The following is an excerpt from Jon Chesto’s Bold Types in the Boston Globe on June 10, 2025:
Kendalle Burlin O’Connell has seen plenty of industry ups and downs in her two decades at the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council. This period, though, feels more challenging than any other.
Big cutbacks to biomedical research funds. Tariffs that drive up drug prices. An exodus from the Food and Drug Administration.
Perfect time to bring one of the world’s biggest biotech conferences back to Boston, right? Actually, yes.
O’Connell, MassBio’s chief executive, would argue that industry researchers and executives need each other more than ever in these tumultuous times. And she’ll make the case at the BIO International Convention next week that the industry needs Massachusetts and its dense cluster of biotech innovators more than ever as well. Among other activities at BIO, O’Connell will share the stage next Tuesday with Governor Maura Healey and Thermo Fisher Scientific chief executive Marc Casper to discuss why Massachusetts remains the global epicenter for life sciences.
Here’s the message she’ll try to convey: “When there’s uncertainty, when you don’t know where to go, you go back to what has a proven track record of success. This is the place for innovation. This is the place for hope for patients.”