HBSHAA is looking forward to hearing Dr. Sato, who served as Professor of Management Practice of Harvard Business School from 2006 until her retirement in 2017, tackle this important topic. 

Biography

Vicki Sato

Dr. Sato is an accomplished executive and scientist with an extensive background advising and leading companies in life sciences innovation. She was the President of Vertex Pharmaceuticals from 2000 until her retirement from that position in 2005, and had previously served eight years as Vertex’s Chief Scientific Officer and Chair of the scientific advisory board. Prior to joining Vertex in 1992, she was with Biogen, Inc. from 1984 to 1992, most recently as Vice President of Research and a member of the scientific advisory board. Dr. Sato is also a business advisor to enterprises in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. She serves as director for publicly held companies Bristol Myers Squibb, Syros Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and BorgWarner. She was formerly on the board of directors at PerkinElmer Corporation. She was recently appointed co-chair of the Advisory Council of LifeSci: NYC, a public service group that advises New York City on matters of life science competitiveness, and is an overseer of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. In addition to public board service, she is the chairman to privately held Denali Therapeutics and Chairman for the Board of Directors at Vir, Biotechnology. She is the author of numerous professional publications and received her AB, AM and PhD degrees from Harvard University. Dr. Sato served as Professor of Management Practice of Harvard Business School from 2006 until her retirement in 2017. She is the Founding Faculty Chair of the Blavatnik Fellowship in Life Science Entrepreneurship program at HBS.