MassBioEd

Wade Brown is the Head of Strategy and Research Operations in Cambridge for Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), a role he has held since January 2021. He is responsible for Research and Early Development Operations at both the Kendall Square and Alewife sites as well as leading the strategic efforts for the Mechanisms of Cancer Resistance (MoCR) thematic research center in Cambridge. 

Prior to his current role at BMS, Wade spent 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 recently 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.

Kristin is the founder of Powers Strategies, focused on providing independent strategic and regulatory 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, including pre-submission regulatory interactions with FDA, pre-clinical test program development, clinical trial planning and execution, and product approvals. 

Previously, Kristin was a strategic consultant at Avania LLC, a global medtech clinical research organization, where she worked to develop comprehensive regulatory and clinical strategies to optimize the product approval process across therapeutic areas that included neurovascular, neurological, orthopedic, cardiovascular, bariatric interventions, and infectious disease. She held prior roles in product development (Procter & Gamble), R&D (Arthur D. Little), process engineering (Anika Therapeutics), facilities engineering (Genzyme), and program management (Worcester Polytechnic Institute). 

Kristin earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from Cornell University and is an active alumna. She serves on several MassBioEd program steering committees and recently completed her term as President of Friends of Shrewsbury Crew, a non-profit fundraising organization that provides support for one of the oldest (public) high school crew teams in the country.  

Michael has served on the Board of Directors and as Treasurer of MassBioEd since June 2019. Separately, he is the Senior Director of Accounting at Relay Therapeutics, a clinical stage precision medicines company focused on protein motion, which is used to facilitate the selection and advancement of unique product candidates into novel therapies. Before joining Relay Therapeutics, he worked as the Corporate Controller at Triplet Therapeutics and as an Assurance Senior Manager in Ernst & Young LLP’s Life Sciences Practice in Cambridge, MA  for over 11 years. In connection therewith, he assisted clients in the life sciences industry with various accounting and auditing matters. Finally, he received his Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Boston University and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, as well as the Massachusetts Society of Certified Public Accountants.

Stacie is a partner in Foley Hoag’s Securities Practice Group and M&A Practice Group. She focuses her practice on corporate and securities law matters, public company representation and merger and acquisition transactions. She represents issuers in a broad range of capital market transactions, including public and private offerings of debt and equity securities and also advises companies with respect to tender offers, exchange offers, debt repurchases and stock buybacks. Stacie received her B.A. magna cum laude from Colgate University in 1991 and her J.D. magna cum laude from Boston University School of Law in 1997.

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.

Christopher has been a board member at MassBioEd since 2014 and is the Chief Executive Officer at Akron Bio. Prior, he was Vice President and General Manager of Viral Vector Services in Thermo Fisher Scientific’s Pharma Services Group.  He transitioned into this role when Thermo Fisher acquired Brammer Bio, where he served as chief operating officer. Christopher has more than 30 years of experience in biopharmaceutical manufacturing, process development, plant operations, and quality system implementation.  Prior to joining Brammer Bio, he served as general manager for the Sanofi-Genzyme Allston Landing site overseeing operations and leading an integrated remediation program associated with the consent decree. Christopher has led gene therapy operations and recombinant protein manufacturing at Genzyme and Bioreliance and he began his career in viral vaccine development at American Cyanamid/Wyeth (now Pfizer) in Pearl River, NY. He has a M.S. in biochemistry at New York Medical College, and his B.S. in biology at Rutgers University.