Jeffrey D. Marrazzo C00 G00 WG03

39; co-founder and CEO, Spark Therapeutics, Inc.; led Spark’s transition from a Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia research center to a fully integrated public biotechnology company

Proudest professional accomplishment? Founding and building Spark Therapeutics into a global company with more than 300 employees based in West Philadelphia. This summer we filed a marketing application with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which, if successful, would grant us the first approved gene therapy for a genetic disease in the history of the United States.

Goals for 2018 and beyond? As a champion of the potential benefits of precision medicine and health-care reform, I hope to leverage the approval of the first gene therapies in the U.S. as the catalyst to change our treatment paradigm from “more health care” to “better health.” Gene therapy has the potential to change the incentives inherent in our health-care system, from chronic treatment with short-term results to potentially onetime treatment with long-term results.