MassBioEd

Erin Colgan has more than twenty years of finance and accounting experience, with more than ten years making strategic financial and operational decisions for public and private, small- and large-cap life sciences firms.  In 2024, Erin Colgan joined Flagship Pioneering as Senior Vice President of Finance, working within the central finance operations team with a focus on financial planning, accounting operations and procurement.

In her prior role at Sensei Biotherapeutics, Ms. Colgan was the CFO following a successful IPO in February 2021. She collaborated with Sensei leadership to manage investor and banking relations, while working closely with the Board on the Audit Committee and Compensation Committees.  Before Sensei she served as vice president of FP&A and commercial planning at Intarcia Therapeutics, running the annual budgeting process as the company prepared to launch a Type II diabetes product. At Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Ms. Colgan held numerous finance and accounting leadership roles. She served as Controller in U.K. operations, supporting the launch of the company’s global CF franchise. There she led the operations team in creating new entities in Europe, Australia, and South America. She also collaborated with senior leadership to oversee all G&A expenses, commercial expenses, inventory cost planning, and global revenue planning and commercial forecasting.

Ms. Colgan began her career in public accounting at PwC where she worked in both audit and business development. She holds a B.A. in accounting from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Wade Brown is the Head, Strategic Research Operations, at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. In his role he is responsible for the build of the newly established Strategic Research Operations team that will be focused on enabling the Research portfolio to deliver on Takeda’s pipeline goals with both efficiency and speed. Wade brings nearly 25 years of experience in biotech, academic research and the large pharmaceutical ecosystem.  Prior to joining Takeda, Wade worked at  Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), where he was the Head of Strategy & Research Operations in Cambridge, and responsible for Strategy and Operations for all sites in Cambridge through the Celgene integrations as well as strategic efforts for the Mechanisms of Cancer Resistance thematic research center in Cambridge. While at BMS, Wade led Project Charles to design, build and launch BMS’s newest Research site in Cambridge Crossing in 2023.  

Prior to BMS, Wade spent more than 17 years at Novartis in various scientific, operational, and strategic roles across several divisions including Pharmaceuticals, Vaccines and Diagnostics and the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR). In 2020, Wade led the COVID-19 crisis response team for NIBR. He also served as the Global Head of External Research Collaborations, Academic Partnerships & External Innovation. Here, Wade led a global team responsible for providing business guidance and transactional support to enable external scientific partnerships across Novartis’s research organization.

Wade and his wife, Megan, are residents of Needham, MA where they live with their three children. He remains actively involved at his alma mater, Boston College, and is a member of the Board of Trustees at St. Columbkille Partnership School in Brighton, MA.

Lora is the Vice President of Patient Advocacy, Engagement & Innovation at Cogent Biosciences. She has over 15 years of experience working in the rare disease biotech space and social services. Prior to joining Cogent, she held several roles of increasing leadership responsibility in the areas of Marketing, Patient Services, Operations, and Patient Advocacy at Sanofi Genzyme, Alnylam, Sobi, and Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals. She began her career with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as a Social Worker providing case management and support for underserved families in the state. As a part of the Sanofi Talent Executive Program, she helped develop a Career Lattice vs. Ladder Summit and Mentorship Program. While at Sanofi Genzyme, she also received the Sanofi Champion of Customers Award, which is granted to the top 1% in the company globally.

Lora received her B.A. in Psychology from the University of Rochester and completed the Strategic Marketing Management Executive Education Program at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. She is also a member of the Wampanoag Tribe of Aquinnah and is passionate about professional development, mentorship, diversity, and inclusion in biotech and life sciences.

Kristin P. Goppel is the Vice President, Program Management at Insight Medical Consulting. Kristin is focused on providing strategic consulting services to clients in both the medical device and pharmaceutical industries.  She leverages her technical engineering and project management background to support program development for novel and emerging technologies across various therapeutic areas, including early interactions with regulatory agencies, pre-clinical test program development, and clinical trial planning and execution. 

Most recently, Kristin held roles in strategic consulting and program management at Avania LLC, a global medtech CRO, and at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, leading strategic initiatives in life science and bioengineering.  Her prior technical experience spans from facilities engineering and bioreactor design (Genzyme), to process engineering (Anika Therapeutics), and R&D (Arthur D. Little, Procter & Gamble).  She serves as the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Education Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to uniting employers, academia and government to deliver impactful life science education programs for those in secondary school and throughout a professional career.        

Kristin earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and is an active alumna. 

Lauren is the co-founder and CEO of Propel Careers, a life science search and career development firm focused on connecting talented individuals with entrepreneurial life sciences companies. She has recruited for >60 innovative life sciences organizations to help them hire talent and has coached thousands of students, postdocs, medical residents and professionals to advance their careers. Lauren presents often at conferences and at universities and research institutions on career development topics to inspire the next generation of talent. Before Propel, she spent about 10 years in life sciences advancing drug molecules through SNBL USA, Aptuit, Quintiles, and Absorption Systems. She has a B.S. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Gettysburg College and an MBA (focused in the health sector and entrepreneurship) from Boston University. She is on Boards including: MassBioEd (Chair), National Tay-Sachs & Allied Diseases Association; and Advisory Boards: the Professional Science Masters Program at Framingham State University and NE GWISE. Lauren actively mentors young scientists through groups like the Association of Women in Science and The International Center for Professional Development.