H. Robert Horvitz Ph.D., M.D.
Co-Founder and Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board
Dr. H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D., M.D. serves as Venture Partner and Co-Chairman of Medical and Scientific Advisory Board at MPM BioVentures IV, L.P. Dr. Horvitz is a Co-Founder and Board Observer of KEW Group LLC. He is the co-founder of Epizyme, Inc. and serves as its Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board. He has been Chair of Scientific Advisory Board at PureTech Health plc since November 30, 2015 and serves as its Board Advisor. Dr. Horvitz is the David H. Koch Professor of Biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Neurobiologist (Neurology) and Geneticist (Medicine) at Massachusetts General Hospital and a member of the M.I.T. McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the M.I.T. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. He co-founded Idun Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1993 and served as its Chairman of Scientific Advisory Board. He co-founded NemaPharm, Inc. He served as a Venture Partner MPM Capital. He served as a Senior Partner, Advisor of PureTech Health PLC. He served as a Neurobiologist and Geneticist at the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1991. Previously, Dr. Horvitz was an Assistant Professor, an Associate Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He was appointed an Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research in 2001. He joined the MIT Department of Biology faculty in 1978. He was named Whitehead Professor of Biology in 1999 and David H. Koch Professor of Biology in 2000. He was the President of the Genetics Society of America in 1995. He serves as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of Enlight Biosciences LLC. Dr. Horvitz is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts General Hospital and is Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Society for Science and the Public. He serves as a Co-Chairman of the Working Group on Preclinical Models for Cancer of the National Cancer Institute. Dr. Horvitz serves as Member of Medical and Scientific Advisory Board at MPM Capital. He serves as a Member of Medical Advisory Board at Gairdner Foundation He serves as a Member of Scientific Advisory Board at Mitobridge, Inc. and AVEO Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He has served on many Editorial Boards. He is a recipient of the Gairdner Foundation International Award, the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Prize from the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience. He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and of the American Academy of Microbiology. Dr. Horvitz received the U.S. National Academies of Science Award in Molecular Biology; the Charles A. Dana Award for Pioneering Achievements in Health; the Ciba-Drew Award for Biomedical Science; the General Motors Cancer Research Foundation Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Prize; the Gairdner Foundation International Award; the March of Dimes Prize in Developmental Biology; the Genetics Society of America Medal; the Bristol-Myers Squibb Award for Distinguished Achievement in Neuroscience; the Wiley Prize in the Biomedical Sciences; the Peter Gruber Foundation Genetics Prize; the American Cancer Society Medal of Honor; the Alfred G. Knudson Award of the National Cancer Institute; and the U.K. Genetics Society Mendel Medal. He has received the 2002 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for discovering and characterizing genes that controlling programmed cell death (apoptosis), findings that have provided the basis for understanding many aspects of human biology and disease. Dr. Horvitz received a Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University in 1974 and a B.S. in Mathematics and Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.