Moving Forward, Giving Back

Halfway There: Navigating 2025 with Resilience and Vision

We’re almost halfway through 2025, and it is no secret that the first six months of the year have been a chaotic time for the life sciences industry.  On the latest episode of Moving Forward, Giving Back, LSC Founder and Chairman Rob Perez sits down with a roundtable of life sciences leaders at this year’s BIO conference from Alexion’s Boston headquarters to discuss how they’ve been navigating the extraordinary tests of 2025 and their vision for the near and long term future. Joining Rob are Alexion’s Tamar Thompson, Nkarta’s Paul Hastings, Jeb Keiper formerly of Nimbus Therapeutics and our very own Sarah MacDonald.  The panel dives into the state of the industry today, the importance of patient advocacy, continuing philanthropic efforts during turbulent times, the urgent need for innovation, how to maintain resilience in the face of unique challenges and so much more. It is a lively, honest and very important conversation that you don’t want to miss! To learn more about LSC, visit lifesciencecares.org.

Project Onramp: Connecting the Stars of Tomorrow with the Life Sciences Industry Today

As summer begins, students across the country will be shedding the carefree summers of childhood in exchange for work experience and college credits in the form of internships. But beyond just completing a graduation requirement, research shows that internships create positive and crucially important outcomes for students as they move into the workforce and develop skills and interests, build networks and solidify career goals. .  On this episode of Moving Forward, Giving Back, we begin with a quick introduction to LSC Philadelphia’s new executive director Jennifer Parrado by our CEO Sarah MacDonald. Then Jenn talks with three alums of LSC’s summer internship program, Project Onramp. Project Onramp connects students to early work opportunities to explore pathways in our industry. Serena Burkinshaw, Fadi Shamaan, and Alain Santo Domingo discuss their internship experiences through Project Onramp, what they learned, tips for future participants, as well as the importance of stepping out of your comfort zone as you enter the workforce. It’s a timely and informative conversation that we can all benefit from at this time of year! Learn more about Life Science Cares at lifesciencecares.org [https://lifesciencecares.org] and Project Onramp at projectonramp.us [https://projectonramp.us].

Neighbors Helping Neighbors: The Professional and Personal Benefits of Volunteering

In recognition of National Volunteer Month this April, the latest edition of Moving Forward, Giving Back explores the transformative power of volunteerism with three inspiring guests who have seen firsthand the incredible impact of giving back to their communities. Hosted by Life Science Cares Boston’s new Executive Director, Rosie Cunningham, this episode defines and illustrates the importance of getting involved, with a particular focus on nonprofit board service. Rosie is joined by Sanofi’s Tasha Wright and Nathan Umbriac, along with Carolyn Lake of the Interfaith Food Pantry. Emphasizing the importance of passion, commitment, and alignment in meaningful volunteer work, this episode is a must listen! Learn more about Life Science Cares at lifesciencecares.org.

Health Equity: What a Big Concept Really Means in Our Community

Health equity can only be achieved when every individual has accessible, high-quality care that allows them to reach their full potential for well-being. In the latest episode of podcast Moving Forward, Giving Back, our CEO Sarah Macdonald sits down with three incredible guests to discuss the social determinants of health and how we can remove inequities that prevent access to care in our communities. To open the episode, Sarah chats with Harvard Medical School’s Dr. Alister Martin about the current state of American healthcare and how social determinants like housing and food access impact patient outcomes. Then, Vital Connections’ Ariel Childs and the Boston Food Forest Coalition’s Orion Kriegman join the show to speak about their efforts in community-driven health equity and the importance of local engagement in improving health outcomes. An illuminating and engaging episode that gets to the bottom of healthy equity - you don’t want to miss this edition of Moving Forward, Giving Back! Learn more about LSC and Life Science Shares at lifesciencecares.org [https://lifesciencecares.org].

Life Science Shares: Aligning Success with Responsibility

In this episode of Moving Forward, Giving Back, four of our incredible donors and life sciences leaders sit down for a roundtable discussion about their involvement in our program Life Science Shares. This campaign is a way for companies or individual leaders to contribute to Life Science Cares if and when they reach financial milestones or other positive events by pledging a percentage of a future transaction. Joining the discussion are host Jeff Marrazzo, the co-founder and former CEO of Spark Therapeutics, and guests Sarah Boyce, CEO and President of Avidity Bio, Robert Blum, President and CEO of Cytokinetics and Ron Cooper, Chairman of C4 Therapeutics and former CEO of Albireo Pharma. During this dynamic conversation Jeff, Sarah, Robert and Ron explain their reasons for getting involved with the Life Science Shares initiative and the benefits the decision has had for them personally and for their companies. Learn more about LSC and Life Science Shares at lifesciencecares.org.