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CEO of cancer startup to speak at Illinois commencement

Posted May 11, 2016 7:00 am

The Associated Press

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (AP) - The chief executive of a biotech startup will speak at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's commencement ceremony.

Illinois alumnus Jeff Huber speaks to the graduating class Saturday morning at Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

Huber is CEO of Grail, a company working to develop a blood test to detect early stage cancer. He's a former senior executive at Google.

Investors in Grail include Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Huber says he joined Grail in memory of his wife, Laura, who died of colon cancer. Huber earned a bachelor's degree in computer engineering from the University of Illinois in 1989. He obtained a master's degree from Harvard University.

At Google, he helped lead the development and improvement of products such as Google Maps and Gmail.

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