External Advisory Committee

Ebony Boulware, MD

Professor | Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine | Vice Dean for Translational Science | Associate Vice Chancellor for Translational Research | Duke University 

Ebony Boulware, M.D., M.P.H., is a Professor of Medicine, Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine, Vice Dean for Translational Science and Associate Vice Chancellor for Translational Research in the School of Medicine at Duke University. In addition to her role as Chief of the Division of General Internal Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Duke, she is the Director of the Duke Clinical and Translational Science Institute, where she leads the NIH Duke Clinical and Translational Science Award and other education and research programs.

Dr. Boulware is a general internist and a clinical epidemiologist. She has devoted her scholarly career to studying mechanisms to improve quality, equity, and access to health care and to improving health outcomes. Her studies focus on patients and populations with chronic diseases such as chronic kidney disease and hypertension. As part of her work, she investigates the influence of attitudinal, social, and environmental contexts on health and health inequities. Dr. Boulware frequently engages community members, patients, their family members, and other stakeholders to develop and implement relevant and sustainable health and health care interventions. She has maintained an active research portfolio throughout her career, funded by the National Institutes for Health, the Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality, and foundations.


Kathleen T. Brady, MD, PhD

Distinquished University Professor | Vice President for Research | Director, South Carolina Clinical & Translational Research (SCTR) Institute

Dr. Brady is an experienced clinical and translational researcher and has been conducting scientific investigations and clinical work in the field of addictions and psychiatric disorders for over 30 years. Her research focuses on pharmacotherapy of substance use disorders, comorbidity of psychiatric disorders and addictions (e.g., posttraumatic stress disorder and bipolar disorder), gender differences and women’s issues in addictions, and the neurobiologic connections between stress and addictions. She has received numerous federal research grants and has published over 300 peer-reviewed journal articles and co-edited 10 books. She is the principal Investigator of MUSC’s Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA), Principal Investigator of the Southern Consortium Node of the NIDA-funded Clinical Trials Network and Director of MUSC’s Women’s Research Center. Her dedication to furthering research careers has attracted a number of junior investigators and clinicians. She has mentored over 25 individual NIH funded faculty development awards (K-awards) and is presently involved in three institutional faculty development programs (CTSA KL2; BIRCWH, NIDA K-12). She has been the Co-Director of MUSC’s NIH- funded post-doctoral fellowship program focused on translational research training in addictions for 15 years.


Nancy J. Brown, MD

Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Medicine | C.N.H. Long Professor of Internal Medicine | Yale School of Medicine 

Nancy J. Brown, M.D. is the Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Yale School of Medicine and the C.N.H. Long professor of Internal Medicine. A graduate of Yale College and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Brown has led a translational research program that focuses on developing new pharmacological strategies to prevent vascular disease in patients with high blood pressure and diabetes. Throughout her career, Dr. Brown has worked to promote the development of physician-scientists. She established the Vanderbilt Master of Science in Clinical Investigation in 2000. From 2006-2010, she served as the Associate Dean for Clinical and Translational Scientist Development and established an institutional infrastructure to support physician-scientists in the transition to independence. From 2010 to 2020, Dr. Brown served as chair of the Vanderbilt Department of Medicine and physician-in-chief of Vanderbilt University Hospital. Dr. Brown was a member of the NIH National Advisory Research Resources Council and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Advisory Council. Her research has been recognized by the American Heart Association (Harriet Dustan Award), the E.K. Frey-E. Werle Foundation, the American Society of Hypertension and the American Federation for Clinical Research.  In 2018, she was named the Robert H. Williams, MD, Distinguished Chair of Medicine by the Association of Professors of Medicine. Dr. Brown is a fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, and the National Academy of Medicine.


Barry Coller, MD (Committee Co-Chair)

Professor | Physician-in-Chief, Vice President for Medical Affairs | The Rockefeller University

Barry S. Coller, M.D., is Vice President for Medical Affairs at The Rockefeller University and physician-in-chief of its hospital. A renowned physician, researcher and medical educator, Dr. Coller is an expert on the basic molecular mechanisms involved in blood clotting and thrombosis. His research accomplishments include the development of a monoclonal antibody to platelets that was developed into the drug abciximab, which is used throughout the world to prevent and treat heart attacks in select patient populations.


Desmond Fitzgerald, MD

Dr. Desmond Fitzgerald is a medical graduate of University College Dublin who trained in Cardiology and Clinical Pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. He remained at Vanderbilt as Associate Professor of Medicine and Pharmacology and Director of the VA Coronary Care Unit. In 1994, he was appointed Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and later Head of Research at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. From 2004, he held various positions in University College Dublin including Vice-President for Research and Professor of Molecular Medicine. He was appointed President of the University of Limerick in 2017 and stepped down in 2020. He was the founder of JAVA Clinical Research Limited and Surgen, a pharmacogenomics company, as well as the Beacon Hospital Academy and is chair of the Brussels-based Hanover ED Group. He has served as director on several hospital boards, including the Mater Misericordiae University and Children’s Hospital Group. He has also served on national and international bodies, including the Irish Medicines Board, the Health Research Board of Ireland (which he chaired), the Irish Heart Foundation, the European Cardiac Society, the Welcome Trust, the National Institute for Health Research UK and the Merck Foundation International Fellowship Program. He has published extensively on cardiovascular disease including thrombosis, genetics and proteomics.


Barry Gertz, MD, PhD

Managing Director | Blackstone Life Sciences Group

Barry Gertz, MD, PhD is a Managing Director in the Blackstone Life Sciences group, having joined Blackstone as part of its acquisition of Clarus in December of 2018.  Dr. Gertz joined Clarus in October 2014 from Merck where he was Senior Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Development, overseeing all aspects of Merck’s clinical research. He brings 28 years of experience in drug development, from exploratory clinical pharmacology to global phase 3 trials. While at Merck, Dr. Gertz contributed instrumentally to the development and approval of more than 25 new drugs and vaccines, including Fosamax and Januvia as well as the initial indication for Keytruda. Dr. Gertz has co-authored over a hundred scientific publications including in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, and the New England Journal of Medicine. Dr. Gertz received an MD, PhD and BA from the University of Pennsylvania.  Following a residency in Internal Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he completed a fellowship and subsequent faculty appointment in the UCSF Department of Endocrinology.  Dr. Gertz currently is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.


In Seon Hwang, MBA

Managing Director | Warburg Pincus LLC

In Seon Hwang is based in New York, joined Warburg Pincus in 2004 and leads the firm's investment activities in healthcare, consumer and retail sectors. Mr. Hwang is also a member of the firm's executive management group. Previously, he worked at GSC Partners, Goldman Sachs and the Boston Consulting Group. He is an investment committee member of Sheridan Production Partners and serves on the board of Hope for New York. Mr. Hwang received a B.S. in economics from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.


Dermot Kelleher, MD

Vice-president | Dean of the Faculty of Medicine | University of British Columbia

Dermot Kelleher serves as Vice-President Health and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of British Columbia.  From 2012 to 2015, he was Vice President (Health) and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Imperial College London and concurrently Dean of the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine in Singapore. From 2004 to 2012 he was Head of the School of Medicine and Vice Provost for Medical Affairs at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland where he led the development of the Institute of Molecular Medicine and Molecular Medicine Ireland as well as the Wellcome Trust HRB Clinical Research Centre. Prior to this he was a Wellcome Senior Fellow in Clinical Science at Trinity College Dublin following clinical and research training in gastroenterology in Ireland and San Diego. Professor Kelleher’s research interests have focused on immunology of the gastrointestinal tract and he has successfully obtained funding from a wide range of sources including the Wellcome Trust, Health Research Board and Enterprise Ireland, European Union 4th and 5th Frameworks, and while in the US, from the National Institute of Health. He has been a co-founder of Opsona Therapeutics, Cellix Limited and Deerac Fluidics which merged with the US-based company Labcyte.  He has been a Non-Executive Director at ICON plc from 2008 To 2019.  He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences, London and has served as President of the Federation of European Academies of Medicine. In his current role he is actively engaged in strategic enhancement of the translational sciences at UBC.


Calum MacRae, MD, PhD

Chief, Cardiovascular Medicine | Brigham and Women's Hospital | Associate Professor of Medicine | Harvard Medical School

Calum MacRae MD, PhD is Chief of Cardiovascular Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is also an Associate Member at the Broad Institute and a Principal Faculty Member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. His research is focused on understanding the developmental mechanisms of disease through human genetics and high-throughput genetic or chemical screens in the zebrafish. His clinical interests include genomic medicine, innovation in phenotyping and the redesign of clinical care.


Steven Nichtberger, MD

Adjunct Professor of Health Management | The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Dr. Nichtberger is a serial entrepreneur with 25 years of healthcare experience focused on developing and commercializing breakthrough medical advances. In addition to leading the capstone course for the Vagelos Life Sciences & Management program at Penn where students form real companies around promising scientific advances while learning about leadership, he has recently focused his investment and company formation efforts on healthcare advances derived from Israeli technologies. He is currently chairman of the board of two recently formed companies. He provides advisory services to investors, biotech companies, and leading academic scientists to maximize the value of breakthrough advances. Previously, Dr. Nichtberger was the head of global marketing for the company at Merck, where he co-chaired the clinical research resource allocation committee. In 2008, he was awarded the prestigious Ernst & Young National Entrepreneur of the Year award for his leadership of a regenerative medicine company. In 1984, Dr. Nichtberger founded the first paperless coupon company, which subsequently licensed core intellectual property to numerous internet coupon providers until 2006. He is a longstanding member of the SAS board of overseers at Penn, past chairman of the board of PA Bio, and a member of the board of governors at Main Line Health.