Tomas Ganz is Professor of Medicine and Pathology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his BS in Physics from UCLA, PhD from the California Institute of Technology in Applied Physics and MD from UCLA. He then trained in Internal Medicine and Pulmonary/Critical Care Medicine at the UCLA Medical Center, and did his post-doctoral training there with Prof. Harvey Herschman. His major focus was on research on the biological role of peptide mediators in innate immunity and iron metabolism. More recently, he has investigated the pathogenesis of anemia of inflammation and iron overload states, and worked on the development of hepcidin agonists and antagonists. His laboratory at UCLA has been continuously supported by grant funding from the National Institutes of Health, as well as from private foundation and biotechnology firms. He has authored more than 250 publications in refereed journals and more than 30 book chapters. Dr. Ganz has served as an Associate Editor of Blood (1998-2007), President of the International Bioiron Society (2009-2011) and has been a member of the Erythrocyte and Leukocyte Biology (ELB) Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. He is a co-founder of two biotechnology enterprises, Intrinsic LifeSciences and Merganser Biotech, focused on the diagnostic and therapeutic applications of hepcidin, and has been a scientific advisor to the leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide. He received the Marcel Simon Award of the International Bioiron Society in 2005 for the discovery of hepcidin.