CAMBRIDGE, MA (Friday, March 27, 2026)—Today, MassBio announced the appointment of eight life sciences executives to the organization’s Board of Directors, along with new board leadership, who were formally approved at Thursday’s MassBio State of Possible Conference. These members will direct and support MassBio’s mission of accelerating breakthroughs that enhance patient lives through strategic cost-saving initiatives, robust business partnerships, educational and networking opportunities, and proactive advocacy. Together, they will advance the priorities outlined in MassBio’s Vision 2030 strategic plan.
“These eight new board members span the full arc of what it takes to bring a medicine to patients — from startup financing and early-stage formation to global business development, technical manufacturing, and commercial operations. That breadth is no accident. It reflects exactly the kind of cross-section MassBio has always represented, and it’s what we need on the board heading into the next phase of Vision 2030,” said MassBio CEO & President Kendalle Burlin O’Connell. “I’m especially pleased to welcome Jeff Elton as incoming Board Chair. His long and acclaimed career at the intersection of data, technology, and the life sciences is well-suited for this moment, and I look forward to what we’ll build together.”
The eight industry leaders joining the Board of Directors this year are:
- Warren Browne, Partner, Life Science Outsourced Accounting | Citrin Cooperman
- Erin Colgan, Senior Vice President of Finance | Flagship Pioneering
- Tamara Darsow, Ph.D., Group Vice President, Global Business Development | Novo Nordisk
- Parastoo Khoshaklagh, Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder | GC Therapeutics
- Fiona Mack, Vice President, Head of ENA External Scientific Innovation | Johnson & Johnson
- Timothy Maines, Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer | Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
- Geoffrey McDonough, Chief Executive Officer | NodThera
- Scott Robertson, Co-founder & Managing Partner | Dauntless Ventures
In addition to the new members, the Executive Committee roster has been updated:
- Chair*: Jeff Elton, Ph.D., Vice Chairman | ConcertAI
- Vice Chair*: Jason Cole, Chief Executive Officer | Zag Bio
- Treasurer: Michael O’Hara
- Clerk*: Brian Alexander, M.D., M.P.H., Chief Executive Officer | Valo Health, Inc.
- Counsel: Danielle Lauzon, Partner, Co-Chair, Life Sciences M&A | Goodwin LLP
- Immediate Past Chair*: Tamar Thompson, Vice President, Patient Experience & Insights | Alexion, AstraZeneca Rare Disease
* New for 2026-2027
“Massachusetts has always been the place where bold ideas get built into something real and MassBio is a big part of why. After serving many years on this board of directors, I’m honored to take the chair at a moment when the science, technology, and policy environments are each demanding a response, and when this organization is positioned to help shape it,” said Jeff Elton, former founding CEO and current vice chairman at ConcertAI, and new MassBio Board Chair. “With Vision 2030 as our roadmap and a board that reflects the full depth of this industry, I’m confident we’ll continue to deliver for our members, for this ecosystem, and ultimately for the patients who are counting on all of us.”
About the New Chair
Jeff Elton, Vice Chairman and former Founding CEO | ConcertAI
Jeff Elton, Ph.D., is currently Vice Chairman and the former founding CEO of ConcertAI. ConcertAI is a global leader in Scientific and Clinical AI Solutions for life sciences companies and healthcare providers, partnered with NVIDIA, Caris Life Sciences, Guardant Health, and others. ConcertAI solutions are used by more than 80 life science companies, 2000 healthcare providers, and 200 clinical research sites, enabling higher precision and performance in clinical trials and more accurate and confident diagnoses and selection of clinical interventions and treatments. ConcertAI’s CancerLinQ initiative is partnered with leading medical societies, such as the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO). Previously, Jeff held executive leadership positions at Accenture, Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, and McKinsey. He co-authored Healthcare Disrupted, and is a frequent contributor to peer-reviewed medical publications, industry overviews, and published perspective. Jeff has a Ph.D. and M.B.A. from The University of Chicago.
About the New Board Members
Warren Browne, Partner, Life Science Outsourced Accounting | Citrin Cooperman
Warren is a partner in Citrin Cooperman’s Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Practice, focused exclusively on providing outsourced accounting support to the Life Sciences Industry. Warren has over 20 years of operational accounting, finance, and tactical HR experience, with the last 10 years working directly with dozens of early-stage biotech companies. Before his role at Citrin Cooperman, Warren was the CEO of Browne Consulting, which he founded in 2016 to provide high-quality operational accounting and finance support to venture-backed life sciences startups and their investors. Over the course of a decade, his firm of 60 employees supported over 200 companies at all stages of development, from pre-seed through initial public offering (IPO) or acquisition. Browne Consulting joined Citrin Cooperman in 2026, with Warren serving as leader of the life sciences outsourced accounting vertical within the BPO Practice. Prior to leading Browne Consulting, Warren held CFO and director of finance positions at several fast-growing companies. In these roles, he oversaw all accounting, finance, and HR activity for the U.S. operations. Earlier in his career, Warren worked in controller and manager roles across a variety of industries, serving in an operational accounting capacity.
Erin Colgan, Senior Vice President of Finance | Flagship Pioneering
Erin Colgan joined Flagship Pioneering in 2024 as Senior Vice President of Finance, working within the central finance operations team with a focus on financial planning, accounting operations, and procurement. Erin brings over twenty years of finance and accounting experience to her role, with more than ten years making strategic financial and operational decisions for public and private, small- and large-cap life sciences firms. She joined Flagship from a publicly traded immune-oncology company, where she served as Chief Financial Officer (CFO), and she was previously with a private company helping to plan the launch of a Type II diabetes product. Erin held numerous finance and accounting leadership roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, including Controller of international operations leading the creation of new entities in Europe, Australia, and South America. She also collaborated with senior leadership to oversee all G&A, commercial and inventory cost planning, along with global revenue planning and commercial forecasting. She began her career in audit at PwC in Boston. Erin holds a B.A. in accounting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She is currently a Board Member and Treasurer of MassBioEd.
Tamara Darsow, Ph.D., Group Vice President, Global Business Development | Novo Nordisk
Tamara Darsow is a pharmaceutical executive dedicated to improving the health and well-being of people living with chronic cardiometabolic diseases. With more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and life sciences sectors, she has a proven track record of identifying innovation, cultivating high-value partnerships, and accelerating the development of differentiated medicines that drive market expansion. Tamara has held leadership positions at Novo Nordisk over the last 8 years across Research and Development, Commercial and Corporate Strategy, and today is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In her current role as Group Vice President of Global Business Development, she plays a pivotal role in shaping the company’s strategic growth by leading its M&A, BD&L and partnership initiatives. She works across academic, biotech and large pharmaceutical organizations and has been instrumental in closing critical deals in multiple therapy areas, including diabetes, obesity, cardiometabolic disease and rare disease. Prior to joining Novo Nordisk, Tamara was Senior Vice President at the American Diabetes Association, where she successfully led research, medical and patient-focused programs. These programs drove scientific advancements in the field of diabetes and obesity, set the foundations for the development of groundbreaking therapies and established medical guidelines for their use. (Full Bio)
Parastoo Khoshaklagh, Chief Executive Officer & Co-founder | GC Therapeutics
Dr. Parastoo Khoshakhlagh is a serial entrepreneur, CEO and co-founder of GC Therapeutics (GCTx), a pioneering biotech company advancing regenerative medicine through its AI-powered TFome™ platform, built on technology she co-invented during postdoctoral research in Professor George Church’s lab at Harvard Medical School. Founded in 2019 and based in Cambridge, MA, GCTx, under her leadership, has raised $75 million from leading life science investors to scale next-generation iPSC-based therapies. With a scientific and entrepreneurial background, Parastoo has built a multidisciplinary career spanning drug discovery, space medicine, tissue regeneration, and therapeutic innovation through synthetic biology. She is co-inventor of 28Bio, developing nerve-on-a-chip models for drug screening, and co-founder and co-inventor of Tympanogen, developing a non-surgical solution for eardrum repair. Parastoo also serves on the Boards of Directors of Tympanogen and the Board of Trustees of Boston Ballet. She is passionate about biotech policy, a patient advocate, and committed to inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs as an immigrant woman founder.
Fiona Mack, Vice President, Head of ENA External Scientific Innovation | Johnson & Johnson | Johnson & Johnson
Fiona Mack is Head of East North America, External Scientific Innovation at Johnson and Johnson. In this role she is responsible for regional management of East North America and the team’s partnership portfolio sourcing through identification, incubation, and due diligence providing expert guidance on business strategy, sourcing, stakeholder management and governance. In addition, she serves as a global partner for Neuroscience to drive its external innovation strategy. Prior to joining Johnson and Johnson, Fiona was the VP, Head of Bayer Co.Lab Cambridge, where she was responsible for launching and operationalizing Bayer’s life science incubator designed to support early-stage entrepreneurs with innovation in oncology, cardiovascular disease, immunology, and cell and gene therapy. Fiona has held senior leadership positions at Ipsen, Roche and Pfizer supporting external innovation efforts to expand Rare Disease, Neuroscience and Oncology portfolios. Fiona earned her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Pennsylvania and her undergraduate degree in Biology from Cornell University. Her innovative work has been published in high impact journals and she also has several granted patents.
Timothy Maines, Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer | Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Timothy Maines is Chief Technical Operations and Quality Officer at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, where he leads global technical operations, quality, and manufacturing across the company’s clinical and commercial portfolio. He joined Alnylam in 2017 as Global Head of Quality Assurance and Quality Control and was promoted to his current role in 2023, helping scale the company’s technical and quality infrastructure to support multiple commercial launches. With more than 35 years of experience in biopharmaceutical operations, Tim has held senior leadership roles at Ariad Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, MedImmune, GTC Biotherapeutics, Creative BioMolecules, and Stryker Biotech. Over his career, he has contributed to the development and commercialization of 13 novel medicines, including four approved therapies at Alnylam.
Geoffrey McDonough, Chief Executive Officer | NodThera
Dr. McDonough is CEO of NodThera, a clinical stage company developing oral inhibitors of NLRP3 for people living with cardiometabolic diseases. He previously served as President & Chief Executive Officer of Generation Bio (NASDAQ: GBIO), as President & CEO of Sobi, and spent a decade at Genzyme, holding senior roles including President of Genzyme Europe and Senior Vice President & General Manager of the global Lysosomal Storage Diseases business. He trained in internal medicine and pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital and earned his M.D. from Harvard Medical School.
Scott Robertson, Co-founder & Managing Partner | Dauntless Ventures
Dauntless Ventures is a Critical Technology fund backed by the DOD as part of the Critical Technology Initiative. Dauntless invests in the Critical Technology Areas defined by the Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Scott is a former US Navy Super Hornet pilot and TOPGUN graduate, after which he has had a career building fast growing startups. Scott was an early team member at Ginkgo Biosecurity, Chief Commercial Officer at Solugen and a co-founder of Lila Sciences. He is a graduate of the US Naval Academy, Harvard Business School, and UC Berkeley and is a CFA charter holder.
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About MassBio
MassBio is the driving force behind Massachusetts’s life sciences ecosystem, supporting innovation and industry growth by offering best-in-class resources to over 1,700 member organizations at all stages of the biopharma lifecycle. Founded in 1985, MassBio aspires to extend Massachusetts’s impact as the global center of excellence in biomedical breakthroughs. Through strategic cost-saving initiatives, robust business partnerships, educational and networking opportunities, and proactive advocacy, MassBio empowers its members to launch the next generation of medical advancements to deliver the cures and therapies that enhance patient lives.