We are pleased to announce that Jill Hruby and Paul Friedrichs are serving as advisors to Radical Numerics, bringing their deep experiences as leaders in national security and biological risk reduction as we advance responsible generative genomics.
Jill Hruby, biodefense advisor.
The Honorable Jill Hruby served as Under Secretary of Energy for Nuclear Security and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration from 2021 to 2025, leading US national security laboratories, technical infrastructure, and workforces through significant modernization. Before that, she spent 34 years at Sandia National Laboratories, rising from technical staff to Director (2015–2017), the first woman to lead a U.S. nuclear weapons laboratory.
At Sandia, she also led the Energy, Nonproliferation, and High-Consequence Security Division and the International, Homeland, and Nuclear Security Program, with work spanning weapons systems, nonproliferation, homeland security technologies, and materials science. In her honor, Sandia inaugurated the Laboratory Director Jill Hruby Postdoctoral Fellowship in National Security Science and Engineering in 2018.
She has served on the Defense Science Board and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. She serves as a member of the National Security Advisory Committee for Anthropic, UC Advisory Governor on the Lawrence Livermore National Security (LLNS) Board, as a Board Member for the Atomic Weapon Establishment in the UK, and in advisory roles with several companies.
Paul Friedrichs, biodefense advisor.
The Honorable Paul Friedrichs, Maj Gen (ret), MD, was Deputy Assistant to the President and the inaugural Director of the White House Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy. He previously served as Senior Director for Global Health Security and Biodefense at the National Security Council. He concluded a 37-year Air Force career as the Joint Staff Surgeon, the chief medical advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he also advised the DoD COVID-19 Task Force and represented the U.S. on NATO’s Committee of the Chiefs of Military Medical Services.
A board-certified urologist, he commanded military hospitals and regional health systems, served as Command Surgeon for Pacific Air Forces and Air Combat Command, and chaired DoD’s Joint Task Force on High Reliability Organizations. In addition to caring for patients in combat, Antarctica, and other austere locations, he has led the Department of Defense's global medical evacuation system and assisted in multiple major domestic and international responses to natural disasters and biological outbreaks, as well as global health diplomacy efforts.
He was awarded the Bronze Star and an honorary doctorate of science from the University of Nebraska and has been named a chevalier in the French Ordre National du Mérite. Today, he serves as a leading voice in biodefense and pandemic prevention with RAND and the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Their guidance will help shape how Radical Numerics advances its mission and contributes leading capabilities to biological defenses, and we are thrilled that the company can benefit from their experiences and wisdom.
Photo credits: U.S. Department of Energy (Jill Hruby); U.S. Air Force / Eric R. Dietrich (Paul Friedrichs).
