“Our Scientific Advisory Board members come from diverse backgrounds, representing the life sciences industry, the investment community and academia,” said Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister, President & CEO of the Center. “We are fortunate in Massachusetts to have a wealth of life sciences expertise. Rotating new members onto the SAB allows for broad inclusion, and enables more of our experts to become engaged in the life sciences initiative. Our SAB members play a critical role in our review process and in our investment decisions, and we are excited to have these talented new members contributing their time to this effort.”
The Life Sciences Center’s SAB provides technical guidance and oversight around the Center’s scientific funding and programmatic decisions. The expert panel ensures that decisions made at the Center are made based on merit and with scientific credibility and transparency.
"We are fortunate to have these three talented and distinguished individuals joining the Center's Scientific Advisory Board,” said Lodish. “Alongside the current SAB members, they will play an essential role in guiding the investments of the Center in both translational academic research and early-stage companies.”
The three new members are:
Dalia Cohen, Ph.D.
Dr. Cohen is Chief Scientific Officer at Asterand, Inc. and worked for many years at Novartis where, among other positions, she was Vice President-Global Head of Functional Genomics, Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research. She also served as Chief Scientific Officer at Rosetta Genomics. Dalia received her B.Sc. In Biology, M.Sc. in Virology and Ph.D. in Cell Biology from the Technion, Israel Institution of Technology and completed her postdoctoral at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
T. (Teo) Forcht Dagi, M.D.
Dr. Forcht Dagi is a partner at HML Venture Partners. He received an AB from Columbia College, an MD and MPH from Johns Hopkins, an MTS from Harvard, where he was a Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Fellow, an MBA with distinction from the Wharton School, and a DMedSc from Queen’s University Belfast. He trained in neurosurgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital and is a diplomat of the American Board of Neurological Surgeons. He is Chairman of the IAP, Distinguished Scholar and Professor at the Medical School of Queen’s University, and Visiting Professor at Harvard Medical School.
Carmichael Roberts, Ph.D.
Dr. Roberts is a Partner of North Bridge Venture Partners. He received his BS and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Duke University and completed his postdoctoral National Science Foundation fellowship at Harvard University. Carmichael also has an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He serves as an advisor for MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, Harvard’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center, and schools of Science and Engineering at Duke University.
“It is a privilege to work with such a distinguished group on some of the most important life sciences matters in the state,” said Roberts. “I have always believed in the mission of the Life Sciences Center and its leadership. Now I get a chance to be part of the brain trust, a service and responsibility that I gladly accepted.”
“I am honored and excited to serve on the Life Sciences Center’s distinguished Scientific Advisory Board,” said Cohen. “I look forward to providing my support and guidance as the Center continues to invest in the growth of our life sciences sectors.”
“It is a great privilege to work with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center in fostering and promoting innovation in the life sciences in Massachusetts,” said Dagi. “The opportunity to harness the tremendous scientific talent in the Commonwealth to improve human health is unparalleled and the work of the Center is at its core.”
The SAB is rotating off three members, keeping the Board’s total membership at 17. Members rotating off include Dr. Doug Cole, MD, General Partner, Flagship Ventures; Dr. Jeffery Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director, Clarus Ventures; and Dr. George Q. Daley, M.D., Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology and of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Boston, Harvard Medical School, Harvard Stem Cell Institute. “We want to acknowledge the wonderful contributions of Dr. Cole, Dr. Leiden, and Dr. Daley and thank them for their support of the Center,” said Windham-Bannister. “Their contributions to the Center’s success have been invaluable.”
About the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) is a quasi-public agency of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts tasked with implementing the Massachusetts Life Sciences Act, a ten-year, $1 billion initiative that was signed into law in June of 2008. The Center’s mission is to create jobs in the life sciences and support vital scientific research that will improve the human condition. This work includes making financial investments in public and private institutions that are advancing life sciences research, development and commercialization as well as building ties between sectors of the Massachusetts life sciences community. For more information, visit www.masslifesciences.com
