Alan Nelson's Biography

Alan Nelson, Professor, Arizona State University

Dr. Alan Nelson is the Founder, Chairman and CEO of VisionGate, Inc., where he and his team have developed the breakthrough Cell-CT for the true 3D analysis of cells. Dr. Nelson, prior Executive Director of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, is now leading the Predictive Health Analytics Institute (PHAIT). He holds two faculty positions; Professor of Bioengineering and Professor of Physics at Arizona State University. Prior to VisionGate, he was the founder, President and CEO of NeoPath where he developed the world’s first automated cancer cytology platform. NeoPath won landmark FDA Class III PMA approval in 1995 and introduced the AutoPap, a fully automated instrument for primary screening of Pap smears. After a successful Initial Public Offering in 1996, NeoPath was sold to Becton Dickinson to globalize the AutoPap, now called FocalPoint, to become the standard of care in cervical cancer screening. Before coming to ASU, Dr. Nelson was also on the faculty of the University of Washington where he Director of the Center for Imaging Systems Optimization and the Medical Imaging Graduate Program. Additionally, he was an Associate Professor with joint appointments at MIT and Harvard where he held the W.M. Keck Foundation endowed chair and directed the Radiological Sciences Program. Dr. Nelson holds over 140 issued patents and has over 100 peer reviewed publications in the field of biomedical imaging. He received his PhD in Biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.