Dr. Ho was valedictorian of the Purdue University Class of 1987 where he received his Bachelor’s Degree in Biology. For graduate school, Ho was accepted into the Medical Scientist Training Program and received the Spencer T. and Ann W. Olin Fellowship to attend Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, where he received his M.D. and Ph.D. in 1996.
Shortly after graduating from medical school, Ho decided he could make a far bigger impact on society by developing new drugs than by prescribing them. In 1998, he started his company, Drug Design Methodologies, of which he continues to serve as CEO, to commercialize the computational drug discovery technology he developed in graduate school. The result was his capstone software packages, RACHEL and CHARLIE, which were sold to over 40 pharmaceutical companies. This software was instrumental in helping pharmaceutical chemists optimize drug candidates for eventual clinical trials.
Over the years, Ho has served as a consultant to many pharmaceutical companies, including Monsanto (1991-1994), Fisons (1992-1994), Parke Davis–Warner Lambert (1992-1998), Pharmacia (1997-2000), Pfizer (2000-2004), DuPont (2004), and Tripos (2001-present).
Dr. Ho recently licensed much of his work to Qubit Pharmaceuticals, where he is a senior research fellow. Based in Paris, France, the company applies quantum mechanics techniques and high-performance GPU-based computing to drug discovery. In addition, Dr. Ho maintains an academic presence as a Senior Scientist at the McDonnell Genome Institute at Washington University and as an Adjunct Professor of Game Development and Design at Webster University, where he teaches augmented reality techniques.
Dr. Ho has received many awards, among them are the Spring Cohort Washington University LEAP Innovation Challenge for Small Business Award (2017), St. Louis Arch Grants Startup Competition Award (2017), and St. Louis Innovation Award for Small Business (2018).
Throughout every stage of Dr. Ho’s career, he has developed technology to advance scientific computing and development which has benefited the health of millions.