Board of Directors

Murray Ross is Vice President, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and leads the Kaiser Permanente Institute for Health Policy in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente is the largest private integrated health care delivery system in the U.S., serving over 10 million people in eight states and Washington, D.C. The Institute seeks to shape public policy and private practice by sharing evidence and experience from Kaiser Permanente’s operations through publications, expert roundtables, and conferences. Dr. Ross speaks frequently to domestic and international audiences on a wide range of health care topics and serves on a number of academic and non-profit boards. His current work focuses on how American health care can make better use of new medical technologies and how public policy can support better alignment of clinical and financial decision-making to improve health and the quality and affordability of health care. He also has a long-standing interest in improving communications in health care, both between patients and providers and also between knowledge producers and policy influencers.

Before joining Kaiser Permanente in 2002, Dr. Ross was a policy advisor to the U.S. Congress, first at the Congressional Budget Office and later as the executive director of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission.

An economist by training, Dr. Ross earned his doctorate at the University of Maryland, College Park, and completed his undergraduate work at Arizona State University. He enjoys distance running, writing, photography, and traveling (often together).

Jonathan J. Fleming is Treasurer of NEHI's Board of Directors and formerly served as the Chief Business Officer of Q-State Bioscience. Since 1999, Mr. Fleming has been the Managing Partner of Oxford Bioscience Partners, an international venture capital firm specializing in life science investments, based in Boston, MA. Mr. Fleming has been in the investment business for more than 31 years, starting and financing growth companies in the United States, Europe, Israel and Asia. Prior to joining Oxford Bioscience Partners in 1996, he was a Founding General Partner of MVP Ventures in Boston, MA. He began his investment career with TVM Techno Venture Management in Munich, Germany. Mr. Fleming also co-founded Medica Venture Partners, a venture capital investment firm specializing in early stage health care and biotechnology companies in Israel, and the Korea Seoul Life Science Fund, based in Seoul, Korea. Mr. Fleming is a director of Xencor (NASDAQ: XNCR) and several private early stage life science companies. He is also a director of Leerink Partners, a Boston based investment bank specializing in health care companies. In addition, Mr. Fleming has been a Senior Lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management since 2003, where he co-teaches a class on business strategy for life science managers. Mr. Fleming holds a Master's degree in Public Administration from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley.

Mark E. Lutes is the Chair of the firm’s Board of Directors and a Member of the the firm’s Health Care and Life Sciences practice. Based in Washington, DC, he has practiced with the firm for more than three decades. Prior to that, he was a legislative adviser to the Federal Trade Commission. He also offers strategic counsel in health policy and on reimbursement strategy through the firm's affiliates EBG Advisors, Inc., and National Health Advisors, LLC.

Mr. Lutes is a leader in the firm's representation of private equity and financial services firms with health care companies in their portfolios. He routinely deploys multidisciplinary teams of attorneys, reimbursement specialists, engineers, and scientists to assess the reimbursement, FDA and other domestic and international regulatory approvals, fraud and abuse compliance, CMS and legislative landscapes and other issues impacting proposed client investments in health care companies.

Mr. Lutes combines experience with the corporate aspects of transactions with his deep experience in health care compliance issues to provide clients with practical advice in the negotiation of warranty and indemnification issues and in assessing risk factors in health and life science deals. He has advised on the largest transactions in the health care market including services, pharmaceutical and device companies.

Mr. Lutes is also an experienced antitrust counselor to health care companies contemplating mergers or acquisitions and has facilitated the antitrust clearance of numerous significant hospital mergers. He has managed the defense of high profile healthcare antitrust actions by the FTC.

Mr. Lutes has a deep understanding of managed care markets and regulation. He is consulted by a variety of providers and payors in structuring innovative payment arrangements. Additionally, he counsels on hospital and physician ventures and compliance issues and in the area of information privacy and security. Mr. Lutes has developed privacy and security audit tools which support client compliance needs.

Dr. Apkon is a physician executive and physician scientist serving in C-level leadership roles at several top academic hospitals in the United States and Canada as well serving as director of several new health care ventures. He most recently served as the CEO at Tufts Medical Center. In that capacity, he led a 415-bed hospital staffed by 6,000 employees, scientists, medical staff, students and volunteers with a $1B budget. Tufts MC is the principal adult and pediatric teaching hospital for Tufts University School of Medicine and is among the top 10 percent of all institutions receiving National Institutes of health (NIH) funding. The Medical Center comprises a number of subsidiaries including the New England Quality Care Alliance (NEQCA), a network of 1,800 physicians, as well as the Tufts Medical Center Physicians Organization. In addition, he served as Executive Vice President for Wellforce Health System, of which Tufts Medical Center is a founding member.

Dr. Apkon currently serves as a director for 7D Surgical, a Toronto-based surgical navigation equipment manufacturer and as a director for MindBeacon, a Canadian digital mental health company. He has also served as a Director for MaRS Innovation (now Toronto Innovation Accelerator Partners), an innovation incubator serving the greater Toronto academic and healthcare communities.

Dr. Apkon has extensive international management experience in both pediatric and adult-oriented healthcare, working with organizations and governments in the UK, Europe, China, Africa, and the Middle East as well as North America. He has consulted widely on business development, capacity development, and management systems as well as quality and safety improvement. He is an expert in strategy, systems development, and operations management, as well as the application of lean and high reliability organizational thinking to drive improvements in quality, safety, and efficiency.

Prior to coming to Tufts Medical Center, Dr. Apkon was the President and CEO at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto Ontario, recognized as one of the world’s top children’s hospitals and Canada’s most research-intensive hospital. Dr. Apkon has also held senior executive and academic roles at top academic health science centers including Senior Vice President for Medical Affairs and the Chief Medical Officer for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) as well as roles at Yale University School of Medicine and Yale-New Haven Health System including being the Vice President for Performance Management at the Yale New Haven Health System and the Vice President/Executive Director leading Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. He has held faculty positions at the University of Toronto, the University of Pennsylvania and Yale University’s School of Medicine and School of Management.

Dr. Apkon has a BSc degree in Biomedical Engineering from Northwestern University as well as MD and PhD degrees from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and an MBA from the Yale School of Management where he taught healthcare management.

Chris Coburn is Chief Innovation Officer at Mass General Brigham (formerly Partners HealthCare System) and President, Partners HealthCare International. Mass General Brigham consists of Harvard University affiliates Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, Massachusetts Eye and Ear, and McLean Hospital. Mass General Brigham is the nation’s largest academic research enterprise with over $13 billion in annual revenue, 1.5 million patient visits and $1.8 billion in research expenditures. It also has a managed care organization, out-patient facilities and community hospitals. Mass General Brighams’ 6,200 faculty are appointed at Harvard Medical School.

Mr. Coburn leads a team of more than 125 tasked with the worldwide commercial application of the unique capabilities and discoveries of all Mass General Brigham’ 74,000 employees. His unit’s business development responsibilities include investing, company creation, international consulting, innovation management, industry collaborations, and licensing. Commercialization revenue exceeds $130 million annually and more than 225 companies have been spun-off from Mass General Brigham in the last decade. Large-scale industry collaborations have been established in areas such as AI and drug development. Provider strategy and operational consulting has been delivered to clients in nearly 40 countries. His group also manages a nearly $200 million venture fund.

Prior to joining Mass General Brigham, Mr. Coburn was founding director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations and served for 13 years as its executive leader. During his tenure, Cleveland Clinic spun off 57 companies that raised more than $700 million in equity financing. There were none before Coburn’s arrival. His team also managed an innovation alliance network in which Cleveland Clinic directly supported technology commercialization for healthcare systems throughout the United States.

Mr. Coburn has served on numerous corporate and community boards including Explorys (acquired by IBM), Autonomic Technologies, and the U.S. Enrichment Corporation (NYSE:USU).

He was a member of the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Assessing the Value of Research in Meeting National Goals. He is a former Vice President and General Manager of Battelle Memorial Institute. He has consulted, testified and spoken on innovation and commercialization throughout North America and in more than 30 countries.

He and his wife, Nancy, have three grown children.

As Executive Vice President, Chief Population Health Officer for Beth Israel Lahey Health, Deborah Devaux leads the system’s efforts to advance a new model of care that improves patient outcomes and experience, effectively manages health care cost, and reduces health inequities in all the communities we serve. Deborah’s scope of responsibility includes oversight of the system’s unified clinically integrated network, payor contracting and collaboration, care management, as well as behavioral health and continuing care services.

Deborah was previously Chief Operating Officer at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), where she held a variety of senior leadership roles for nearly 20 years. At BCBSMA, she led 2,600 employees in the areas of IT, operations, health and medical management, pharmacy, performance measurement and improvement, network management, and member and provider services. She is also an adjunct faculty member at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and has been a member of the boards of directors for several nonprofit organizations. Deborah served on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Special Commission on Provider Price Variation in 2017.

Deborah received her undergraduate degree from Western Michigan University and her Master of Health Services Administration from the School of Public Health at University of Michigan.

Deborah resides with her husband in Boston.

Bob Filippone is Vice President, U.S. Policy and Government Relations at Merck. Bob and his team represent Merck in Washington, DC, and are responsible for U.S. policy development and legislative advocacy on Merck’s key federal issues. They also oversee the administration of the Merck PAC and the company’s grassroots program.

Bob joined Merck from PhRMA, the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, where he served as Senior Vice President, Federal Affairs. Bob led PhRMA’s Federal Affairs team with responsibility for advancing PhRMA’s interests with members of congress and the administration.

Prior to his time at PhRMA, Bob served as the Deputy Chief of Staff in the office of U.S. Senator Bob Graham (D-FL). He was Senator Graham’s principal advisor on foreign policy, homeland security, intelligence, defense and international trade issues.

During his tenure with Senator Graham, Bob also held the position of Deputy Staff Director for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. The Committee is responsible for conducting oversight of the U.S. intelligence community and for authorizing intelligence activities of the U.S. Government.

Prior to joining Senator Graham’s staff, Bob worked as a national security specialist in the Office of the Secretary of Defense in Washington. He has also worked as a fellow in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the Department of State, as a missile systems engineer at the Raytheon Company, and has taught international relations at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.

Bob holds Ph.D. and Master’s degrees in international relations from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute. He is married to Desiree Geneva Filippone and they have two sons and a daughter.

Dr. Garth Graham, M.D., MPH, FACP, FACC, is a leading authority on social determinants of health and health equity. Garth Graham joins Google as Director and Global Head of Healthcare and Public Health at Google/YouTube and Google Health.

Previously, Dr. Graham was with CVS Health as the Vice President of Community Health where he led the enterprise-wide community and social determinants of health (SDoH) strategy.Dr. Graham is passionate about the opportunity to improve local health through cross-sector collaboration. Dr. Graham previously served as Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under both the Obama and Bush Administrations, where he also ran the Office of Minority Health. He directed the development of the federal government’s first National Health Disparities Plan released under the Obama administration. Dr. Graham was also the assistant dean for health policy at the University of Florida School of Medicine, where he led several research initiatives looking at how to improve outcomes and readmission rates in cardiac patients in underserved populations.

He contributes to several boards including the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Advisory Council, the Institute of Medicine Board on Population Health, Board of the National Quality Forum, the American Heart Association/American Stroke Associational National Quality Oversight Committee, the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Data Standards, the Harvard Medical School Diversity Fund (chair) and was named by the President to the U.S. Federal Coordinating Council on Comparative Effectiveness Research many others.

Dr. Graham has been featured in media outlets including Fortune, USA Today, The Hill, The Chicago Tribune, Essence, U.S. News & World Report, Quartz and Ebony. Dr. Graham holds a medical degree from Yale School of Medicine, an MPH from Yale School of Public Health and a bachelor of science in biology from Florida International University. He completed clinical training at Massachusetts General Hospital and Johns Hopkins where he trained in cardiology and interventional cardiology. He holds three board certifications including internal medicine, cardiology and interventional cardiology.

Rubén José King-Shaw, Jr., is the Chief Strategy Officer of Steward Health Care System and President of Steward Health Care Network. Mr. King-Shaw previously held the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Mansa Equity Partners, Inc, and was a member of Steward Health Care System’s board of directors. Throughout his career, he has spent considerable time in public service leading both state and federal government health programs. At the state level, under Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Mr. King-Shaw was the Secretary of the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration. The Agency was responsible for Florida’s State Medicaid Program, Health Quality Assurance, Survey and Certification of healthcare facilities, Managed Care and the Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Mr. King-Shaw also served as Deputy Administrator and Chief Operating Officer of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) from 2001 to 2003 during the administration of President George W. Bush. He was also senior advisor to the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, where he led the Administration's Health Coverage Tax Credit policies to finance coverage for the uninsured. In 2011, Mr. King-Shaw was appointed to the Obama Administration's Program Advisory and Oversight Committee to monitor and provide guidance to Medicare's value-based purchasing program for Durable Medical Equipment. Currently, he is an advisor to the Trump Administration in the areas of fraud, waste and abuse, and alternative payment models.

Liz Lewis, JD is Head of Patient Value, Policy and Advocacy for the Global Oncology Business Unit at Takeda where she is responsible for accelerating Takeda’s efforts in securing rapid and broad patient access and continuing to strengthen Takeda’s patient advocacy, access and policy approach and initiatives. Prior to this role, Ms. Lewis was the Chief Counsel for the Specialty Business Units and R&D and Head of Patient Advocacy at Takeda Oncology, where she was responsible for setting the company’s global legal strategies and priorities and managing the day-to-day legal activities for the Specialty Business Units and R&D. Ms. Lewis also headed the patient advocacy team, partnering closely with oncology patient advocates and patient advocacy groups throughout the world to support access to cancer therapies. She provides strategic insight into patient programs with a focus on access and assistance programs.

During her more than 15 years with the company, Ms. Lewis was instrumental in building legacy Millennium Pharmaceutical’s legal and compliance functions that serve as the foundation for Takeda’s Global Oncology Business Unit. Her pharmaceutical legal experience is broad, with expertise in research and product development, product commercialization, launch, market access/pricing and compliance. She played an integral role in the company’s successful launch, commercialization and market expansion of multiple oncology products, including VELCADE® (bortezomib), NINLARO® (ixazomib) and, most recently, ALUNBRIG® (brigatinib).

Prior to joining Millennium/Takeda, she served as partner at the Washington DC-based law firm, Epstein, Becker and Green, where she represented health care and life science companies, working her way up to co-chair the firm’s pharmaceutical practice group. She has spoken, conducted seminars and published numerous articles on intricate health-related subjects such as commercial practices and strategies in the pharmaceutical industry, health care corporate compliance, health care fraud and federal program reimbursement. An active participant in industry trade organizations, Ms. Lewis is on the board of directors for Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio) and a member of the Health Section Governing board for Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).

Ms. Lewis obtained her law degree from Washington College of Law at American University serving as an editor for the Administrative Law Journal. She earned her BA in Political Science from Hamilton College, where she graduated with honors. The Boston Business Journal named Ms. Lewis as one of the top 20 “2014 Women to Watch” in the life sciences industry.

Cara McNulty, DPA is President of Aetna Behavioral Health, a leading provider of mental health and employee assistance program (EAP) solutions to members around the globe. She oversees a national team that spearheads the development of programs, products and capabilities designed to offer individuals easy access to quality, innovative treatments and meet people along their health care journey, while driving engagement and improving health outcomes through an easy and meaningful experience.

Cara is a highly regarded executive leader and population health scientist whose success in driving population well-being outcomes spans the employer, government, payer/provider, start-up and education sectors. She is known for her ability to integrate confirmed health science into practical business models that drive measurable outcomes.

Cara previously served as the North American leader of Integrated Wellbeing for Willis Towers Watson. Her responsibilities included advising clients on strategies focusing on employee engagement, clinical outcomes and productivity. She sat on the company’s Health and Benefits Specialty Practice Leadership team and focused on integrated wellbeing, intellectual capital and service development across physical, emotional, financial and social dimensions.

As the former head of Population Health, Team Member Wellbeing and Guest Wellness for Target Corporation, she led efforts to implement the company’s health agenda. She developed strategies that improved all team members’ health, driving value and business growth while decreasing health care expenditures. Through the advancement of Guest Wellness, she successfully led strategy and advanced products and services to meet the demands and desires of the consumer and local communities.

Cara is nationally recognized for her strategic design and implementation of Minnesota’s transformational population health care legislation, which to date is one of the largest financial allocations in the country for initiatives known to be reducing health disparities and chronic diseases.

She holds a doctorate in public administration from Hamline University, a Master of Science in applied health science from Indiana University and a Bachelor of Science in community health education from the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

Dr. David Meeker, a member of Rhythm’s Board of Directors since 2015 and Chairman of the Board since 2017, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company in July 2020. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of KSQ Therapeutics. He previously served as President and CEO of Genzyme (a Sanofi company) following the merger of Genzyme and Sanofi. Post-merger at Sanofi-Genzyme, David assumed responsibility of the rare disease unit and the launch of the company’s new multiple sclerosis franchise, and he was given responsibility for the full specialty-care portfolio of Sanofi, adding the oncology and immunology portfolios. In that capacity, he oversaw the initial launch of products for atopic dermatitis and rheumatoid arthritis. David joined Genzyme in 1994 to work on the cystic fibrosis gene therapy program and ultimately served in a variety of R&D leadership roles before moving to operational roles with increasing responsibility beginning in the year 2000. He was named COO of Genzyme in 2009, with broad responsibility for the global commercial portfolio. Prior to joining Genzyme, David was a practicing physician at Cleveland Clinic, with a specialty in pulmonary and critical care. He did his internal medicine training at Harvard’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and his pulmonary/critical care training at Boston University. He currently serves as chairman of the board of Rhythm Pharmaceuticals and Trevi Therapeutics, and he is a member of the board of Myokardia. He also serves on the boards of the Biomedical Science Careers Program and the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation.

David received his MD from the University of Vermont Medical School. He completed the Advanced Management Program at Harvard Business School.Dr. David Meeker, a member of Rhythm’s Board of Directors since 2015 and Chairman of the Board since 2017, was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of the Company in July 2020. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of KSQ Therapeutics for approximately three years. Previously, David was the Executive Vice President and Head of Sanofi Genzyme, the specialty-care global business unit of Sanofi that focused on rare diseases, multiple sclerosis, oncology and immunology. He joined Genzyme in 1994 as Medical Director and, over the course of his tenure, served the company as Vice President of Medical Affairs, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Executive Officer. He led Genzyme’s commercial organization and global market access functions and managed the launch of several treatments for rare genetic diseases, including Aldurazyme®, Fabrazyme® and Myozyme®. Prior to his tenure with Genzyme, David was Director of the Pulmonary Critical Care Fellowship at the Cleveland Clinic and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Ohio State University. Dr. Meeker earned his M.D. from the University of Vermont Medical School and completed the advanced management program at Harvard Business School.

Dr. Sandhya Rao is chief medical officer and senior vice president for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, the largest private health plan in Massachusetts and one of the largest independent, not-for-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield plans in the country.

Sandhya is responsible for the strategic direction and ongoing operation of our health and medical management and pharmacy divisions, focused on improving the quality, outcomes and affordability of health care provided to our members.

Sandhya joined Blue Cross in December 2020, and she provides extensive population health management experience leading to innovative delivery solutions and unique insights into what employers want in their health plans.

Previously, she served as vice president of clinical strategy at Haven, the health care organization formed by Amazon, JP Morgan Chase, and Berkshire Hathaway. Before joining Haven, Sandhya was senior medical director for population health management at Partners Healthcare. She also served as associate medical director of the Mass General Physicians Organization, and as a business analyst at McKinsey and Co. Her clinical experience includes practice as a primary care provider at Massachusetts General Hospital and at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Sandhya earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in public health from Brown University and her medical degree from New York University School of Medicine. She completed her residency in internal medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Christina Severin is a leading health care executive with more than 20 years of experience and numerous accomplishments in managed care, delivery systems, health insurance, Accountable Care Organizations, quality, public policy, and public health. She has led Community Care Cooperative (C3) since the organization’s launch in 2016, leveraging the proven best practices of ACOs throughout the country, building the organization on the collective strengths of its health centers, and growing the organization to better serve MassHealth members throughout the commonwealth.

Widely recognized for her achievements, she was honored for her leadership of a Top 100 Women-Led Business by the Boston Globe in 2020, 2019 and 2015, and named a “40 Under 40” honoree by The Boston Business Journal in 2013. That year, Christina was also profiled by The Business Journal for its “Women Up” feature, and named to its list of top health care executives to change roles in 2013.

Christina’s prior leadership experience includes serving as President and Chief Executive Officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Care Organization and as President of Network Health, a nonprofit Massachusetts health plan.

Christina has taught classes in health care administration and management at Boston University, Harvard University, and Northeastern University. She earned a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Health Services from Boston University School of Public Health, and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

Christina lives in Jamaica Plain, MA with her husband, where they are coming to terms with becoming empty nesters.

Dr. Michael Sherman, chief medical officer and senior vice president for health services at Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, is widely recognized as a pioneer in the race to control skyrocketing drug costs. His work in the development of value-based payment agreements with pharmaceutical companies, which tie payment for a drug to patient outcomes, has placed him at the forefront of the issue. Dr. Sherman is credited with cementing Harvard Pilgrim’s position as a leader among insurers in crafting agreements with pharmaceutical companies that tie payments for a drug to its performance. In 2018, he received Xconomy’s “Contrarian Award” for his contributions, which include having signed the nation’s first such payment model for a gene therapy, helping pave the way for the development of innovative financing models.

Harvard Pilgrim is a not-for-profit health plan that has been recognized by NCQA as one of the top health plans in the nation for over a decade and which provides a variety of insurance options to 1.2 million members in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut. As Harvard Pilgrim’s chief physician executive, Dr. Sherman has focused the organization on introducing innovative outcomes-based reimbursement models that more effectively engage providers, pharmaceutical companies, and diagnostics companies. He is responsible for medical trend management, pharmacy management, provider engagement strategy, clinical policy and utilization management, disease and care management services, quality, and wellness offerings.

Dr. Sherman is chair of the Board of Managers of the Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, which encompasses the Department of Population Medicine at Harvard Medical School—the nation’s only appointing medical school department based in a health plan. He holds additional board appointments with several well-respected nonprofit organizations, including the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), the Personalized Medicine Coalition, the Harvard Business School Healthcare Initiative, and the Center on Media and Child Health. Until recently, he chaired AHIP’s CMO Leadership Council, a trade association comprising chief medical officers from health plans throughout the United States, and also served as a board member and as Co-President of the Harvard Business School Healthcare Alumni Association. Dr. Sherman has also served as a mentor for emerging physician executives enrolled in the AHIP Executive Leadership Program.

Prior to joining Harvard Pilgrim in 2011, Dr. Sherman served as corporate medical director for physician strategies at Humana, where he developed collaborative provider-payer partnerships with provider organizations to support their mutual goal of delivering the highest quality care to patients. He also served as vice president of network and consumer solutions for UnitedHealth Group’s subsidiary Ingenix (now part of Optum) and as chief business development officer for United’s Medicare Part D business. Formerly, Dr. Sherman held the position of vice president and general manager at Thomson Medstat (now IBM Truven), and he previously held management roles at Immusol, a San Diego-based biotechnology company; HealthAllies, an organization created to provide discretionary medical benefits to the cash-pay market, which was purchased by UnitedHealth Group; and Da Vita, a national provider of dialysis services.

Before pursuing an M.B.A. at Harvard Business School, Dr. Sherman received his M.D. from Yale and practiced as a cardiac anesthesiologist. He also holds a B.A. in Anthropology and Natural Sciences and an M.S. in Biomedical Anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Sherman is a diplomate of the American Board of Anesthesiology and the American Board of Medical Management. In 2009, he was named a fellow of the American College of Physician Executives in recognition of his national contributions to the field of medical management. Dr. Sherman frequently speaks at regional, national, and international conferences and lectures as a faculty member of Harvard Medical School’s Department of Population Medicine. He has also been called upon to provide legislative testimony at the national level. Speaking at the White House in 2017, Dr. Sherman presented Harvard Pilgrim’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic at a meeting of the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and the Opioid Crisis.

Dr. Eve Slater is an Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons. Additionally, she serves on the Boards of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (nominated); Idera Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA; iTheRx, San Diego, CA; the Council of the Rockefeller University, New York City, NY; and the Scientific Advisory Board of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development, New York City, NY.

Prior to her role at Columbia, Dr. Slater served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Policy at Pfizer, Inc. She has served as Assistant Secretary of Health for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Prior to joining HHS, she spent over 19 years with Merck in a number of critical scientific, strategy and public policy positions. In 1983, she joined the Merck Research Laboratories in biochemical endocrinology and molecular biology, and in 1988, she was promoted to head the regulatory affairs department as VP and later SVP of Clinical and Regulatory Development. In 2001, she was named as SVP of External Policy for Merck Research Laboratories, and VP of Merck Corporate Public Affairs. An expert on HIV treatment research, she served as a member of both the U.S. Keystone National Policy Dialogue on HIV and the NIH Office of AIDS Research Advisory Council. An expert on the FDA, she was named to the Subcommittee of the FDA Science Board in 2007.

In 2001, Dr. Slater was appointed by President George W. Bush as Assistant Secretary of Health, the first woman to hold this position. In this role, she served HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson as chief health policy advisor, with special emphasis on e-health and innovation, biosecurity, clinical subjects’ protection, women’s health, eldercare and HIV/AIDS. After leaving HHS, she became a director and advisor to a number of biotechnology companies, including Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, MA and Phase Forward, Waltham, MA.

Dr. Slater received her bachelor's degree from Vassar College (Phi Beta Kappa) and her medical degree from Columbia University (Alpha Omega Alpha). She received her training in internal medicine and cardiology at the Massachusetts General Hospital, where she was the first woman named as Chief Resident in Medicine and later led the Hypertension Unit. She also served as Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, she continues to serve patients as an Associate Attending Physician at NY Presbyterian Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Columbia.

Mr. von Rickenbach is the Managing Director of stet vision LLC. Prior to stet vision, Mr. von Rickenbach was co-Founder, President & CEO of biotech company Helio Vision, Inc., which was successfully merged with Aldeyra Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ALDX) in early 2019. Previously, Mr. von Rickenbach was co-Founder, Chairman & CEO of PAREXEL International Corporation. He took the company from its pioneering beginnings, as one of the first clinical research organizations (CROs) in the early 1980s, to its place as one of the top three global biopharmaceutical services providers.  He led PAREXEL through multiple rounds of venture capital, multiple secondary offerings, and over 40 mergers and acquisitions during his 36-year history at the helm of the Company. In a “going private” transaction in 2017, PAREXEL was acquired for $5 billion by a private equity firm.

Foreseeing the globalization of clinical research, Mr. von Rickenbach worked to expand PAREXEL’s presence to 51 countries. This extensive geographical presence and the Company’s 20,000 employees allow PAREXEL to conduct clinical trials across every continent in more than 100 countries. To make clinical development more effective, he conceived a multidisciplinary and systems-oriented approach to clinical development, bringing efficiencies, scalability, and standardization to the process.  As biopharmaceutical R&D adopted information technology, Mr. von Rickenbach instituted a leading advanced technology offering with PAREXEL Informatics, a frontrunner in providing eClinical solutions. 
 
Mr. von Rickenbach was a founding member of the Board of Directors of the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) and served as Chairman twice. He was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1997 and was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2018. In addition to NEHI, he serves on the Board of Trustees of McLean Hospital and several other non-profit organizations. Mr. von Rickenbach advises multiple companies, from startups to mature enterprises.

Mr. von Rickenbach holds a B.A. in Business Economics from Lucerne University in Switzerland, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Mr. von Rickenbach has lectured at the Harvard Business School, the MIT Sloan School of Management and the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.

With a breadth of health care experience spanning several decades, Dr. Wendy Everett was chosen to oversee the formation of the Network for Excellence in Health Innovation (NEHI) in 2002 as its first president. Dr. Everett now serves as NEHI's Executive Chair of the Corporation where she oversees the operations and strategic direction of the organization.

Along with NEHI’s founders, Dr. Everett’s vision was to create an independent, research-based organization that convened diverse members of the health care industry to achieve the common goal of addressing the most urgent health care issues. Under her leadership, this vision resulted in ground-breaking research on medical innovation, patient safety, health care spending and health care information technology, and has influenced significant national policy changes.

Previously, Dr. Everett held executive positions at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center (UCSF) and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She has directed national demonstration programs for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundations.

In addition, Dr. Everett served as Vice Chair of the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission, an independent state agency that monitors the reform of the health care delivery and payment systems in Massachusetts. She also serves on the boards of many philanthropic foundations and non-profit organizations.

Dr. Everett earned two bachelor of science degrees and holds master’s and doctoral degrees in health policy and management from Harvard University.

Henri A. Termeer was appointed president of Genzyme Corporation in 1983, two years after the company's founding. He became its chief executive officer in 1985 and chairman in 1988. Under his leadership, Genzyme grew from a modest entrepreneurial venture to one of the world's leading biotechnology companies, and in 2007, Genzyme was chosen to receive the National Medal of Technology, the highest honor awarded by the President of the United States for technological innovation.
Mr. Termeer is recognized as a pioneer in developing and delivering treatments to patients with rare genetic diseases around the world. He was a trustee for the Boston Museum of Science, a member of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation and a member of the board of directors of Project HOPE, an international nonprofit health education and humanitarian assistance organization.

Widely acknowledged for his contributions to the biotechnology industry and health care field, Mr. Termeer served on the board of directors of both the Biotechnology Industry Organization and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. He was a director of Massachusetts General Hospital and was a member of the board of fellows of Harvard Medical School. In addition, Mr. Termeer was deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's board of directors and a member of the board of directors of Abiomed Inc. He was also instrumental in founding the New England Healthcare Institute.

A Native of the Netherlands, Mr. Termeer studied economics at the Economische Hogeschool (Erasmus University, The Netherlands) and earned an M.B.A from the Darden School at the University of Virginia.