French major to biotech CEO
David Hysong ’09 David Hysong ’09 has always lived large and largely for others. He could easily be the inspiration for a liberal arts action figure, a cerebral MacGyver with entrepreneurial gifts, a strong faith and a desire to put himself on the line for others. Hysong has worked undercover in Cambodia to fight human trafficking. He founded an NGO to help refugee children. After being hit by a 12-ton bus, he managed to walk again, attend Harvard Divinity School and was selected for Navy SEAL training. In the past two years Hysong has become founder, CEO and patient of Shepherd Therapeutics, a biotech company with offices in Nashville and Boston, created to find cures for rare forms of cancer. Diagnosed with a head and neck cancer that has no targeted therapy, Hysong quickly assessed the limitations within the existing oncological landscape. He traded special operations in the military for a different kind of warfare. The 250 forms of “rare” cancer actually comprise 42 percent of all cancer diagnoses, Hysong notes. Together, they are the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Even so, the pharmaceutical industry neglects rare cancers in order to invest in fewer therapies affecting larger numbers of patients. Hysong could see the life-saving opportunities being missed. He created Shepherd Therapeutics to revolutionize how rare cancers are treated and the ecosystem around them. Operating with low overhead and a big-picture idea that connects existing resources, Shepherd Therapeutics
