Meet Our Team

Fred D. Ledley, MD, is Director of the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University, a Professor in the Departments of Natural & Applied Sciences and Management, and an Affiliate of the Center for Health and Business. A recognized opinion leader in the integration of basic science with medicine, business, society and education, he is the author of >200 published works in fields ranging from biotechnology business and finance to molecular human biology, drug development, bioethics and STEM education. Ledley has served on the faculties of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Baylor College of Medicine, and was involved in founding biotechnology companies including GeneMedicine (IPO NASDAQ:GMED), serving as Vice President, R&D, and Variagenics (IPO NASDAQ:VGEN), serving as President & CEO. He has served on the Board of Directors of MassBIO, the Board of Overseers of Boston Children’s Hospital and as a consultant to industry, academia and government. He has a BS from the University of Maryland, an MD from Georgetown University, trained in Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital and was an American Cancer Society fellow with Dr. David Baltimore at MIT.

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Edward W. Zhou, PharmD, is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University. He received his Doctor of Pharmacy degree from Massachusetts College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Boston, MA. He obtained a certificate from the MIT xPRO Drug and Medical Device Development Program. During his predoctoral internship, Edward worked with Pfizer Global Regulatory Affairs in organizing internal and public information databases for the pending FDA Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee review. During his Newton-Wellesley Hospital rotation, Edward created adjustable python code packages for interpreting health outcome metrics from EPIC metadata. He has co-authored several peer-reviewed publications at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, which focus on the identification of drug targets and novel pharmacotherapeutics for neurological disorders. Starting at Bentley University in February 2021, his current research projects include the integration of research algorithms into existing database frameworks and the improvement of search field functionality and accuracy to expand the scope of future research projects.

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Paula Chaves da Silva, PhD, is a Research Associate at the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University. She obtained both her PhD and her MS in Morphological Sciences from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). During her doctorate internship, Dr. Chaves da Silva worked with adult neurogenesis and neurodegenerative events at Wellesley College in Wellesley, MA. In her first post-doctoral role, Dr. Chaves da Silva studied therapeutic strategies to treat neurodegenerative disorders from both basic research and clinical approaches. She obtained a certification in Neurofunctional Physical Therapy from Instituto de Neurologia Deolindo Couto – UFRJ, focusing on strength training in people with Parkinson’s Disease. As a National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Neuroscience Department at Wellesley College, Dr. Chaves da Silva managed a project on the relationship between adult neurogenesis and the immune system. Starting at Bentley University in September 2021, her current research focuses on health value created by biopharmaceutical companies, which includes the societal impact of pharmaceutical activity.

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Payal Arya, PhD, is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University. She obtained her PhD in Biology from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune and her MS in Biotechnology from the University of Pune. During her graduate studies, Dr. Arya investigated protein interactions during DNA damage. As a National Institutes of Health (NIH) supported Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Neuroscience Department at Wellesley College, she managed multiple projects on understanding vocal learning in songbirds guided by early exposure to a father’s song. Dr. Arya studied acquisition of multiple auditory representations of father songs in birds using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), further developing songbirds as an animal model for the phonetics of human bilingualism. Starting at Bentley University in August 2023, her current research focuses on diverse business models for pharmaceutical innovation.  

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Juliana Harrison, MBA, is Program Manager at the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University. She received her MBA and BS in Marketing and Liberal Studies (Health and Industry) from Bentley. Her primary responsibilities consist of a variety of administrative, programming, and communications work to ensure smooth operation of the Center. This includes effective coordination and support of the Center’s meetings, events, filing system, publications, website, social media, and external relationships.

Michael Boss, PhD, MBA, is an Executive in Residence at the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University. Boss has been a leader in the biotechnology industry for more than 30 years as a scientist and senior executive. As a group leader at Celltech, he was lead inventor of the landmark “Boss patent,” which enabled genetic engineering and manufacture of recombinant, monoclonal antibodies and generated >$1 billion in revenues. Dr. Boss co-founded Oros Instruments, a successful developer of protein purification equipment that was acquired by Biotage. He subsequently joined Genica Pharmaceuticals as Vice President of Research and Development and later Vice President of Operations, where he had a central role in building Genica (renamed Athena Diagnostics) into the leading developer of neurological and genetic tests and the first company to undertake DNA sequencing for human genetic testing. Later Boss held the position of Vice President, Corporate Office of Technology, at Elan Corporation and Chief Operating Officer of Xanthus Pharmaceuticals Inc., leading its acquisition by Antisoma, where he continued in senior executive positions. From 2012 to 2019, Boss led the program at Summit Therapeutics, Inc. as Chief Technology Officer to develop a therapy for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. Under his leadership the program progressed from pre-clinical to a proof-of-concept Phase 2 trial. Boss negotiated a license deal with Sarepta Therapeutics Inc. for European and Latin American commercial rights where Summit received $40 million upfront with a total potential deal value of some $941 million in milestone payments. He has a PhD and BSc from London University as well as an MBA from London Business School. He also trained in immunology at ICRF London with Dr. Mel Greaves and Dr. Martin Raff and was a post-doctoral fellow with Dr. David Baltimore at the Center for Cancer Research at MIT.

Nancy Hsiung, PhD, is an Executive in Residence at the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University. She has more than 30 years of experience in the biotechnology industry, in both scientific and managerial positions as well as in the investment community.  For the past 11 years, Hsiung worked with GeneChem Management Inc, a venture fund headquartered in Montreal, where her responsibilities included sourcing, assessing and managing investment opportunities. Prior to GeneChem, Nancy was a consultant whose activities range from strategic planning, business development, technology assessment, market research and financing for biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies. She started her career on the operational side as a scientist with Integrated Genetics (now part of Genzyme, now Sanofi) where she established the company's gene expression and tissue culture capabilities, as a member of the management team at Applied Biotechnology, whose focus was on vaccines and oncology and as the U.S. head of Corporate Development for Toyobo Corporation's (a large Japanese multinational) biopharmaceutical division. Hsiung received a BA degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a PhD degree in chemistry from Columbia University; she completed her post-doctoral studies in molecular biology at Yale University and Princeton University. She holds more than 15 patents and patent applications worldwide and has written 12 publications/abstracts.
 

Bruce Leicher, JD, is an Executive in Residence at the Center for Integration of Science and Industry at Bentley University. He is a strategic legal advisor and Adjunct Professor. He teaches biotechnology law at UNH Franklin Pierce Law School and Suffolk University Law School. He is a strategic legal advisor to Executives and General Counsel in the biotechnology field. Previously Mr. Leicher served for ten years as Senior Vice President and General Counsel at Momenta Pharmaceuticals Inc., an innovator biotechnology company engaged in development of complex generic products, biosimilars, interchangeable biologics and novel products. Prior to Momenta, he served in General Counsel or senior legal roles at Altus Pharmaceuticals Inc., Antigenics Inc., Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Curis, Inc., Genetics Institute, Inc. and Wyeth. Mr. Leicher also served as Chair of the Biosimilars Council, a Division of the Association for Accessible Medicines.  Before entering the biotechnology field, his practice was focused on high technology and corporate law. In private practice, he also served as the Co-Chair of the Life Sciences Practice Group at Hill and Barlow, was an attorney at Hale and Dorr and Butler & Binion, and served as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas F. Hogan in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after receiving his J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center and his B.A. from the University of Rochester.