Dr. Gollaher joined CHI in 1993 as Director, moving to President and CEO a year later. Previously he was vice president of Scripps Clinic and Research Foundation, with responsibility for clinical operations, business development and managed care. Previously he served on the faculties of Harvard, UCSD and the Graduate School of Public Health at SDSU. Earlier in his career he held executive positions at Young & Rubicam New York and McCann Erikson.

He is an award-winning author in the fields of science and medicine, and has written three books and numerous articles in the fields of health policy, the economics of biomedical research and development, bioethics and the history of medicine. In 2007 he became co-publisher and editorial director of The Journal of Life Sciences. He earned his undergraduate degree with honors from UCSB, and Masters and Ph.D. degrees from Harvard University. He has received fellowships from Harvard's Houghton Library, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Presently he serves on the boards of CHI, the California Biotechnology Foundation, and the J. David Gladstone Institutes. Dr. Gollaher is also a co-founder and board member of Vision Robotics Corporation, and holds six patents in the field of vision-based autonomous robotic navigation.