About Dr. Susan Windham Bannister

 Dr. Susan Windham-Bannister is a nationally and internationally recognized expert in biopharma innovation, market access and market optimization strategies. During her 30+year as a strategy consultant to life sciences industry leaders, she crafted the launch strategies for numerous “block buster” drugs, biologics and diagnostics. She is the 2024 winner of the Henri Termeer Award for outstanding leadership in the lifesciences and has been recognized by Biosphere as one of the 10 most prominent African American life science leaders, by the Boston Globe as one of the “10 Most Influential Women in Biotech,” and by Boston Magazine as one of the “50 Most Powerful Women in Boston.” She is the immediate past Chair of the National Governing Board of the Association for Women in Science (AWIS), and an independent Director of Aridis Pharmaceuticals and Humacyte, in addition to serving on the Advisory Boards of the Paris-Saclay Cancer Cluster in Paris and Brockton-Everlast in London. 

From 2008-2015 Dr. Windham-Bannister served as founding President and CEO of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), which administered a $1-billion (USD) Life Sciences investment fund created to catalyze innovation in all sectors of the Massachusetts life sciences community – biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, medical diagnostics and bioinformatics/analytics. Since completing her tenure with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, Dr. Windham-Bannister serves as President and CEO of Biomedical Growth Strategies, LLC, serving as an advisor to innovation initiatives in the U.S. and internationally. 

Dr. Windham-Bannister received a B.A. from Wellesley College, a Doctorate in Health Policy and Management from the Florence Heller School at Brandeis University, and a Doctor of Science from Worcester Polytechnic Institute (honoris causa). She completed her doctoral work at the Heller School under a Fellowship from the Ford Foundation and was also a post-doctoral fellow at Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School. Dr. Windham- Bannister also served as a Fellow in the Center for Science and Policy (CSAP) at Cambridge University, Cambridge, England.