About CHARM

The Coalition for Health Advances & Research in Massachusetts (CHARM) was launched to rally support for locating the headquarters of the newly formed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in Massachusetts. ARPA-H was created by the Biden Administration to accelerate research aimed at preventing and curing diseases ranging from infectious disease, chronic disease, Alzheimer’s, and cancer. CHARM is composed of organizations representing the wide breadth of industries and sectors that compose the Massachusetts innovation economy, as well as municipal, state, and federal government partners. CHARM recognizes that siting the ARPA-H headquarters in Massachusetts puts the new agency in a position to tap into the talent and ecosystem that are the foundation of the successful innovation engine in Greater Boston that can directly contribute to ARPA-H’s goal of accelerating the research that can positively impact the lives of patients.

CHARM Steering Committee Members

  • Massachusetts Biotechnology Council (MassBio)
  • Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association (MHA)
  • Association of Independent Colleges & Universities in Massachusetts (AICUM)
  • University of Massachusetts (UMass)
  • Boston University (BU)
  • Harvard University
  • Northeastern University
  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  • Vertex Pharmaceuticals
  • Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP)

  • The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
  • Massachusetts Life Sciences Center
  • City of Boston
  • Members of the Massachusetts Congressional Delegation

CHARM Coalition Supporters

Peter Abbink
PhD, Batavia Biosciences, Inc

Nancy C. Andrews, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer, Boston Children’s Hospital

Joseph E. Aoun
President, Northeastern University

Todd Applebaum
Managing Director, Converge Consulting, LLC

Jay Ash
CEO, Massachusetts Competitive Partnership

Lawrence S. Bacow
President, Harvard University

Katjana Ballantyne
Mayor, City of Somerville, MA

Gilda A. Barabino
President, Olin College

Sylvia Beaulieu
Director, Fort Point Project Management

William Bedell
Business Development Manager, Wyss Institute at Harvard University

Patrick Bilbo
Chief Operating Officer, Organogenesis Holdings, Canton MA

Joseph Boncore
CEO, MassBio

Catherine Bouthillier
Sr. Manager – Healthcare Partnerships, WPI

James T. Brett
President & CEO, The New England Council

Aimee Brewer
President & CEO, Sturdy Memorial Hospital

Robert A. Brown
President, Boston University

Jeffrey Champagne
Managing Consultant, PA Consulting Group, Mass Medic, M2D2, MedTech Association

Julie Chen
Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Lowell

Derrick Chery
Director of Operations, HJ Russell & Company

JD Chesloff
President & CEO, Massachusetts Business Roundtable

Michael F. Collins, M.D.
Chancellor, UMass Chan Medical School

Nicholas Covino
President, William James College

John J. Cronin
State Senator, Massachusetts Senate

Mahesh Daas
President, Boston Architectural College

Michael Dandorph
President & CEO, Tufts Medicine

Paul Danis
CEO, Consortium for Top-Down Proteomics, Inc.

Eric Dickson, M.D.
President & CEO, UMass Memorial Health

Steven R. DiSalvo, Ph.D.
President, Endicott College

Harry Dumay
President, College of Our Lady of the Elms

Michael G. Fantom
Executive Director, New England FIRST

Mark A. Fuller, Ph.D.
Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth

Joseph S. Gentile
Board Chairman, iVexSol Inc

Birgit Girshick
Chief Operating Officer, Charles River Labs

Ari Glantz
Executive Director, New England Venture Capital Association

Laurie H. Glimcher, M.D.
President & CEO, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

Adrian Gottschalk
President & CEO, Foghorn Therapeutics

Stephen Grant
CEO, Phixed, Inc.

Laurie Halloran
President & CEO, Halloran Consulting Group, Inc.

Antoinette Hays
President, Regis College

Christine Heenan
Executive Partner, Flagship Pioneering

Christopher E. Hopey, Ph.D.
President, Merrimack College

Lily S. Hsu
President, Laboure College of Healthcare

Segun Idowu
Chief of Economic Opportunity & Inclusion, City of Boston, Office of Mayor Michelle Wu

Chris Ilsley
CEO, Regional Life Science Incubator

Brian Johnson
President, Massachusetts Medical Device Industry Council (MassMEDIC)

Paula A. Johnson, M.D., MPH
President, Wellesley College

Paul R. Joy
Co-Chair, Belmont Economic Development Committee

Marisa Kelly
President, Suffolk University

Julie Kim
President, U.S. Business Unit and U.S. Country Head, Takeda

William P. Leahy, S.J.
President, Boston College

David K. Lee
CEO, Servier Pharmaceuticals

Jeff Leiden, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Chairman, Vertex Pharmaceuticals

Ron Liebowitz
President, Brandeis University

Antony Loebel, M.D.
President & CEO, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Stephen V. Mackey
President & CEO, Somerville Chamber of Commerce

Maud S. Mandel
President, Williams College

Gretchen E. Manning
CEO, Ronald McDonald House Charities of New England

Alexander Margulis
COO, Mansfield Bio-Incubator

Ronald Mariano
Speaker, Massachusetts House of Representatives

Tony Martignetti
Chief Inspiration Officer, Inspired Purpose Coaching

Robert J. McCarron
President & CEO, Association of Independent Colleges & Universities in Massachusetts

Kathleen McCartney
President, Smith College

Patricia McMullin
Executive Director, Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals

Marty Meehan
President, University of Massachusetts

Paula Milone-Nuzzo
President, MGH Institute of Health Professions

Anthony P. Monaco
President, Tufts University

Chris Nichol
VP Strategic Alliances, THRIVE

Howard Purcell
President & CEO, New England College of Optometry

L. Rafael Reif
President, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Tim Ritchie
President, Museum of Science, Boston

Darlene Rodowicz
President & CEO, Berkshire Health Systems

James E. Rooney
President & CEO, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce

Rick Russell
CEO, Tract Bio

Karen E. Spilka
Senate President, Massachusetts Senate

Dr. Kurt Steinberg
President, Montserrat College of Art

Marcelo Suarez-Orozco
Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Boston

Kumble Subbaswamy
Chancellor, UMass Amherst

Gyongyi Szabo, M.D., Ph.D.
Chief Academic Officer, Beth Israel Lahey Health and Beth Israel Medical Center

Beverly Daniel Tatum
Interim President, Mount Holyoke College

Stephen W. Thomas
Senior Vice President, VHB, Inc. Engineers Scientists Planners

Kenneth L. Turner
President & CEO, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center

Steve Walsh
President & CEO, Massachusetts Health & Hospital Association

Jon Weaver
President & CEO, Massachusetts Biomedical Initiatives

Michaele Whelan
President, Wheaton College

Ed Wingenbach
President, Hampshire College

Elizabeth Wood
CEO, JURA Bio, Inc.

Richard Yazbeck
President & CEO, NED Medical, Inc.

Join the CHARM Coalition

Add your name to the sign-on letter in support of siting ARPA-H’s headquarters in Massachusetts. 

About ARPA-H

President Biden proposed a bold new vision for biomedical and health research in the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The goal of this entity is to improve the U.S. government’s capabilities to speed research that can improve human health — to improve our ability to prevent, detect, and treat a range of diseases including cancer, infectious diseases, Alzheimer’s disease, and many others. The March 2022 omnibus passed by Congress and signed into law by the President invested $1 billion to launch ARPA-H, and additional funding has been proposed by the President and Congress. The agency is modeled after the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and is designed to be more agile than the National Institutes of Health (NIH). ARPA-H does not yet have an agency headquarters.