Board of Directors
Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D.
Chair, President and CEO
Dr. Leiden joined Vertex's executive team in December 2011, and has served as a member of Vertex's board of directors since 2009. Dr. Leiden brings to Vertex more than 20 years of scientific, commercial and financial experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries and clinical experience in academia as a practicing cardiologist and molecular biologist. Read more
Dr. Leiden is a Senior Advisor for Clarus Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm he joined in 2006. In 2000, he joined Abbott Laboratories as President and Chief Operating Officer where he had responsibility for running Abbott’s global pharmaceuticals business. While at Abbott, Dr. Leiden helped launch multiple breakthrough medicines, including Humira for rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases and Kaletra for HIV infection, among others. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of Abbott Laboratories from 2001 to 2006.
Dr. Leiden began his career in academia as a practicing cardiologist and molecular biologist. From 1987 to 2000, Dr. Leiden held several academic appointments, including roles as Chief of Cardiology at the University of Chicago and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. During his academic career, Dr. Leiden was also involved in starting several biotechnology companies including Vical and Cardiogene.
Dr. Leiden held a number of board positions for pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including the role of non-executive Vice Chairman for Shire Pharmaceuticals plc. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He is an elected member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Leiden received his M.D., Ph.D. and B.A. degrees from the University of Chicago.
David Altshuler, M.D., Ph.D.
Dr. Altshuler joined our Board in May 2012.
Dr. Altshuler is a Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he has served on the faculty since 2000. He is also one of the four founding members of the Broad Institute of Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Trained as a clinical endocrinologist and a human geneticist, Dr. Altshuler’s clinical work is focused on characterizing patterns of variation in human genetics and applying this information to help isolate the genetic contribution to common diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Read more
Through his work with multiple public-private partnerships, including the SNP Consortium, the International Haplotype Map Project and the 1000 Genomes Project, Dr. Altshuler has helped further the scientific community’s understanding of DNA sequence variation in the human genome and its contribution to the development of specific diseases. At the Broad Institute, he has directed its Program in Medical and Population Genetics since 2003 and has served as Chief Academic Officer since 2009. He is also on the faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Molecular Biology, the Diabetes Unit of the Department of Medicine and the Center for Human Genetic Research. Since 2012, he has served as Adjunct Professor of Biology at MIT.
Dr. Altshuler has received numerous awards for his research and clinical activities related to human genetics, including the Stephen Krane Award from Massachusetts General Hospital, which recognized him as the Department of Medicine’s top young investigator, the 2011 Curt Stern Award of the American Society of Human Genetics given for outstanding scientific achievements in the last 10 years and the Richard and Susan Smith Pinnacle Award of the American Diabetes Association, which recognized his research into the contributing genetic cause of diabetes. He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the Association of American Physicians and the US Institute of Medicine. He has served on advisory boards for many leading institutions, government organizations and nonprofit foundations, including The National Institutes of Health, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The Wellcome Trust and Merck Research Laboratories.
Dr. Altshuler received his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Ph.D. from Harvard University and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School. He completed his internship, residency and clinical fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
Joshua Boger, Ph.D.
Joshua Boger, Ph.D., founded Vertex in 1989 and was the company’s Chief Executive Officer from 1992 until May 2009. He served in the additional role of Chairman of the Board from 1997 until 2006. Read more
Dr. Boger began his industry career at Merck in 1978. Immediately before he founded Vertex, he was Senior Director of Basic Chemistry at Merck Sharp & Dohme Research Laboratories. Dr. Boger holds a B.A. in chemistry and philosophy from Wesleyan University and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in chemistry from Harvard University.
Terrence C. Kearney
Terrence C. Kearney joined the Vertex Board in May 2011 and has more than three decades of global healthcare experience at major pharmaceutical and life sciences companies. Read more
Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee
Member of the Management Development and Compensation Committee
Yuchun Lee
Yuchun Lee joined our Board in September 2012.
Mr. Lee was most recently the Vice President and General Manager of IBM’s Enterprise Marketing Management Group where he directed a team of nearly 2,000 IBM employees and was a key architect in IBM’s global initiative to serve the needs of Chief Marketing Officers. Read more
Mr. Lee’s team focused on providing solutions to help businesses better understand their customers via social media, mobile behavior and real-time access to consumer information, leveraging analytics to optimize customer communication and engagement.
The Enterprise Marketing Management Group at IBM was formed following the acquisition of Unica in 2010, a recognized leader in marketing software where Mr. Lee was the founder and Chief Executive Officer. Mr. Lee co-founded Unica in 1992, and the company went public in 2005, growing to nearly 600 employees before merging with IBM in 2010. Before co-founding Unica, he held senior positions with Digital Equipment Corporation, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Lincoln Laboratory and the MIT Media Labs. Mr. Lee holds a B.S. and M.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from Babson College.
Margaret McGlynn
Margaret McGlynn joined the Vertex Board in May 2011.
Ms. McGlynn is the President and Chief Executive Officer of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a global not-for-profit organization whose mission is to ensure the development of safe, effective and accessible HIV vaccines for use throughout the world. Read more
Prior to becoming CEO of IAVI, she served as President, Global Vaccines and Infectious Diseases, for Merck & Co., Inc. In her nearly three decades at Merck, Ms. McGlynn held a number of leadership roles focused on marketing, sales and managed care activities for Merck’s portfolio of medicines. She is a director at Air Products and Amicus Therapeutics, and she is a member of the National Industrial Advisory Committee at the University at Buffalo School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
Ms. McGlynn holds a B.S. in Pharmacy and an M.B.A. in Marketing from the State University of New York at Buffalo.
Member of the Science and Technology Committee
Member of the Management Development and Compensation Committee
Wayne J. Riley, M.D., M.B.A.
Dr. Wayne Riley joined the Vertex Board in July 2010. Throughout his career, Dr. Riley has held various leadership roles at academic medical institutions and has broad experience in public health administration, health policy and patient care. Read more
Dr. Riley is currently the President and Chief Executive Officer of Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, the nation’s largest private, independent academic health center dedicated to educating minority and other health professionals. In addition, he holds the academic rank of Professor of Internal Medicine at both Meharry and Vanderbilt University Schools of Medicine. Throughout his career, Dr. Riley has held various leadership roles at academic medical institutions and has broad experience in public health administration, health policy and patient care. Prior to his role at Meharry Medical College, which began in January 2007, Dr. Riley served as a corporate officer as Vice President and Vice Dean for Health Affairs and Governmental Relations at the Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) from 2004 to 2006 and as Assistant Dean for Education at BCM from 2000 to 2004. In his senior role at Baylor, Dr. Riley was one of three physicians on the institution’s seven-member senior management team. Dr. Riley began his career in medicine in 1986 and has practiced at Houston’s Ben Taub General Hospital, Michael. E. DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Methodist Hospital and St. Luke’s Episcopal Hospitals.
Dr. Riley currently serves as a member of the board of directors for Pinnacle Financial Partners, Inc. and HCA Holdings, Inc., a leading operator of hospitals and health facilities. He also sits on the boards of several non-profit and community service organizations, including the Nashville Chamber of Commerce, Nashville Health Care Council, the Nashville Symphony Association, the United Way of Metropolitan Nashville, the American Cancer Society and the Middle Tennessee Council for the Boy Scouts of America, among others. He also serves on the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta’s Labor, Education and Healthcare Advisory Council and the Advisory Council for the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities of the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Riley earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, a Master of Public Health degree from the Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana, a Doctor of Medicine degree from the Morehouse School of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Rice University Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business. Dr. Riley is a Regent and Master of the American College of Physicians, a member of the Society of Medical Administrators, a Diplomate of both the American Board of Internal Medicine and the National Board of Medical Examiners, Chair of the Board of the Association of Minority Heath Professions Schools, a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies and a member of Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society.
Member of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
Bruce I. Sachs
Mr. Sachs has served as a director since 1998 and is the Board's co-lead independent director. He brings to Vertex many years of experience working with companies in high growth business environments as an executive and as a general partner of Charles River Ventures, since 1999. Read more
From 1998 to 1999, he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Ascend Communications, Inc. From 1997 until 1998, Mr. Sachs served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Stratus Computer, Inc. From 1995 to 1997, he served as Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Internet Telecom Business Group at Bay Networks, Inc. From 1993 to 1995, he served as President and Chief Executive Officer at Xylogics, Inc.
Mr. Sachs holds a B.S.E.E. in electrical engineering from Bucknell University, a M.E.E. in electrical engineering from Cornell University, and an M.B.A. from Northeastern University.
Member of the Audit and Finance Committee
Chair of the Management Development and Compensation Committee
Elaine S. Ullian
Ms. Ullian has served as a director since 1997 and is the Board's co-lead independent director. She brings to Vertex 20 years of experience delivering healthcare to patients as Chief Executive Officer of major hospitals. Read more
From 1996 to 2010, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Boston Medical Center. And from 1994 to 1996, she served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Boston University Medical Center Hospital. From 1987 to 1994, Ms. Ullian served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Faulkner Hospital. She also serves as a director of Hologic, Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
Ms. Ullian holds a B.A. in political science from Tufts University and an M.P.H. from the University of Michigan.
Chair of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee
