Tom Hopp was born in Seattle, Washington. He was educated at West Seattle High School and the University of Washington. With a perfect score on the Graduate Record Exam, he entered the Ph.D. program in biochemistry at Cornell University Medical College. He then studied proteins and genetic engineering in Nobel Prize winning labs at Rockefeller University, moving on to help found the multi-billion-dollar Seattle biotechnology company, Immunex Corporation. He's created genetically altered animals with human genes and produced the first commercially successful nanotechnology device, a molecular handle he calls the FLAG.

Tom is currently Vice President, Research and Development with CG Therapeutics, Inc. of Seattle, Washington, a small biotechnology company dedicated to developing vaccines against cancer and other diseases. Download his full curriculum vitae.

Tom plays guitar and bass, and has performed onstage with blues legend John Lee Hooker and rock supergroups The Kingsmen and The Drifters. He has lived in Seattle, San Diego and on Manhattan Island. He traces his ancestry to Blackfoot Indians, Prussian hop farmers, African slaves and General Stonewall Jackson.

Tom is an active professional member of the Mystery Writers of America.