(CAMBRIDGE, MA) – During MassBio’s 2017 Annual Meeting on March 30th, the membership voted to elect nine life sciences executives to the organization’s Board of Directors.
Joining the Board of Directors this year:
- Lisa Adler, Head of Communications & Public Affairs at Shire;
- Jason Cole, Chief Legal Officer at bluebird bio;
- John Dunlop, Vice President of Research at Amgen;
- Ed Kaye, M.D., President and CEO at Sarepta Therapeutics
- Paige Mahaney, Discovery Research Site Head, US at Boehringer Ingelheim
- Paul McKenzie, Executive Vice President of Pharmaceutical Operations & Technology at Biogen;
- Chandra Ramanathan, Vice President & Head of the East Coast Innovation Center at Bayer;
- Pam Randhawa, CEO & Founder at Empiriko; and
- Bill Sibold, Global Head of Multiple Sclerosis, Immunology & Oncology at Sanofi Genzyme
“I’m thrilled to welcome this group of industry leaders to the MassBio Board of Directors,” said Abbie Celniker, Chair of the Board of Directors at MassBio. “These new Board members represent the range of companies that make up the vibrant and growing life sciences industry in Massachusetts – from early stage biotech to established players. Adding their perspective and new ideas to the Board will ensure MassBio will effectively lead on the most challenging issues facing the industry – from value based payments to gender diversity to the next generation of patient advocacy.”
“Our Board members have been instrumental in leading us record high membership levels, while ensuring our memberships’ interests across the industry are promoted and protected,” said Robert Coughlin, President and CEO of MassBio. “I’m looking forward to working with our new Board members to ensure the life sciences industry continues to thrive in Massachusetts and our members can continue to bring new and lifesaving cures and treatments to patients across the world.”
The MassBio Board of Directors has 43 members representing everything from emerging start-ups to established companies. They guide the vision and strategy of MassBio’s day to day operations, from networking to the purchasing consortium to policy advocacy.
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About MassBio
MassBio is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1985 that represents and provides services and support for the Massachusetts life sciences industry. MassBio is committed to advancing Massachusetts' leadership in the life sciences to grow the industry, add value to the healthcare system and improve patient lives. Representing more than 975+ biotechnology companies, academic institutions, research hospitals, and service organizations involved in life sciences and healthcare, MassBio works to advance policy and promote education, while providing member programs, events, industry information, and services.
New Board Member Biographies
Lisa Adler, Head of Communications & Public Affairs at Shire, has more than 25 years in healthcare communications experience. Her areas of expertise include strategic planning, corporate branding, product and employee communications, patient advocacy, corporate social responsibility, issues management, investor relations and teambuilding/mentoring. Prior to joining Shire, Lisa held several leadership roles in the Boston area, including Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, Vice President of Corporate Communications at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, now Takeda Oncology, and prior to that, Executive Vice President and Managing Director at Feinstein Kean Healthcare, an Ogilvy PR Worldwide company. Lisa’s previous experience includes positions at Johnson & Johnson in the U.S. Public Affairs team, and at various healthcare communications agencies servicing a broad array of biotech and pharmaceutical companies. She holds a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. Lisa lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband and has three children.
Jason Cole, Chief Legal Officer at bluebird bio, has been at bluebird bio since March 2014 and currently serves as the company’s chief legal officer, overseeing bluebird’s legal, government affairs, information technology, and facilities functions. Prior to joining bluebird, Jason served as executive vice president, corporate development and general counsel at Zalicus Inc. from September 2011 through March 2014, and as senior vice president, general counsel of Zalicus, and its predecessor company CombinatoRx, Inc. from January 2006 to September 2011. From 1999 to 2006, Jason was a corporate and securities attorney at Ropes & Gray LLP. He holds holds an A.B. in government from Dartmouth College and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.
John Dunlop, Vice President of Research at Amgen, joined Amgen in September 2016 at the Cambridge, Massachusetts facility. John is responsible for Neuroscience Discovery Research, with teams spanning the Cambridge, MA and Thousand Oaks, CA locations. Previously John was VP and Head of the Neuroscience Innovative Medicine Unit at AstraZeneca leading discovery and early development efforts. Prior to joining AstraZeneca, John was Executive Director in the Neuroscience Research Unit at Pfizer with responsibility for the preclinical portfolios in Neurology and Psychiatry. John joined Pfizer as part of the Wyeth integration and at Wyeth held roles as head of Psychiatry and Acting head of Neuroscience. Trained as a neuropharmacologist, John’s current research interests include the role of proteostasis mechanisms and mitochondrial dysfunction in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease and ALS, and on the emerging genetics of brain disorders. John is a scientific advisor to the ALS Association, Target-ALS, the frontotemporal dementia biomarkers SAB, the Weston Brain Institute of Canada and the National Institute for Neurological Disorders and Stroke for translational programs in neurological disorders.
Ed Kaye, M.D., is President and CEO at Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. and is also a member of the Company’s Board of Directors. Prior to his appointment as Sarepta’s President and CEO, Dr. Kaye served as the Company’s Chief Medical Officer from June 2011 to April 2017 and Interim Chief Executive Officer from March 2015 to September 2016. Dr. Kaye also serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Cytokinetics, Inc., a position he has held since May 2016.
Dr. Kaye was Group Vice President of Clinical Development at Genzyme Corporation, a biotechnology company, from April 2007 to June 2011, where he supervised the clinical research in the lysosomal storage disease programs and in the genetic neurological disorders. Prior to this, Dr. Kaye held various roles at Genzyme Corporation since 2001, including Vice President of Medical Affairs for Lysosomal Storage Diseases, Vice President of Clinical Research and Interim Head of PGH Global Medical Affairs. Dr. Kaye earned his B.S. in Biology from Loyola University and earned his M.D. at Loyola University Stritch School of Medicine. He received his Pediatric training at Loyola University Hospital, Child Neurology training at Boston City Hospital, Boston University, and completed his training as a Neurochemical Research Fellow (Geriatric Fellow) at Bedford VA Hospital, Boston University. Dr. Kaye was head of the section of Neurometabolism, Pediatric Neurology at The Floating Hospital for Children (Tufts University) and research fellow in gene therapy at Massachusetts General Hospital until 1996 when he moved to Philadelphia to become Chief of Pediatric Neurology and Director of the Barnett Mitochondrial Laboratory at St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children. In 1998, Dr. Kaye accepted the appointment as Chief of Biochemical Genetics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Associate Professor of Neurology and Pediatrics at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine until moving to Genzyme Corporation at the end of 2001.
Dr. Kaye continues as a Neurological Consultant at the Children's Hospital of Boston and is on the editorial boards of a number of journals including Journal of Child Neurology. He also previously served on the board of Annals of Neurology. Dr. Kaye is also on the Medical/Scientific Advisory Boards of the United Leukodystrophy Foundation, Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, CureCMD, CureDuchenne, and the Prize4Life.
Paige Mahaney is Global Head of Biotherapeutics Discovery Research and Discovery Research Site Head for Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. where she is responsible the discovery of biological drug candidates for the global Discovery Research portfolio as well as for overseeing the operation and function of BI’s Research site in Ridgefield, CT. Prior to joining BI in 2009, Mahaney was a leader in Medicinal Chemistry at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals in Collegeville, PA and spent seven years at Hoffmann-La Roche in Nutley, NJ. She earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Chemistry from Guilford College in Greensboro, NC and earned her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.
Paul McKenzie, Ph.D., is Executive Vice President, Pharmaceutical Operations & Technology of Biogen and has served on the Executive Committee since July 2016. Dr. McKenzie is responsible for asset management, technical development, global manufacturing, supply chain operations, quality, and engineering. He also oversees construction and operation of Biogen’s advanced biologics manufacturing facility in Solothurn, Switzerland.
He joined the Company in February 2016, as Senior Vice President for Global Biologics Manufacturing & Technical Operations. Prior to joining Biogen, Dr. McKenzie was most recently Vice President of R&D for Johnson & Johnson’s Ethicon business. During his tenure at J&J, he led the manufacturing and technical operations team, responsible for internal and external manufacturing of Janssen’s pharmaceutical portfolio, as well as Global Development for Janssen R&D, helping to manage pipeline activities from discovery through clinical development and commercialization. He also held various R&D and manufacturing positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck.
Dr. McKenzie holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University. He has served on numerous professional and academic boards, and is currently a member of the Board of Trustees on the Illinois Institute of Technology and the Society for Biological Engineering.
Chandra Ramanathan is Vice President and Head of the East Coast Innovation Center at Bayer, where he is responsible for building an innovative product portfolio with key academic partners, driving external scientific leadership and engaging with the local innovation ecosystem. In his previous roles at Bayer, Chandra served as the global lead for External Innovation – Life Sciences and as the Global Launch Team leader of Copanlisib and Head of Pipeline Marketing.
Before joining Bayer, Chandra worked at Wyeth (Pfizer) and Bristol-Myers Squibb in various roles including Global Brand Team Leader, Licensing/Business Development, Neuroscience Strategy, Drug discovery and Applied Genomics. Chandra has worked in pharmaceutical product development and commercialization for more than 20 years. He holds an M.B.A from the Columbia Business School, a Ph.D. in Genomics/Bioinformatics, and a M.S. in Medicinal Chemistry and B.S. in Pharmacy.
Pam Randhawa is CEO and Founder of Empiriko, an integrated precision medicine company focused on developing R&D technologies and point-of-care devices for treatment of at-risk patients. Randhawa has 20 years of experience in the healthcare and life sciences industries with expertise ranging from policy, corporate strategy, product development, analytics and marketing. She also co-founded AgroGreen Biofuels, an alternative energy company using plant waste. Previously, Randhawa held executive positions at major healthcare technology companies, including Phase Forward (Oracle), McKesson and The Medstat Group (Thomson Reuters), and served as an independent consultant to the State of Ohio, Department of Health. Randhawa holds a Master’s Degree from Carnegie-Mellon University.
Bill Sibold is incoming Executive Vice President of Sanofi Genzyme, effective July 1, 2017. In this role, he will be a member of the Sanofi Executive Committee. Bill currently serves as head of Sanofi Genzyme's Global Multiple Sclerosis, Oncology and Immunology organization, a position he has held since January 2016 and in which he has led the preparation for the global launches of two important new immunology treatments.
Bill joined Sanofi Genzyme in late 2011 as head of the MS franchise where he oversaw the successful launches of its two MS treatments. As head of Sanofi Genzyme, he will lead the business’s efforts to maintain its leadership in rare diseases while continuing to grow in multiple sclerosis, oncology and immunology.
Bill has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry since starting his career with Eli Lilly. He held a number of leadership positions within Biogen, including driving their U.S. commercial operations in neurology, oncology and rheumatology and general management of Biogen's Australian and Asia-Pacific business.
In addition to his time with Biogen, Bill also served as the chief commercial officer of Avanir Pharmaceuticals. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University.
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