translating Fortune 500 customer requirements into product specifications. Conceived and built an innovative electronics-manufacturing collaboration platform with a 30-person team of developers, IT and customer-support engineers. Invented the security scheme allowing competing manufacturers to share design data safely and led the effort to make an open exchange standard the industry norm. Designed and led a 30-person-year mission-critical hardware and software electronics-intelligence system."},{"name":"Israel Defense Forces — Intelligence Corps (Unit 8200)","position":"Software Team Leader","location":"Israel","url":"https://idfcfirst.bank.in","startDate":"1995-02-01","endDate":"1999-07-01","summary":"Led software team within the Intelligence Corps."}],"education":[{"institution":"Hong Kong University of Science and Technology - School of Business and Management","studyType":"Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies","startDate":"2011-09-01","endDate":"2011-06-01"},{"institution":"The Open University of Israel","url":"https://openu.ac.il","studyType":"Bachelor's Degree in Computer and Information Sciences, General","startDate":"2009-09-01","endDate":"2009-06-01"},{"institution":"School of Computers, IDF","studyType":"Graduate in Computer Programming","startDate":"1995-09-01","endDate":"1995-06-01"},{"institution":"Ben Zvi","url":"https://ybz.org.il"}],"projects":[{"name":"GENIE","description":"An AI research harness that answers plain-language questions by querying the GeneCards Knowledge Graph and live literature. Rather than relying on language-model memory, it grades every finding by evidence and cites sources so researchers can verify answers."},{"name":"GeneCards Knowledge Graph","description":"Built a knowledge graph connecting genes, variants, diseases, symptoms, proteins, pathways, drugs, clinical trials and literature. Each fact carries its source and evidence strength, enabling both scientists and AI systems to trust and trace information."},{"name":"LifeMap Discovery","description":"Built BioTime's research database focusing on embryonic development and stem cells. The work was published as a scientific contribution in PLoS ONE."},{"name":"GeneCards Suite","description":"Turned an academic database from the Weizmann Institute into a self-sustaining commercial platform used by over 5 million researchers globally. Licensed by Novartis, Amgen, GSK, Sanofi and Genentech. Built from 190+ curated sources covering genes, diseases, pathways, variants, function and expression."},{"name":"TGex Clinical Genomics Platform","description":"Created a clinical genomics platform for variant interpretation used across Greater China and Europe. Deployed at HKU/Queen Mary Hospital, Beijing Children's Hospital, Shanghai Children's Medical Center and others. Made clinical cases fast and repeatable with exomes fully annotated in under five minutes. Extended interpretation beyond exomes to structural variants and non-coding regions, improving causal variant identification."},{"name":"e4eNet Collaboration Platform","description":"Built an innovative electronics-manufacturing collaboration platform enabling competing manufacturers to securely share design data. Invented a novel security scheme allowing data exchange while protecting competitive interests. Led industry standardization efforts for open data exchange."}],"skills":[{"name":"Data Engineering"},{"name":"Software as a Service (SaaS)"},{"name":"Executive Management"},{"name":"Artificial Intelligence (AI)"},{"name":".NET Core"},{"name":"ASP.NET Core"},{"name":"Software Project Management"},{"name":"Application Development"},{"name":"Product Innovation"},{"name":"Business Strategy"},{"name":"Information Technology"},{"name":"JavaScript"},{"name":"Team Leadership"},{"name":"HTML"},{"name":"Agile Methodologies"},{"name":"Software Development"},{"name":"Development Management"},{"name":"Business Development"},{"name":"Product Management"},{"name":"Leadership"},{"name":".NET"},{"name":"Management"},{"name":"Databases"},{"name":"Biotechnology"},{"name":"Start-ups"},{"name":"Bioinformatics"},{"name":"Enterprise Software"},{"name":"Genomics"},{"name":"Life Sciences"},{"name":"Project Management"},{"name":"Full-Stack Development"},{"name":"Design"},{"name":"Business Driven"},{"name":"Computer Science"},{"name":"Engineering"},{"name":"Microsoft Azure"},{"name":"SQL Azure"},{"name":"C#"},{"name":".NET Framework"},{"name":"jQuery"},{"name":"Agile Project Management"},{"name":"Knowledge Graphs"},{"name":"Clinical Genomics"},{"name":"Variant Interpretation"},{"name":"Data Governance"},{"name":"GDPR"},{"name":"HIPAA"},{"name":"Enterprise Licensing"},{"name":"Large-Scale Data Platforms"},{"name":"Board-Level Communication"}],"publications":[{"name":"Genome analysis and knowledge-driven variant interpretation with TGex","summary":"We present TGex, the Translational Genomics expert, a novel genome variation analysis and interpretation platform, with remarkable exome analysis capacities and a pioneering approach of non-coding variants interpretation. TGex’s main strength is combining state-of-the-art variant filtering with knowledge-driven analysis made possible by VarElect, our highly effective gene-phenotype interpretation tool. VarElect leverages the widely used GeneCards knowledgebase, which integrates information from > 150 automatically-mined data sources. Access to such a comprehensive data compendium also facilitates TGex’s broad variant annotation, supporting evidence exploration, and decision making. TGex has an interactive, user-friendly, and easy adaptive interface, ACMG compliance, and an automated reporting system. Beyond comprehensive whole exome sequence capabilities, TGex encompasses innovative non-coding variants interpretation, towards the goal of maximal exploitation of whole genome sequence analyses in the clinical genetics practice. This is enabled by GeneCards’ recently developed GeneHancer, a novel integrative and fully annotated database of human enhancers and promoters. Examining use-cases from a variety of TGex users world-wide, we demonstrate its high diagnostic yields (42% for single exome and 50% for trios in 1500 rare genetic disease cases) and critical actionable genetic findings. The platform’s support for integration with EHR and LIMS through dedicated APIs facilitates automated retrieval of patient data for TGex’s customizable reporting engine, establishing a rapid and cost-effective workflow for an entire range of clinical genetic testing, including rare disorders, cancer predisposition, tumor biopsies and health screening."},{"name":"GeneAnalytics: An Integrative Gene Set Analysis Tool for Next Generation Sequencing, RNAseq and Microarray Data.","summary":"Postgenomics data are produced in large volumes by life sciences and clinical applications of novel omics diagnostics and therapeutics for precision medicine. To move from \"data-to-knowledge-to-innovation,\" a crucial missing step in the current era is, however, our limited understanding of biological and clinical contexts associated with data. Prominent among the emerging remedies to this challenge are the gene set enrichment tools. This study reports on GeneAnalytics™ ( geneanalytics.genecards.org ), a comprehensive and easy-to-apply gene set analysis tool for rapid contextualization of expression patterns and functional signatures embedded in the postgenomics Big Data domains, such as Next Generation Sequencing (NGS), RNAseq, and microarray experiments. GeneAnalytics' differentiating features include in-depth evidence-based scoring algorithms, an intuitive user interface and proprietary unified data. GeneAnalytics employs the LifeMap Science's GeneCards Knowledgebase. Expression-based analysis in GeneAnalytics relies on the LifeMap Discovery®-the embryonic development and stem cells database, which includes manually curated expression data for normal and diseased tissues, enabling advanced matching algorithm for gene-tissue association. This assists in evaluating differentiation protocols and discovering biomarkers for tissues and cells. Results are directly linked to gene, disease, or cell \"cards\" in the GeneCards suite. Future developments aim to enhance the GeneAnalytics algorithm as well as visualizations, employing varied graphical display items. Such attributes make GeneAnalytics a broadly applicable postgenomics data analyses and interpretation tool for translation of data to knowledge-based innovation in various Big Data fields such as precision medicine, ecogenomics, nutrigenomics, pharmacogenomics, vaccinomics, and others yet to emerge on the postgenomics horizon."},{"name":"LifeMap Discovery™: the embryonic development, stem cells, and regenerative medicine research portal","summary":"LifeMap Discovery™ provides investigators with an integrated database of embryonic development, stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. The hand-curated reconstruction of cell ontology with stem cell biology; including molecular, cellular, anatomical and disease-related information, provides efficient and easy-to-use, searchable research tools. The database collates in vivo and in vitro gene expression and guides translation from in vitro data to the clinical utility, and thus can be utilized as a powerful tool for research and discovery in stem cell biology, developmental biology, disease mechanisms and therapeutic discovery. LifeMap Discovery is freely available to academic nonprofit institutions at http://discovery.lifemapsc.com."},{"name":"MalaCards: an integrated compendium for diseases and their annotation","summary":"Comprehensive disease classification, integration and annotation are crucial for biomedical discovery. At present, disease compilation is incomplete, heterogeneous and often lacking systematic inquiry mechanisms. We introduce MalaCards, an integrated database of human maladies and their annotations, modeled on the architecture and strategy of the GeneCards database of human genes. MalaCards mines and merges 44 data sources to generate a computerized card for each of 16 919 human diseases. Each MalaCard contains disease-specific prioritized annotations, as well as inter-disease connections, empowered by the GeneCards relational database, its searches and GeneDecks set analyses. First, we generate a disease list from 15 ranked sources, using disease-name unification heuristics. Next, we use four schemes to populate MalaCards sections: (i) directly interrogating disease resources, to establish integrated disease names, synonyms, summaries, drugs/therapeutics, clinical features, genetic tests and anatomical context; (ii) searching GeneCards for related publications, and for associated genes with corresponding relevance scores; (iii) analyzing disease-associated gene sets in GeneDecks to yield affiliated pathways, phenotypes, compounds and GO terms, sorted by a composite relevance score and presented with GeneCards links; and (iv) searching within MalaCards itself, e.g. for additional related diseases and anatomical context. The latter forms the basis for the construction of a disease network, based on shared MalaCards annotations, embodying associations based on etiology, clinical features and clinical conditions. This broadly disposed network has a power-law degree distribution, suggesting that this might be an inherent property of such networks. Work in progress includes hierarchical malady classification, ontological mapping and disease set analyses, striving to make MalaCards an even more effective tool for biomedical research. Database URL:http://www.malacards.org/"},{"name":"GeneCards Version 3: the human gene integrator","summary":"GeneCards (www.genecards.org) is a comprehensive, authoritative compendium of annotative information about human genes, widely used for nearly 15 years. Its gene-centric content is automatically mined and integrated from over 80 digital sources, resulting in a web-based deep-linked card for each of >73,000 human gene entries, encompassing the following categories: protein coding, pseudogene, RNA gene, genetic locus, cluster and uncategorized. We now introduce GeneCards Version 3, featuring a speedy and sophisticated search engine and a revamped, technologically enabling infrastructure, catering to the expanding needs of biomedical researchers. A key focus is on gene-set analyses, which leverage GeneCards' unique wealth of combinatorial annotations. These include the GeneALaCart batch query facility, which tabulates user-selected annotations for multiple genes and GeneDecks, which identifies similar genes with shared annotations, and finds set-shared annotations by descriptor enrichment analysis. Such set-centric features address a host of applications, including microarray data analysis, cross-database annotation mapping and gene-disorder associations for drug targeting. We highlight the new Version 3 database architecture, its multi-faceted search engine, and its semi-automated quality assurance system. Data enhancements include an expanded visualization of gene expression patterns in normal and cancer tissues, an integrated alternative splicing pattern display, and augmented multi-source SNPs and pathways sections. GeneCards now provides direct links to gene-related research reagents such as antibodies, recombinant proteins, DNA clones and inhibitory RNAs and features gene-related drugs and compounds lists. We also portray the GeneCards Inferred Functionality Score annotation landscape tool for scoring a gene's functional information status. Finally, we delineate examples of applications and collaborations that have benefited from the GeneCards suite."}]}