Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard
Thor Sandstad has extensive experience in program management and educational leadership, currently serving as Program Manager at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard since 2017. Prior to this role, Thor held positions such as Manager of Education for Capstone Projects at the Boston Architectural College from 2004 to 2017 and Research Analyst and Administrator at Arthur D. Little for a brief period in 2003-2004. Early career experience includes working as Assistant to the Program Director for the Honors Program at Northeastern University and as Recruitment Manager for the Legionaries of Christ & Regnum Christi from 1995 to 2002. Thor holds a Bachelor's Degree in Philosophy and Religious Studies from Ateneo Pontificio Regina Apostolorum, an Associate's Degree in Liberal Arts and Sciences from the College of Humanities and the Sciences, and studied at the College of Humanities of the Legionaries of Christ.
Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard
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The Ragon Institute was established in 2009 with a dual mission: to contribute to the accelerated discovery of an HIV/AIDS vaccine and subsequently establish itself as a world leader in the collaborative study of immunology. Founded with a commitment of $100 million from Phillip T. (Terry) and Susan M. Ragon, and with an additional $200 million gift to endow the Institute announced on April 26, 2019, the Institute is structured and positioned to significantly contribute to a global effort to successfully develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine by: • Creating non-traditional partnerships among experts with different but complementary backgrounds; • Providing a means for rapidly funding promising studies; • Integrating key facets of vaccine development efforts that have tended to follow separate tracks; • Providing a substantial pool of accessible, flexible funding that lowers the threshold for scientists to pursue risky, unconventional avenues of study that are unlikely to attract funding from traditional sources. Such funding encourages innovation, compresses the time it takes to conduct bench-to-bedside research and attracts new minds to the field. The Ragon Institute creates a singular opportunity and environment to engage scientists, engineers and clinicians in challenging research for which there is no greater benefit – saving lives and curing the ill.