The below signers are writing to express our strong support for locating the Advanced Research Project Agency for Health (ARPA-H) in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Massachusetts has the density of resources necessary for ARPA-H to thrive— talent, leading research universities, teaching hospitals, and life sciences companies.
President Biden envisions ARPA-H as a dynamic organization centered around risk tolerance, a sense of urgency, and a mandate to push the limits of biomedical and health research. ARPA-H’s success will rely on talent. No other state has the necessary pool of cross-disciplinary talent in biomedical and other scientific fields, engineering, computation, and technology – across academia and industry – who can fill those rotating roles quickly and on a regular basis.
ARPA-H was created to move scientific breakthroughs forward more quickly to solve global health challenges. Massachusetts boasts innovative organizations that are not only driving cutting edge research and development but are also well versed in technology transfer and commercialization.
We support the Coalition for Health Advances and Research in Massachusetts (CHARM) and its effort to bring ARPA-H to Massachusetts.
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.
The letter as originally delivered to stakeholders on October 20, 2022 is available as a PDF: