Professor Thomas Kodadek received his B.S. in Chemistry at the University of Miami in 1981 and his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Stanford University in 1985. He then pursued post-doctoral studies in the laboratory of Prof. Bruce Alberts at the University of California, San Francisco Medical School from 1985-1987. In the fall of 1987 he joined the faculty of Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Texas at Austin, rising to the rank of full professor. In 1998, he moved to the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas where he served as Professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Biology as well as the Director of the Division of Translational Research. In June, 2009, Prof. Kodadek moved to the Scripps Research Institute campus in Jupiter, FL where he is currently Chairman of Cancer Biology and Professor of Chemistry.

Professor Kodadek works in the field of chemical biology, which involves the development of chemical tools to monitor and manipulate important processes in biology and medicine. His laboratory has also made important contributions to our understanding of how genes are rearranged and expressed. Recently, Prof. Kodadek has focused on the development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic tools for the treatment of immune diseases and cancers. This work was recognized in 2006 by a prestigious NIH Director's Pioneer Award for "exceptionally creative research". Opko, a Miami biotechnology company, has established a laboratory in Jupiter for the discovery of novel diagnostic markers for cancer, autoimmune and neurological diseases using the methods developed in the Kodadek laboratory.