Senior Leadership Insights: A Conversation with Richard Colvin, MD, PhD, Chief Medical Officer, bluebird bio

Dr. Richard Colvin began his career as an infectious diseases fellow at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston and infectious diseases research at Massachusetts General Hospital before moving to leadership roles at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, where he eventually became executive director and senior translational medicine expert. In 2018 he joined bluebird bio as medical lead of the thalassemia program and led clinical research and development prior to his current role as chief medical officer. During Rich's tenure, Bluebird submitted and gained FDA approval for several gene therapies. He is on faculty at Harvard Medical School and still sees patients in the Infectious Diseases Clinic at Massachusetts General Hospital. He received his BS from Cornell University, and an MD and PhD in Microbiology & Immunology from Duke. Dr. Colvin will be joined in conversation by Dr. Christopher Kontos, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Medical Science Training Program. The discussion will focus on six key questions: 1. Tell us about your background. What was your path to your current role? 2. Can you tell us about your organization, and describe a typical day for a PhD-level hire? 3. What do you see as the value that doctoral training has added to your professional trajectory? 4. Beyond strong research skills, what other skills, experience and/or training are important for success in your field? 5. Are there any skills, training, or experiences you wish you'd had in graduate school to prepare you for your current career path? 6. What can students or postdocs who would like to work in this field (or explore it further) do to prepare?