Jeffrey Leiden

Dr. Leiden is a physician and scientist who has dedicated his career to improving the lives of people with serious diseases. He currently serves as our Executive Chairman and was our Chief Executive Officer and President from 2012 through March 2020. He has been a member of our board of directors since July 2009, chairman of the board of directors since May 2012, and served as lead independent director from October 2010 through December 2011. Under his leadership, Vertex delivered the first and only medicines to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis for patients with certain forms of the disease including KALYDECO, ORKAMBI and TRIKAFTA.

As CEO, Dr. Leiden also built a robust pipeline of drug candidates in specialty markets, including pain, sickle cell disease and type 1 diabetes, with a particular focus on therapies that cure or modify the course of disease. In 2015, he established a collaboration with CRISPR Therapeutics to develop a clinical program which is currently investigating the first potentially curative human gene-editing therapy for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia. In 2019, he led the Vertex acquisition of Semma Therapeutics to develop a clinical program to investigate what may be the first potentially curative stem cell-based therapy for type 1 diabetes.

During his tenure as CEO Dr. Leiden established a signature program at Vertex to enhance STEAM education among students in Vertex’s local communities, including an on-site Learning Lab, mentorship programs, internships and college scholarships. In 2017, Vertex announced a sustained corporate giving commitment of $500 million over the next 10 years, of which $50 million is focused on STEAM education.

Prior to joining Vertex, Dr. Leiden was a managing director at Clarus Ventures, a life sciences venture capital firm, from 2006 through January 2012. Dr. Leiden was President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Scientific Officer of Abbott Laboratories, Pharmaceuticals Products Group, and a member of the board of directors of Abbott Laboratories from 2000 to 2006. At Abbott he led the development and commercialization of HUMIRA®. From 1987 to 2000, Dr. Leiden held several academic appointments, including the Rawson Professor of Medicine and Pathology and Chief of Cardiology and Director of the Cardiovascular Research Institute at the University of Chicago, the Elkan R. Blout Professor of Biological Sciences at the Harvard School of Public Health, and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is an elected member of both the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine.

Dr. Leiden serves as a director of Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company and as chairman of Odyssey Therapeutics, a privately held company developing novel medicines for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases and Casana Health, a privately held home-health monitoring company. He is also chairman of the board of Revolution Healthcare (REVH), a SPAC focused on companies that utilize novel technologies to revolutionize the treatment and delivery of mental healthcare. He is also a member of the MIT CEO Advisory Board, a member of the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows, and chairman of the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP).

Dr. Leiden was previously a director and the non-executive vice chairman of the board of Shire plc, a specialty biopharmaceutical company, from 2006 to January 2012, and a director of Quest Diagnostics, a medical diagnostics company, from December 2014 to May 2019. Dr. Leiden received his M.D., Ph.D. and B.A. degrees from the University of Chicago.