John Maraganore

John was born in Chicago, Illinois, U.S. in 1962 to Greek immigrant parents. In 1984, he completed his B.A. from University of Chicago in Division of Biological Sciences. In1985, he completed his M.S. from the University of Chicago in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. In 1986, Maraganore received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.[5][6]

Maraganore started his career as a post-doctoral research scientist at Upjohn in Kalamazoo, Michigan, from 1985-86. From 1986-87, he was a senior scientist at Zymogenetics in Seattle, Washington. From 1987-1997, he was a senior scientist, group leader of thrombosis and hemostasis research, director of biological research, director of market and business development, and program executive at Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts. At Biogen, he invented bivalirudin, a direct-acting thrombin inhibitor, later commercialized in the U.S. as ANGIOMAXTM. In 1997, Maraganore joined Millennium Pharmaceuticals and was the general manager of their Biotherapeutics subsidiary till 1999. He then became vice-president of mergers, acquisitions, and strategic planning and led the acquisitions of Leukosite and Cor Therapeutics. In 2000, he was appointed senior vice-president of strategic product development.[7][8][9]

Since 2002, John has been serving as the founding chief executive officer and a member of the Board of Directors at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. At Alnylam, he led the company’s pioneering efforts to advance RNA interference therapeutics and formed over 25 major partnerships with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, and raised over $7 billion to fund the company’s research, development, manufacturing, and commercialization activities. Maraganore was the chairman of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization also known as BIO from 2017-2019 and serves as a member of the BIO board and its executive committee. He is also a director of Agios Pharmaceuticals and of the Termeer Foundation, which advances the legacy of the late Henri Termeer. He is an active mentor to emerging leaders across the biotechnology industry and also serves in advisory roles for General Atlantic, Pictet, and Brii Biosciences.[10][11][12][13][14][15]

• 2021 STAT Top 20 Most Influential R&D Leaders[16]
• 2020 NEHI Innovator in Health[17]
• 2019 BBJ Power 50[18]
• 2019 STAT Best Biopharma CEO[19]
• 2019 MassBioEd Champion for Biotechnology Education[20]
• 2019 Innovator of the Year, Longwood Fund
• 2018 Bloomberg 50[21]
• 2018 XConomy CEO of Year[22]
• 2017 STAT Best Biopharma CEO[23]
• 2016 MassBio Termeer Innovative Leadership Award[24]
• 2016 BSPC Hope Award
• 2015 Boston CEO Lifetime Achievement Award[25]
• 2015 Merck Promise Award
• 2014 America India Foundation Honoree[26][27][28][29][30]