MassBioEd

Jared Auclair serves as the Dean of the College of Professional Studies. Appointed in December 2024, Jared leads all academic and administrative functions of the college.

With more than a decade of experience at Northeastern, starting first as a post-doc and most recently, Vice Provost Research Economic Development and Director of Bioinnovation, Jared is a champion of innovation and collaboration and deeply values the promise that the College of Professional Studies brings to students as one of Northeastern’s most diverse and dynamic colleges committed to meet students where they are.

Prior to his role as Vice Provost Research Economic Development, Jared served as the Associate Dean of Professional Programs and Graduate Affairs in the College of Science, and still holds a faculty appointment in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology. His past experience with the College of Professional Studies includes leadership on a variety of economic and workforce development and research programs, including PlusOne, a dynamic program that gives students the opportunity to accelerate their education by earning both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in five years.

With an extensive leadership background, Jared’s passion for progress drives essential strategic initiatives for the College of Professional Studies. His focus on strengthening the connections between education, research, and community, along with fostering a global mindset is core to the College of Professional Studies’ commitment to delivering a world-class experiential education tailored to students’ needs.

Prior to joining Northeastern, Jared held a variety of research and consulting roles for leading biopharmaceutical firms. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biotechnology from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a PhD in Biomedical Science from the University of Massachusetts Medical.

Andrea Mackey is Director, Talent Acquisition Programs at Blueprint Medicines, a Sanofi Company, where she leads the organization’s U.S. extended workforce hiring, mentorship initiatives, and Early Career Programs spanning internships, co‑ops, fellowships, and apprenticeships. With more than a decade in talent acquisition and six years as a Co‑op Coordinator at Northeastern University, Andrea is dedicated to creating meaningful, equitable student experiences and opening clear pathways into STEM careers.

At Blueprint and previously at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, she designed and scaled a suite of early career programs to provide hands‑on opportunities and empower the future life sciences workforce. Her work at Cubist earned recognition as a Game Changer by Workforce Magazine in 2014. Throughout her career, Andrea has partnered closely with educators, community organizations, and industry peers to strengthen inclusive pipelines and help emerging talent navigate the transition from classroom to career.

Andrea holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Boston College and an MBA from Bentley University. She is energized by connecting mission‑driven teams with emerging talent and by mentoring students and early‑career professionals as they discover what they can achieve, and how to get there.

Odile Smith serves as Vice President and Site Head for Bristol Myers Squibb’s Devens, Massachusetts campus—one of the company’s most advanced and strategically important manufacturing hubs. She oversees a rapidly expanding operation comprising a large-scale commercial biologics facility, a single-use biologics clinical and launch facility, and a state-of-the-art cell therapy facility producing CAR T cell therapies for cancer patients. Her leadership spans all site operations, including operational excellence, cost stewardship, digital transformation, engineering, EHS, and the full suite of campus amenities supporting more than 1,600 employees.

Odile is known for building high-performing, people-focused organizations grounded in trust, accountability, and continuous improvement. She plays a central role in shaping an inclusive culture that empowers employees to innovate, strengthen their technical capabilities, and take on diverse experiences to advance their careers. She also serves as a senior representative for BMS across the region, engaging local officials, government agencies, and community organizations to strengthen the company’s presence within the Massachusetts life sciences ecosystem.

Under her leadership, Devens has undergone significant growth and transformation. The 2021 ribbon cutting of the new cell therapy facility marked a major milestone in the site’s evolution from a single-modality biologics operation to a dynamic, multi-modality campus supporting commercial supply, clinical development, and next-generation manufacturing capabilities. In recognition of her contributions, Odile received the Worcester Business Journal’s Outstanding Women in Business Award in 2022.

Odile joined BMS in 2021 from Sanofi Pasteur, where she spent 17 years in roles of increasing responsibility across manufacturing, technology, operations, and capital project leadership. As Head of Biologics Manufacturing, she led a 700-person organization across multiple licensed production buildings and support groups supplying drug substance for global viral and bacterial vaccines. Earlier, she served as Senior Director of Manufacturing Technology, responsible for late-phase CMC development, industrialization, validation, and technical support for U.S. and international markets. She also held key leadership roles as CMC leader for the C. difficile vaccine program, director of manufacturing technology, project director, project leader, and operations manager.

Prior to Sanofi, Odile held operations and technical leadership positions with Roche and Rohm & Haas (Dow Chemical), where she built foundational expertise in production operations, process engineering, quality systems, automation, and team leadership across sites in both the United States and France.

A native of France, Odile holds a PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg and a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the Ecole Européenne des Hautes Études des Industries Chimiques de Strasbourg.

Yolanda McLean is a biopharmaceutical quality and operations leader with more than two decades of experience spanning small and large pharmaceutical organizations, multiple therapeutic modalities, and a range of manufacturing and development environments. Her career is rooted in Quality Control and manufacturing support, where she has built and sustained technical quality capabilities that enable reliable operations, regulatory readiness, and the delivery of innovative medicines to patients.

At Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Yolanda serves as Senior Director of Quality Business Operations & Planning, operating at the intersection of quality, strategy, and business execution. She leads enterprise quality planning, governance, and decision support, with a focus on quality risk management, system maturity, and aligning technical priorities with business objectives and resource realities.

Across her career, Yolanda has supported both large and small molecule programs and worked within organizations at very different stages of maturity. These experiences have shaped her belief that the most effective quality systems are those that are technically rigorous and designed to work for both people and science – systems that teams can understand, adopt, and sustain as organizations grow and evolve.

Yolanda brings prior board experience and a long-standing commitment to education and workforce development. She is motivated by opportunities to help align industry expectations with educational pathways, strengthening the connection between technical excellence, practical skills development, and meaningful careers in the life science

Dr. Michael Luther has over 37 years’ experience as an entrepreneurial scientist and executive in the biopharmaceutical industry including various senior leadership roles ranging from biotech start-ups to global pharmaceutical companies and CROs. In addition to serving as STRM.BIO’s CEO, he is currently the managing partner for BioInnovations, LLC where he acts as a board member and consultant for various start up biotech companies. Previously, Mike led North American Business Development efforts for Astellas as Global Head of Search & Evaluation in Business Development and Astellas Ventures to support Astellas’ drug discovery and development efforts. This included over 9 deals signed and 2 NewCo spinouts in less than two years.

Before joining Astellas, Mike was the CEO and founder of Bantam Pharmaceutical, a biotech company focused on the clinical development of cancer therapeutics targeting the mitochondrial stress response pathway and targets. He remains an active advisor and member of the board of directors and their SAB. In other past roles, Mike was the Senior Vice President for Drug Discovery & Development at Curio and founding CEO for the David H. Murdock Research Institute at the North Carolina Research Campus, a public-private partnership created to accelerate bench to market activities in life sciences. Mike also has 20 years in various senior executive roles in the global pharmaceutical industry including Vice President and head of global drug discovery divisions for both Merck and GSK.

Mike holds Bachelor of Science degrees from North Carolina State University, a doctorate from St. Louis University School of Medicine, and an MBA from Duke University. He is the author of over 80 publications and patents.

Robbie Tantoco has served as the Vice President of Finance at Syros since September 2020, helping the company manage, prioritize, and fund the company’s development portfolio by helping raise approximately $200M amidst a challenging market environment. Robbie has almost two decades of experience in the life sciences industry. After spending the first half of his career as a finance business partner in commercial stage companies, including Idenix, AMAG, Cubist, and Keryx (now Akebia), Robbie pivoted midway to support and guide development stage companies in the gene-editing and oncology space. With his experience in drug development and commercialization, along with his understanding of the financial markets, Robbie helps guide and influence leadership teams in making informed, data-driven, strategic decisions to navigate the risk and uncertainty of drug development. Robbie holds an MBA from Babson College and a BS in Finance from Bentley University.

Jaana Rask is the Head of People & Organization (P&O) in the US division of Research and Development at Novo Nordisk. She is an internationally recognized HR leader in the pharmaceutical industry, with over a decade of HR experience within Novo Nordisk across global, regional and local roles in the U.S., Europe and Middle East. Prior to joining Novo Nordisk, Jaana worked as management consultant in the oil and gas sector, as well as an organizational and sport psychologist in Canada.

In her current role, Jaana leads a team of HR professionals and is responsible for the P&O strategy to enable the strategic growth and operational excellence across all R&D sites in the US, within a larger global matrix. Her responsibilities include enabling and developing core P&O functions, strategies and activities including DEI&B, P&O operations, capability development, talent development, and employee relations. Additionally, Jaana works closely with the Executive leaders on strategic priorities, organizational development and change management initiatives as the organization experiences exciting growth and transformation.

Jaana’s passion and personal mission lies in unleashing the potential of people, teams and organizations. She thrives on opportunities to drive meaningful change and impact in collaboration with cross-functional teams.

Jaana is a true global citizen. Born and raised in Stockholm, Sweden, Jaana has lived abroad for over 25 years. She holds undergraduate and master’s degrees in psychology and an Executive Management MBA, all from Canada. She is certified as coach under International Coaching Federation (ICF).

Jaana is married to a Dane and as a couple, they enjoy physical activity, traveling, hiking and cross-country skiing.

Jessica Driscoll is Senior Vice President and Head of Litigation at Sarepta Therapeutics, where she oversees Sarepta’s litigation function.  Prior to joining Sarepta, Jessica was an Assistant U.S. Attorney in the Boston U.S. Attorney’s office, focusing on affirmative and defensive civil matters, including health care.  Jessica started her legal career as a federal law clerk for the U.S. District Court in Arizona, before practicing in private practice in two different litigation boutique law firms in Boston and New York.  Jessica received her B.A. and J.D. from Georgetown University.   

Pamela Obando is a Senior Automation Manager for Pfizer Global Supply in Andover, MA.  With over 25 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, she brings a wealth of expertise in automation, process, validation, and manufacturing support engineering to her role at Pfizer. Pamela leads engineering teams in designing and implementing the automation systems for large-scale manufacturing suites, including new and existing manufacturing areas, ensuring seamless integration with vendor and site systems.

Throughout her career, she has demonstrated a proven track record in managing and leading teams for large-scale projects, driving them to successful completion through strategic planning, technical oversight, and cross-functional collaboration. She has extensive experience supporting a wide variety of biotechnology process equipment and highly automated process control systems. She began her career as an engineer with Genzyme prior to joining Pfizer, supporting the startup of Genzyme’s Allston facility.

Pamela holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing from Stevens Institute of Technology. In addition to her professional achievements, Pamela is deeply committed to mentoring and workforce development. She has served as a mentor and leadership team member for the Pfizer Women’s Resource Group Mentoring Program, and has actively contributed to various educational initiatives, including teaching biotech and engineering classes to high school students, mentoring students from Lawrence middle school through Merrimack Valley Family Services Stand and Deliver program, and mentoring apprentices through the MassBioEd Apprenticeship Program.

Pamela has been recognized for her contributions to industry and the community with several prestigious awards, including the Northeastern Massachusetts YWCA Tribute to Women Honoree in 2023, and the Manufacturing Institute STEP Ahead Award in 2022, which recognizes women who have demonstrated excellence and leadership in their careers through positive impact on their company and their industry.