Chad Robins Biography and Net Worth

Chad Robins is the co-founder, president and CEO of Seattle-based Adaptive Biotechnologies, a pioneer and leader in immune-driven medicine aiming to improve people's lives by learning from the wisdom of their adaptive immune systems.

Since founding Adaptive with his brother Harlan (now the company’s chief scientific officer) in 2009, Robins has led the company in developing a proprietary immune medicine platform that supports businesses ranging from life sciences research, drug discovery and clinical diagnostics. In 2019, he guided it through what was one of the most successful public offerings in biotech that year. Under his direction, Adaptive launched clonoSEQ®, the first and only FDA-authorized NGS-based test for detecting and monitoring minimal residual disease in select B-cell cancers.

Robins also launched the company into the flourishing health technology space, establishing a key partnership with Microsoft to create an AI engine capable of detecting certain diseases from a blood sample. This has fueled a pipeline of diagnostic tests for autoimmune disorders, cancer and infectious disease. Recently, Adaptive released T-Detect™ COVID, the first clinical T-cell based test for patients to affirm a prior infection of COVID-19. Additionally, the company is working to uncover potent neutralizing antibodies for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19.

Robins has received consistent recognition for innovation and excellence. In both 2019 and 2020, he was featured on the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Power 100 list, and he has been honored as a Most Intriguing Entrepreneur by Goldman Sachs every year since 2015. He was named the 2016 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for the Pacific Northwest region. In 2012, he was recognized as a 40 Under 40 Seattle Leaders honoree.

Adaptive received Seattle Business Magazine’s Leaders in Health Care 2020 – Achievement in Medical Technology award, in addition to being recognized on Deloitte Technology’s Fast 500 list each year since 2016. In addition, under Robins’ leadership, the company has routinely been ranked as one of the Puget Sound Business Journal’s Best Places to Work.

As an active participant in the biotech and health policy spaces, Robins serves on the board of Life Science Washington and on the steering committee of the Coalition for 21st Century Medicine. He also serves on the boards of Aortica Corporation, AdvaMedDx, AltPep and HeadLight. Previously, he served as board director for the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association.

Before Adaptive, Robins held executive-level positions in medical technology, real estate and investment companies, including with Pulte Homes, Connaught Real Estate Finance and HealthAxis.com. He started his career in banking working for companies such as Wasserstein Perella and Bank of America.

Robins holds a B.S. in entrepreneurial studies from Cornell University, and he earned his M.B.A. from The University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.