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.