AI + Life Sciences: Why the Future Needs Both Human Brains and Wet Labs

Kate Haviland: The Bilingual Biotech Leader Behind Blueprint's $9.5B Sanofi Deal

In this episode I am joined by Kate Haviland, who most recently served as President and CEO of Blueprint Medicines, guiding it from a clinical-stage company through a fully integrated commercial business and ultimately through its roughly $9.5 billion acquisition by Sanofi in 2025. Over a more than twenty-year career spanning Genzyme, PTC Therapeutics, Sarepta, Idera, and Blueprint, Kate has built a reputation for bridging rigorous science with sharp business instincts, equally fluent in the lab and the boardroom. She studied biochemistry and economics at Wesleyan, earned her MBA at Harvard Business School, and today serves as Board Chair of both Fulcrum Therapeutics and GC Therapeutics, as a director at Bicara and Avalyn, and on the board of BIO. This episode was recorded in 2025

AI + Life Sciences: Why the Future Needs Both Human Brains and Wet Labs

In this episode, I speak with Sam Scarpino, Director of AI and Life Sciences at Northeastern University's Institute for Experiential AI and Professor of Public Health and Health Sciences. With a background spanning evolutionary biology, pandemic response during H1N1, and pathogen surveillance at the Rockefeller Foundation, Sam offers a distinctive perspective on artificial intelligence in the life sciences. We discuss the fundamental limitations of AI in biological systems, the irreplaceable role of wet lab experimentation, and how human-AI collaboration can address challenges from rural oncology access to rare disease drug development. Sam also shares his views on why current debates around AGI distract from the urgent work of building responsible AI tools today.

Robert Plenge - Finding Truth & Making Medicines

Robert Plenge is a physician-scientist known for his work at Merck, Celgene, and BMS, translating insights from human genetics into breakthroughs in drug discovery and development, resulting in new medicines. On his well-known blog, he writes with inspiring clarity about genomics, therapeutic target validation, and lessons from translational research, bridging academic rigor and industry practice for scientists and clinicians alike. In this interview, we explore Robert's passion for causal human biology, drug development, and leading teams. Roberts Blog: https://www.robertplenge.com [https://www.robertplenge.com]

Dame Kate Bingham - Vision & Ventures

Dame Catherine Elizabeth "Kate" Bingham is a British biochemist and life‑sciences venture capitalist. She earned a first‑class MA in Biochemistry from Oxford and an MBA (Baker Scholar) from Harvard. Since 1991, she has been a managing partner at SV Health Investors, co‑founding the Dementia Discovery Fund and helping launch multiple first‑in‑class drugs. In May 2020, she chaired the UK’s Vaccine Taskforce, securing 350 million COVID‑19 doses and leading the country to be the first Western nation to begin vaccinations. Honored as a DBE in 2021, Kate also serves on the Francis Crick Institute and ARIA boards.

Mathai Mammen - Motivated by Math, Medicine & Memories

Mathai Mammen is a world-renowned innovator in drug discovery, development, and team- and company-building responsible for creating 13 transformational medicines from discovery through commercial launch and more than 25 other potential medicines that have achieved clinical proof-of-concept, many of these practice-changing. Mathai is the CEO, President and Chairman of Cambridge-based Parabilis Medicines, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company advancing a new category of peptide therapeutics for people affected by cancer and other severe diseases. Previously Mathai was Executive Vice President of Pharmaceuticals, R&D at Johnson & Johnson, one of the largest R&D organizations in the world. Prior to that Mathai was the leader of much of the research at Merck including Oncology, Immunology and Cardiovascular Disease. He began his career as head of R&D at Theravance, Inc., a company he co-founded out of graduate school based on his work at Harvard University with Dr. George Whitesides, which split to form Theravance Biopharma and Innoviva. Mathai holds an M.D. from the Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (HST) and a Ph.D. in chemistry from Harvard University.