MassBio, the premier life sciences trade association representing more than 600 biotech companies, research institutions and other industry stakeholders, announced today that President & CEO Bob Coughlin will serve as moderator on the Rare Diseases panel at the World Health Forum, October 26th & 27th at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

The panel will include Alex Margolin, former CEO of Alnara and Joe O'Donnell, Chairman & CEO of the Boston Culinary Group and a major advocate for cystic fibrosis research.

At the World Health Forum, leading experts will discuss policy efforts, advances in healthcare delivery and management, the treatment of important medical issues including fertility success and cancer stem cell treatment, as well as lifestyle trends, impacting world health.  Speakers include experts from academia, industry, government agencies, insurance companies and integrated health systems. 

More than 300 attendees from pharma, biotech, academia, and healthcare gather every year at Harvard Medical School.  The conference is co-hosted by Jonathan Bush, Michelle Dipp, Rob Kaplan, Steve Pagliuca, Bob Pozen, Charles Tate and Christoph Westphal and sponsors include L.E.K., UBS, Alexandria, Cambridge Health Institute, MassBio, Pure Communications and Weber Shandwick.

Agenda and registration at http://bostonworldhealthforum.com/agenda.php

Speakers include:

Bob Coughlin, President, Mass Biotech Council

Bob Higgins, Partner, Highland Capital

Bob Pozen, Chairman, MFS Investment Management & BOD, Medtronic

Charles Tate, Chairman & Founding Partner, Capital Royalty

Christoph Westphal, Longwood Founders Fund/Verastem

David Meeker, Chief Operating Officer, Genzyme

David Redlick, Partner, WilmerHale LLP

David Sinclair, Professor, Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School

Eric Buehrens, CEO, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

George Daley, Director, Stem Cell Transplantation Program, Children’s Hospital Boston

Janet Woodcock, Director, Drug Evaluation & Research, FDA

JC Gutierrez-Ramos, SVP Research and Development, Biotherapeutics, Pfizer

Jeffrey Flier, Dean, Harvard Medical School

Joe Kennedy, Chairman & President, Citizens Energy

John Henry, Principal Owner, Boston Red Sox

Jonathan Bush, CEO, AthenaHealth

Jonathan Tilly, MGH & Harvard Stem Cell Institute

Lenny Guarente, Professor, MIT

Lewis Cantley, Director, Cancer Research Center, BIDMC & Professor, HMS,

Michelle Dipp, CEO, OvaScience

Mikael Dolsten, President, R&D, Pfizer

Marc Grasso, Managing Director, Global Healthcare, UBS

Rob Kaplan, former Vice Chairman, Goldman Sachs & Professor, HBS

Robert Langer, Institute Professor, MIT

Robert Weinberg, Founding Member, Broad Institute & Professor for Cancer Research, MIT

Stephen Kay, Chairman, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center & Senior Director, Goldman Sachs

Steve Pagliuca, Managing Director, Bain Capital & Co-owner, Boston Celtics

Peter Slavin, President, Mass General Hospital

Tyler Jacks, Professor, Koch Institute at MIT

Wyc Grousbeck, Co-owner & CEO, Boston Celtics