On Sept. 26, the Brigham Health Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) convened to provide strategic guidance and recommendations to help advance Brigham research. Three new members of the board were in attendance: James (Jay) Bradner, MD, president of Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research, Susan Hockfield, PhD, president emerita and professor of Neuroscience at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Sue Siegel, MS, CEO of GE Ventures and Healthymagination at GE Healthcare.

SAB members engaged in a closed-door review session of finalists for the Brigham Research Institute Director’s Transformative Award, making a recommendation on the project most suitable for funding. During the second half of their meeting, the SAB held an open discussion with several leaders from BWH and Partners HealthCare about major trends in biomedicine and opportunities and challenges for academic medical centers over the next five years.

From left: Geoff Smith, JD, managing partner at Digital Ventures; Betsy Nabel, MD, Brigham Health president; Sue Siegel, MS, CEO of GE Ventures; Jay Bradner, MD, president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR); Terry McGuire, MS, MBA, co-founder and general partner at Polaris; Michael Rosenblatt, MD, chief medical officer at Flagship Ventures; Susan Hockfield, PhD, professor of Neuroscience and president emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; and Jeff Leiden, MD, PhD, CEO, director and president of Vertex Pharmaceuticals.