Timothy M. Block, Ph.D., FAASLD (hon.), is a world-renowned scientist, inventor and entrepreneur. He is the Co-founder and President Emeritus of the Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, the Hepatitis B Foundation, and the Foundation’s research arm, the Baruch S. Blumberg Institute. He is also currently Adjunct Professor at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine.

Dr. Block has co-authored more than 290 scholarly papers and is a co-inventor on 20 issued patents and 23 patent applications. His research focuses on the screening and discovery of antiviral drugs and biomarkers of liver cancer, for example pioneering the use of glycoproteomics as risk stratifiers for liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. In addition, Dr. Block is the scientific co-founder of several biotechnology companies, including Synergy Pharma (developer of the FDA-approved drug Trulance ), Glycotest (developing fucosylated biomarkers to detect liver diseases), and Enantigen (acquired by Oncore, now Arbutus).

Dr. Block was elected to the US National Academy of Inventors and was named a “Visionary in Hepatitis” by the World Hepatitis Alliance in 2017. In 2020, he received the first Distinguished Public Service award from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, which also named him a “Fellow” (FAASLD). Dr. Block trained as a virologist and biochemist and completed a Ph.D. in Microbiology at the State University of NY (Buffalo), a Post Doctoral research fellowship in biochemistry at Princeton University, and a sabbatical at the University of Oxford. He was awarded a Med. Doctor. Honorary Causes in 1999 and has served on the faculties of Thomas Jefferson University and Drexel University College of Medicine, rising to tenured Full Professor at both institutions.

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