Westley graduated McKay in 2008, was involved with Student Government, Varsity Tennis, Varsity Swimming, and all the science clubs available. One of his favorite clubs was Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) because of all the field trips (he also qualified for Nationals 3 years in a row and went to Nationals in Atlanta, Georgia with six of his close friends his senior year). He was probably most conspicuous when carrying around a big camera and photographing everyone at all the events at McKay.

After high school he went to college at the University of Puget Sound where majored with honors in Biochemistry with minors in math, and neuroscience. Despite his love for the sciences, his favorite class was Political Philosophy. He then went on to complete his PhD at The Scripps Research Institute in neurosciences, studying how the brain encodes memories at the cellular level. His claim to fame is having lived in his car during graduate school for 5 years, while also working on a local Styrofoam ban with The Surfrider Foundation. You can find a video about living in his car on YouTube.

He now lives in San Francisco, and works at a leading venture capital firm, SOSV, that houses a leading biotech accelerator, IndieBio, where they are finding technologies and working closely with start-ups to accelerate the bioeconomy for human and planetary health. Those start-ups are doing everything from making wood without trees, meat without animals, eggs without chicken, and rice grown in oceans, as well as new modalities of therapeutic drugs. He feels incredibly lucky to find a career path that is aligned with his mission of saving the world.

Other life interests: surfing, rock climbing, backpacking, environmental activism, political activism, photography, science, gadgets, cooking, and gardening.

LinkedIn: www.westleydang.com

Twitter: twitter.com/westleydang