After a comprehensive search, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) has announced that Michelle McMurry-Heath, MD, PhD, as its incoming President and CEO. McMurry-Heath will become the organization’s next President and CEO on June 1, 2020.
BIO is the world’s largest science and public advocacy organization, representing 1,000 members. McMurry-Heath will succeed former Rep. Jim Greenwood, who has led the organization since 2005 and BIO’s founding President & CEO Carl B. Feldbaum who served from 1993 to 2004.
Michelle McMurry-Heath, M.D., Ph.D., is the incoming President and CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) in Washington, D.C.
Dr. McMurry-Heath is a long-time advocate for innovation, science and patients. She has served in numerous senior leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson since 2014. Most recently, as Vice President of External Innovation and Global Leader for Regulatory Science, she led a global team of 900 employees charting the evidence generation and regulatory strategy across J&J’s medical device companies, specializing in using cutting-edge tools and innovative methods to bring new breakthroughs to patients.
McMurry-Heath, a Harvard-educated former senior FDA science official, is a physician and a molecular immunologist who became the first African-American to graduate from Duke’s Medical Scientist Training Program. She served as the founding director of the Aspen Institute’s Health Biomedical Science and Society Policy Program focused on broadening access to personalized medicine and bolstering international preparedness for pandemic disease threats.
McMurry-Heath served as a science and technology policy fellow at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She also served as lead health and science policy on Capitol Hill for Senator Joe Lieberman, where she drafted legislation to protect the country from biological attacks. Additionally, she oversaw health policy for the Senator’s 2004 presidential campaign. Dr. McMurry-Heath sharpened her science policy skills as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health and Society Scholar and as the Macarthur Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations.
Throughout her entire career, she has committed her life to the belief that medical innovation can improve the lives of patients around the world. In her new role at BIO, she looks forward to continuing to partner with bold innovators willing to take on some of society’s biggest challenges.
Source: https://www.bio.org/biography/dr-michelle-mcmurry-heath
“As these clarifying times have shown, society will rise or fall on the ingenuity of our scientists, the vibrancy of our innovative ecosystem, and the personal courage of the men and women working day and night to bring cures to patients, food to tables and relief to our environment,” McMurry-Heath said. “I want scientists, clinicians and innovators to hold their heads high knowing they are addressing the most important issues we face today. BIO represents these everyday heroes and sheroes, and I couldn’t be prouder for this opportunity to support their work and shout their message from the rooftop.”
Source: https://www.bio.org/press-release/bio-appoints-physician-scientist-new-president-and-ceo
Comments from Dr. Jeremy Levin, Chairman of BIO
BIO Chairman, Dr. Jeremy Levin, discusses the appointment of Dr. Michelle McMurry-Heath as the next President & CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).