The Resilience Team

Robert Nelsen

Chairman, Resilience Founder ARCH

Robert Nelsen is among the most successful biotechnology investors globally. His efforts have helped propel ARCH to be one of the top early-stage biotech venture groups. He joined ARCH at its founding and played a significant role in the early sourcing, financing, and development of more than 100 companies, including thirty that have reached valuations exceeding $1 billion. His seed and early-stage investments include Illumina (ILMN), Alnylam Pharmaceuticals (ALNY), Juno Therapeutics (JUNO, acquired by Celgene-CELG now BMS), Beam Therapeutics (BEAM), Karuna Therapeutics (KRTX), Array BioPharma (ARRY, acquired by Pfizer-PFE), Unity Biotechnology (UBX), Hua Medicine (2552:HK), Vir Biotechnology (VIR), Agios Pharmaceuticals (AGIO), Sage Therapeutics (SAGE), CStone Pharmaceuticals (2616:HK), Gossamer Bio (GOSS), Ikaria (acquired by Mallinckrodt-MNK), Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (KYTH, acquired by Allergan-AGN now ABBV), Receptos (RCPT, acquired by Celgene-CELG now BMS), Aviron (AVIR, acquired by MedImmune-MEDI now AZNCF), Denali Therapeutics (DNLI), Rubius Therapeutics (RUBY), Syros Pharmaceuticals (SYRS), Sana Biotechnology, Lyell Immunopharma, GRAIL, Nutcracker Therapeutics, Bit Bio, Brii Biosciences, Happy Healthcare, Insitro, Maze Therapeutics, Encoded Therapeutics, Encodia, EQRx, Mindstrong, Omniome, Prime Medicine, RBNC Therapeutics, KSQ Therapeutics, SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals, Singular Genomics, Sironax, Sonoma Biotherapeutics, Transcenta Holding, Verve Therapeutics, Volastra Therapeutics, NetBot (acquired by Excite), Bluebird Bio (BLUE), R2 Technology (acquired by Hologic-HOLX), Genomica (GNOM, acquired by Exelixis-EXEL), XenoPort (XNPT, acquired by Arbor Pharmaceuticals), Fate Therapeutics (FATE), Caliper Life Sciences (CALP, acquired by Perkin Elmer-PKI), Trubion Pharmaceuticals (TRBN, acquired by Emergent Biosolutions-EBS), Adolor (ADLR, acquired by Cubist Pharmaceuticals-CBST now MRK), deCODE Genetics (acquired by Amgen-AMGN), Editas (EDIT), 10x Genomics, Semma Therapeutics (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals-VRTX), IDUN Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Pfizer-PFE), Classmates.com (acquired by United Online-UNTD), and Everyday Learning Corporation (acquired by Tribune Corp. now NXST).

Mr. Nelsen is a director of Vir Biotechnology, GRAIL, Sana Biotechnology, Beam Therapeutics, Unity Biotechnology, Denali Therapeutics, and serves as Chairman of Hua Medicine, among others. He previously served as a Trustee of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Institute, the Institute for Systems Biology, and was a director of the National Venture Capital Association. Mr. Nelsen holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S. from the University of Puget Sound with majors in Economics and Biology.

Patrick Y. Yang, PH.D.

Vice Chairman

Dr. Pat Yang is one of the most accomplished biotech manufacturing executives and technical operations leaders in the industry.

From 2017 to 2019, Pat was executive vice president at Juno Therapeutics, a leading CAR-T biotech company (now part of BMS) based in Seattle.

Previously, from 2009 to 2013, Pat was Executive Vice President and Global Head of Technical Operations at F. Hoffman-La Roche based in Basel, Switzerland. In this role, he was responsible for Roche’s biopharma process research and development, analytical sciences, engineering, quality, technical regulatory, supply chain and all manufacturing plants with approximately 15,000 employees around the world. From 2003 to 2009, Pat was Executive Vice President of Product Operations at Genentech. He assumed his role as Global Head of the combined technical operations of Roche and Genentech upon the acquisition of Genentech by Roche in 2009.

Before Genentech, Pat worked for 11 years at Merck & Company from 1992 to 2003, based in New Jersey, in various leadership positions including vice president of Asia Pacific Operations and vice president of Global Supply Chain Management. Prior to joining Merck in 1992, Pat spent 12 years at General Electric, serving in research, engineering, technology, and manufacturing leadership roles with increasing scope of responsibilities.

Pat holds a Bachelor of Science from the National Chiaotung University in Taiwan, a Master of Science from the University of Cincinnati, and a Ph.D. in engineering from Ohio State University.

Pat is a member of the Board of Directors of three public companies, Amyris, Codexis and PharmaEssentia. In addition, he is on the board of several private companies, including Acepodia, AltruBio, Antheia and Sana Biotechnology.

Drew Oetting

Co-founder & President, 8VC Co-founder Affinity

Drew Oetting is co-founder and President of 8VC, where he oversees the internal company incubation efforts in addition to investing. He is a co-founder of Affinity Technologies. Previously Drew served as a partner at Formation 8, and started his career as Chief of Staff to Joe Lonsdale. Drew serves on the Competitiveness Council for Cerberus Capital Management. He is also a Trustee to LivingOnOne, a non-profit impact production studio; WeAreThorn, a NGO which leverages technology to eliminate child trafficking; and the Claremont McKenna College Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Drew graduated with degrees in Mathematics and Economics from Claremont McKenna College. He was a Robert Day Scholar, two-time Bill Gates Investment Asset Management Fellow, and served as CEO of the Student Investment Fund. In college he played varsity golf and sang in The Claremont Shades a capella group. Drew is originally from Iowa City, Iowa.

Rahul Singhvi, SC.D., M.B.A

Co-founder, CEO

Rahul Singhvi is a global leader in the Life Sciences industry and serves as the Chief Executive Officer of National Resilience, Inc.

Most recently, Rahul was an Operating Partner at Flagship Pioneering, a Boston-based life sciences innovation firm where he was responsible for founding and operating companies launched from Flagship’s innovation foundry, Flagship labs. Before joining Flagship, Rahul was the Chief Operating Officer of Takeda’s Vaccine Business Unit where he was responsible for worldwide vaccine CMC and manufacturing operations. During his six-year tenure at Takeda, the vaccine business grew to over 500 employees and created an industry leading late-stage pipeline of vaccine candidates against dengue, norovirus, and zika. Before Takeda, Rahul was President and CEO of Novavax, Inc. (Nasdaq: NVAX) where he transformed the company from a specialty pharmaceutical business to a vaccine development company with vaccine candidates against influenza (funded by BARDA) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Rahul’s professional career began at Merck & Co in 1994, where he held several positions in R&D and manufacturing.

Rahul serves on the Executive Advisory Board of the Leonard Davis Institute (LDI) of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania and on the Scientific Advisory Board of the anti-microbial resistance research group at the Singapore MIT Advance Research and Technology program. He is a mentor instructor in the Undergraduate Projects Opportunity Program (UPOP) at MIT and is a visiting lecturer at the University College London (UCL).

Dr. Singhvi graduated as the top ranked chemical engineer from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India and obtained both his M.S. and Sc.D. chemical engineering degrees from MIT. He received an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar.

Frances Arnold, PH.D.

Nobel Prize Laureate, CalTech Professor

Dr. Frances Arnold is the Linus Pauling Professor of Chemical Engineering, Bioengineering and Biochemistry at the California Institute of Technology.

Dr. Arnold pioneered directed enzyme evolution, for which she was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2018; she has used directed evolution to solve problems in alternative energy, chemicals, and medicine. Dr. Arnold received the Charles Stark Draper Prize of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2011, the U.S. National Medal of Technology and Innovation from President Obama in 2013, and the Millennium Technology Prize in 2016. She has been elected to the U.S. National Academies of Science, Medicine, and Engineering and was appointed to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 2019. She co-founded three companies in sustainable chemistry and renewable energy (Gevo, Provivi, Aralez Bio) and serves on several private and public company boards, including Alphabet and Illumina.

Dr. Arnold earned a B.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from Princeton University and a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley.

George Barrett

Former Chairman & CEO, Cardinal Health

George Barrett is a nationally recognized healthcare industry leader, with a distinguished career as an executive in global corporations and advisor on public policy. As the founder of The Overtone Group, he advises companies and nonprofit organizations, mentors senior executives, teaches our next generation of leaders, and is a frequent speaker on leadership and healthcare.

Barrett is a director on multiple boards, including Target Corporation, National Resilience, Digital Diagnostics, and Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is vice chair of The Conference Board and co-chairs the National Academy of Medicine Action Collaborative on Decarbonizing the U.S. Health Sector. A lifelong performing musician and songwriter, he is a trustee of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

He is a visiting professor of practice and senior fellow at New York University’s Stern School of Business, an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, serves on the board of Brown University’s Corporation Committee on Medical and Health Affairs, and as a Governor on Brown’s Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs.

Barrett served as chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health, a Fortune 20 multi-national healthcare services and products company, for nearly a decade, ending in November 2018. Under his tenure, Cardinal Health was recognized as one of Fortune’s World’s Most Admired Companies, Forbes America’s Best Employers, and received numerous awards for its public health, corporate social responsibility, and philanthropic initiatives.

Prior to Cardinal Health, Barrett held senior positions, including president, at multiple global pharmaceutical companies. He previously served on the boards of the Fourth District of the Federal Reserve Bank and Eaton Corporation, and as a member of President Obama's White House Business Council.

Barret is a graduate of Brown University with a dual concentration in history and music and earned an M.B.A. from New York University. He is a trustee emeritus of Brown and is the recipient of multiple honorary doctorates. Barrett is the recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and Peter G. Peterson Business Statesmanship Award, among others, for a life dedicated to community service and the public good.

Mitchell Daniels

Former President, Purdue University, Former Governor of Indiana

Governor Mitchell Daniels was elected Governor of Indiana in 2004. He spearheaded a host of reforms aimed at improving the performance of state government. These changes and a strong emphasis on performance measurement have led to many state agencies, including the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, Department of Child Services and Department of Correction winning national awards.

In 2005, he led the state to its first balanced budget in eight years and, without a tax increase, transformed the nearly $800 million deficit he inherited into an annual surplus of $370 million within a year. Governor Daniels’ innovations include the 2006 lease of the Indiana Toll Road. This is the largest privatization of public infrastructure in the United States and generated nearly $4 billion for Major Moves, the state’s record-breaking 10-year transportation and infrastructure program.

Daniels first became interested in public service while serving as chief of staff to Senator Richard Lugar. He has also served as a senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush.

Daniels also comes from a successful career in business, holding numerous top management positions. From 1987-1990, Daniels served as the CEO of the Hudson Institute.  In 1990, he accepted a position at Eli Lilly and Company, the largest corporation headquartered in Indiana at that time, and eventually held the role of president of the company’s North American Pharmaceutical Operations. Daniels also serves on the corporate boards of Cerner Corporation and Interactive Intelligence.

In recognition of his leadership both as Governor and as president of Purdue University, Fortune Magazine named President Daniels to its list of the top 50 world leaders in March 2015. In June 2016, he was named a Living Legend by the Indiana Historical Society.

Many other organizations also have recognized his leadership. In May 2012, the Manhattan Institute presented the governor with its Alexander Hamilton Award.

The governor’s conservation efforts set aside record acreages of protected wetlands and wildlife habitats. In January 2012, he received the Chancellor Award for Conservation and Wildlife Protection from the Weatherby Foundation, and in March 2012, he also was awarded the Theodore Roosevelt Award from the Indiana Wildlife Federation.

Daniels received the Woodrow Wilson Award from Princeton University in February 2013. The award recognizes an alumnus whose career embodies the call to duty in Wilson’s famous speech, “Princeton in the Nation’s Service.” He was also the recipient in June 2013 of the Bradley Prize from the Milwaukee-based Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation. The award recognizes accomplishments that “strengthen American institutions.”

Daniels is also the author of three books, including best-seller “Keeping the Republic: Saving America by Trusting Americans.” He is a contributing columnist in the Washington Post, and his writings are regularly featured in other publications. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University in 1971 and his law degree from Georgetown University in 1979.

Chris Darby

Global Head of Venture Investments Cerberus Capital Management 

Christopher Darby serves as Global Head of Venture Investments at Cerberus Capital Management. He served as President and CEO of In-Q-Tel 2006-2023. He is also a member of its Board of Trustees. In January 2019, Chris was nominated as a Commissioner on the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence. He is also a Director on the Board of the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation.

Prior to joining In-Q-Tel, Chris was a Vice President and General Manager at Intel, where he oversaw the Middleware Products Division. At Intel, Chris had responsibility for the corporation’s Infrastructure Software business, including open source and commercial products. He joined Intel in August 2005 with the acquisition of Sarvega, a venture-backed supplier of XML networking and security products, where he served as President and CEO.

Prior to Sarvega, Chris was the Chairman and CEO of @stake, the well-known Internet security consulting firm ultimately acquired by Symantec (SYMC). While at @stake, he assembled the world’s leading collection of security researchers and built a business that spanned North America and Europe.

Before that, Chris served as President and CEO of Interpath Communications, which was later acquired by US Internetworking (USIX). Earlier in his career, he held several executive positions at Digital Equipment Corporation (now Hewlett-Packard) and Northern Telecom (now Nortel Networks) with responsibility for telecom industry sales initiatives, corporate strategy, and alliances. Chris began his career at Bell Northern Research.

He is a graduate of the University of Western Ontario.

Susan Desmond-Hellmann, M.D., M.P.H.

Former CEO, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Susan D. Desmond-Hellmann is a physician scientist who has spent the past four decades as an innovator and leader in life sciences.

Dr. Desmond-Hellmann most recently served as the Chief Executive Officer of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, stepping down in January 2020 to become Senior Advisor and Board Member of the Gates Medical Research Institute. She joined the Board of Directors of Pfizer in April 2020 and began serving as a Senior Advisor at Google Ventures in May 2020. She has served as a Senior Advisor at BDT Capital, LLC, a private investment firm, since October, 2017. Prior to joining The Gates Foundation in May 2014, she was the Chancellor at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) from 2009-2014 where she remains an Adjunct Professor.

From 2004 through 2009, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann served as President of Product Development at Genentech, where she was responsible for pre-clinical and clinical development, business development, and product portfolio management. She joined Genentech in 1995. Prior to joining Genentech, Dr. Desmond-Hellmann was associate director of clinical cancer research at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. Dr. Desmond-Hellmann previously served as a member of the board of directors of Facebook 2013-2019 and The Procter & Gamble Company 2010-2016. Dr. Desmond-Hellmann holds a B.S. in Pre-Med and an M.D. from the University of Nevada, Reno, and an M.P.H. from the University of California, Berkeley. She is board certified in Internal Medicine and Medical Oncology.

Kaye Foster

HR Leader, Onyx, J&J, Pfizer

Kaye Foster is currently an independent consultant, working with CEOs and leadership teams focusing on business transformations, talent management strategy and Human Resources strategy development and implementation. She serves as a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) and is a guest lecturer at Columbia University Graduate School of Business and Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Kaye joined Onyx from Johnson & Johnson where she served as Vice President of Global Human Resources, and a member of the Executive Committee. In that role, she led the global Human Resources organization, and also served as a member of the Management Compensation Committee and the Pension Committee, partnering with the chair of the Compensation Committee of the Johnson & Johnson outside Board of Directors. Prior to Johnson & Johnson, she held several Human Resources executive positions with Pfizer Inc. supporting its pharmaceutical businesses in Japan, Asia, Africa, Middle East and Latin America, and she led the integration of both the Warner-Lambert and Pharmacia mergers for these countries.

Kaye received her undergraduate degree from the City University of New York, Baruch College, and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University in New York City.

Scott Gottlieb, M.D.

Partner, NEA, Former Commissioner, FDA

Scott Gottlieb is a physician and served as the 23rd Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Gottlieb’s work focuses on advancing public health through developing and implementing innovative approaches to improving medical outcomes, reshaping healthcare delivery, and expanding consumer choice and safety. He is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates.

Dr. Gottlieb is an aggressive advocate for advancing the health of patients, promoting healthcare access, and driving innovation. The agency’s historic and prolific advances in new policy distinguished his tenure as the FDA’s commissioner, in addition to a record-setting number of approvals of novel drugs, medical devices, and generic medicines. Under his leadership, the FDA advanced new frameworks for the modern and safe and effective oversight of gene therapies, cell based regenerative medicines, targeted drugs, and digital health devices. The FDA implemented new reforms to standardize drug reviews and make historic improvements of post market data collection and the use of real-world evidence. They promoted policies to reduce death and disease from tobacco, improve food safety, and aggressively confront addiction crises.

Previously, Dr. Gottlieb served as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Medical and Scientific Affairs and before that, as a Senior Adviser to the Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, where he helped advance policies to improve healthcare quality and promote the effective use of new medical technologies. Dr. Gottlieb is widely published in leading medical journals and periodicals, including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. He has held editorial positions on the British Medical Journal and the Journal of the American Medical Association and is a regular contributor to CNBC. Fortune Magazine recognized him as one of the “World’s 50 Greatest Leaders” in 2018 and again in 2019. In 2018, 2019 and again in 2020, Modern Healthcare named Dr. Gottlieb the “Most Influential Physician Executive and Leaders” in its annual survey of 50 physician executives, and Time magazine named him one of its “50 People Transforming Healthcare in 2018.”

Dr. Gottlieb was a practicing hospitalist and he is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine. He lives in Westport, Connecticut with his wife and three daughters.

Joseph Robert Kerrey

Former United States Senator

Bob Kerrey is Managing Director at Allen & Company. He is also Executive Chairman of the Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship, supporting The Minerva Project, an exceptional liberal arts and sciences education.

From 2001 to 2011 Mr. Kerrey was President of The New School, a university founded on democratic ideals and daring educational practices. On his watch, The New School experienced unprecedented growth in enrollment, faculty, scholarships, capital projects, research, and international engagement.

From 1989 to 2001 Mr. Kerrey represented Nebraska in the Senate, where he promoted equity for rural communities, led in farm and environmental legislation, strengthened taxpayers’ rights, led in restructuring our intelligence agencies, and partnered with local leaders to build projects of lasting value to Nebraskans.

His public service since leaving the Senate includes: the 9/11 Commission, advisory board of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, co-chair of the Concord Coalition, and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Prior to his Senate service, Mr. Kerrey served one term as Nebraska’s Governor.  Before entering politics, he was a businessman who helped build a chain of restaurants and health clubs employing over 1000 people.

Mr. Kerrey served as a U.S. Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War. For his service, he received the Medal of Honor. While in Vietnam, he was wounded, permanently disabled, and received from this injury a great gift:  sympathy for those who are suffering and an appreciation for the capacity of government to save your life.

Mr. Kerrey earned a BS degree in Pharmacy from the University of Nebraska.

Denice Torres

Former CEO, J&J McNeil

Denice Torres is CEO of The Ignited Company change management firm and Founder of The Mentoring Place, an organization dedicated to helping women advance in their careers. She has over 25 years of management and P&L experience in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and consumer healthcare. She served as president for several multi-billion-dollar Johnson & Johnson companies including Janssen Pharmaceuticals, CNS, and J&J Consumer Healthcare. Denice was also chief strategy and transformation officer for the medical device sector. Denice is credited for successfully leading and transforming the Tylenol company through an unprecedented time period marked by product recalls, manufacturing challenges, and a consent decree. She was named the Healthcare Businesswoman of the Year in 2015.

Prior to joining J&J, Denice had a highly successful, 14-year career at Lilly where she served in leadership roles of increasing responsibility including executive director for women’s health and head of global marketing for a multi-billion portfolio.

Denice has served on multiple boards and is currently a director of bluebird bio (Blue). She holds an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan, a J.D. from Indiana University, and a B.S. in Psychology from Ball State. She is a member of the Michigan Bar Association.

Charlie Cooney, PH.D.

Technical Advisory Board Chair

Charles L. Cooney is Robert T. Haslam Professor Emeritus in the MIT Department of Chemical Engineering. Cooney obtained his bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and his master’s degree and PhD degree in Biochemical Engineering from MIT. After working briefly at the Squibb Institute for Medical Research, he joined the faculty of MIT as an Assistant Professor in 1970 and has been a full Professor since 1982. He has received the 1989 Gold Medal of the Institute of Biotechnological Studies (London); the Food, Pharmaceutical and Bioengineering Award from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers; and the James Van Lanen Distinguished Service Award from the American Chemical Society’s Division of Microbial and Biochemical Technology, and was elected to the American Institute of Medical and Biochemical Engineers. He serves as a consultant to and/or director of a number of biotech and pharmaceutical companies and is on several boards of professional journals.

Beverly L. Davidson, PH.D.

Scientific Advisory Board Chair

Dr. Beverly L. Davidson is Director of The Raymond G. Perelman Center for Cellular and Molecular Therapeutics, the Chief Scientific Strategy Officer, and holds the Arthur V. Meigs Chair in Pediatrics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. She is also Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Dr. Davidson received her B.S. in Biology from the Nebraska Wesleyan University, and her Ph.D. in Biological Chemistry from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Davidson is a co-founder of Spark Therapeutics and Talee Bio, and serves on the Scientific Advisory Boards of Sarepta Therapeutics, Homology Medicines, Prevail Therapeutics and Intellia Therapeutics.

Professor Davidson’s research is focused on inherited genetic diseases that cause central nervous system dysfunction, with a focus on (1) recessive, childhood onset neurodegenerative disease, in particular the lysosomal storage diseases such as the Mucopolysaccharidoses and Batten’s disease; and (2) dominant genetic diseases; for example, the CAG repeat disorders (Huntington’s disease (HD) and Spinocerebellar ataxia), and (3), understanding how noncoding RNAs participate in neural development and neurodegenerative diseases processes. Her research on childhood onset neurodegenerative diseases is focused on experiments to better understand the biochemistry and cell biology of proteins deficient in these disorders, and to develop gene and small molecule based medicines for therapy. In recent work, her group demonstrated that the application of recombinant viral vectors to animal models of storage disease reversed CNS deficits.

Professor Davidson has been awarded the 2009 Mathilde Solowey Award (NIH), the 2011 J.J. Armond Lecturer (AANP), the 2011 Presidential Lecture (UIowa), the 2012 Carver College of Medicine Faculty Service Award (UIowa) and the University of Iowa Innovator Award (2012), the 2014 Chair, Electorate Nominating Committee, Medical Sciences Section (AAAS), appointed to the National Advisory Council, NINDS (2014-2018); 2015 appointee to Scientific Advisory Boards of the Huntington Study Group and the Medical Research Advisory Board of the National Ataxia Foundation. In 2017 she was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, was appointed a member of the International Selection Committee for the 2018 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science at the Franklin Institute, and was invited to join the Packard Center Board of Advisors at Johns Hopkins University. In 2018, Dr. Davidson was elected to the College of Physicians of Philadelphia. She also received the F.E. Bennett Memorial Lectureship Award from the American Neurological Association in October 2018. In 2019 Dr. Davidson was the Chair of a Gordon Research Conference on Lysosomal Storage Diseases.

Mark Mcclellan, M.D., PH.D.

Former FDA Commissioner, Regulatory Advisory Board Chair

Mark McClellan, M.D., Ph.D., is the Robert J. Margolis Professor of Business, Medicine, and Policy, and founding Director of the Duke-Margolis Center for Health Policy at Duke University.

Dr. McClellan is a doctor and an economist whose has addressed a wide range of strategies and policy reforms to improve health care, including payment reform to promote better outcomes and lower costs, methods for development and use of real-world evidence, and strategies for more effective biomedical innovation.

At the center of the nation’s efforts to combat the pandemic, Dr. McClellan is the co-author of a roadmap that details the steps needed for a comprehensive COVID-19 response and safe reopening of our country. His current work on responding to the COVID-19 public health emergency spans virus containment and testing strategies, reforming health care toward more resilient models of delivering care, and accelerating the development of therapeutics and vaccines.

Before coming to Duke, he served as a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, where he was Director of the Health Care Innovation and Value Initiatives and led the Richard Merkin Initiative on Payment Reform and Clinical Leadership. He also has a highly distinguished record in public service and academic research.

Dr. McClellan is a former administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), where he developed and implemented major reforms in health policy. These include the Medicare prescription drug benefit, Medicare and Medicaid payment reforms, the FDA’s Critical Path Initiative, and public-private initiatives to develop better information on the quality and cost of care. He has also previously served as a member of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers and senior director for health care policy at the White House, and as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy at the Department of the Treasury.

Dr. McClellan is the founding chair and a Senior Advisor of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, serves on the ICER Advisory Board, and is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (NAM). He chairs the NAM’s Leadership Council for Value and Science-Driven Health Care, co-chairs the Guiding Committee of the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network, and is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. He is also a Senior Advisor on the faculty of the University of Texas Dell Medical School and is an independent director on the boards of Johnson & Johnson, Cigna, Alignment Healthcare, and PrognomIQ. He was previously an associate professor of economics and medicine with tenure at Stanford University, and has twice received the Kenneth Arrow Award for Outstanding Research in Health Economics.

David Schenkein, M.D.

Board Advisor

Dr. David Schenkein is a general partner at GV, where he co-leads the life science investment team. Previously, Dr. Schenkein spent ten years as chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors at Agios Pharmaceuticals, where he remains executive chairman.

Dr. Schenkein has been a hematologist and medical oncologist for 30 years. He currently serves as an adjunct attending physician in hematology at Tufts Medical Center. Prior to joining Agios, Dr. Schenkein was the senior vice president, clinical hematology/oncology at Genentech, where he was responsible for numerous successful oncology drug approvals and leading the medical and scientific strategies for their BioOncology portfolio. While at Genentech, he served as an adjunct clinical professor of medical oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine.

Prior to joining Genentech, he served as the senior vice president of clinical research at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, overseeing the clinical development and worldwide approval of Velcade, a first-in-class cancer therapy now approved to treat multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkins lymphoma. He serves on the board of directors of bluebird bio and Denali Therapeutics.

Dr. Schenkein holds a B.A. in chemistry from Wesleyan University and an M.D. from the State University of New York Upstate Medical School.