Download Gigi Hirsch, MD Executive Director MIT Center for Biomedical

Gigi Hirsch, M.D.
Executive Director
MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation
Dr. Hirsch is the Executive Director of the MIT Center for Biomedical Innovation (CBI) which
catalyzes and leads collaborative research programs involving faculty and students from across
MIT’s campus as well as external stakeholders from the global healthcare and pharmaceutical
industries.
Her current efforts at CBI largely center on leading the New Drug Development Paradigms
program (NEWDIGS), a unique collaboration focused on re-engineering key elements of the
global biomedical innovation ecosystem to deliver new, better, affordable therapeutics to the
right patients faster. Under her leadership, NEWDIGS’ innovative approach to aligning
stakeholders around more adaptive approaches to pharmaceutical regulation have been
recognized as an important prototype for research-driven policy change by the President’s
Council of Advisors on Science & Technology (PCAST) in the US, and by the Innovative Medicines
Initiative (IMI) in the EU. Building on the foundation laid by NEWDIGS from 2010-2013, the
European Medicines Agency (EMA) is now leading the world’s first pilot projects in adaptive
licensing.
Dr. Hirsch has held a number of leadership roles that leverage her broad clinical background
(internal medicine, emergency medicine, and psychiatry) along with her passion for innovation,
entrepreneurship, and improving clinical outcomes. Prior to joining CBI, she served as Director
of Academic and Professional Relations at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, and was founder and
CEO of a boutique entrepreneurial venture (MD IntelliNet) launched with seed funding from
Boston’s Beth Israel Hospital. She held faculty appointments at Harvard Medical School
(Internal Medicine and Psychiatry), Brown University (Internal Medicine), and served as an
attending physician in the Emergency Department at Brigham and Women’s Hospital after
receiving her medical degree at the University of Cincinnati.