2026 Hewitt Healthcare Lecture

Boston is home to one of the world's most extraordinary life sciences ecosystems — a concentration of research institutions, venture capital, clinical talent, and laboratory infrastructure that has produced some of the most important medical advances of the last generation. But the path from scientific discovery to patient care is not determined by science alone.

Policy decisions — made on Beacon Hill, in Washington, and in the regulatory agencies that govern drug development and reimbursement — shape what gets funded, what gets built, and ultimately what reaches the patients who need it most. At this year's Hewitt Healthcare Lecture, Pioneer Institute's Life Sciences Initiative convenes a distinguished panel to examine where that policy environment is working, where it is falling short, and what must change.

Pioneer's annual Hewitt Healthcare Lecture honors former Chairman Colby Hewitt, who for many years chaired the board of one of the region's major hospital systems, by bringing together the nation's top healthcare experts to discuss the most pressing issues facing the healthcare and life sciences sectors.

Meet Our Panelists:

Elizabeth Berthelette, CRE, Head of Northeast Research and National Life Science Research at Newmark, tracks the relationship between capital flows, policy signals, and the physical buildout of life sciences infrastructure across the country. With over 20 years of experience analyzing employment, supply and demand, construction costs, and market demand drivers including funding and public markets, she brings a data-driven view of how the policy environment shapes what gets built — and what doesn't — in Greater Boston and beyond.

Dr. Gavin P. Jones, a board-certified radiation oncologist at UMass Memorial Health and Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at UMass Chan Medical School, treats a broad range of cancers in a high-volume academic practice. His particular interest in how healthcare policy, reimbursement structures, and workforce constraints shape patient access to care — especially in community and regional settings across Massachusetts — gives this panel its clinical and patient-centered anchor.

Martin Taylor, PhD, Principal at F-Prime Capital in Cambridge, works at the frontier of biotechnology investment and company creation across oncology, cardiovascular, renal, metabolic, and rare diseases. A former research scientist whose work has been published in Cell, Nature, and Molecular Cell, Dr. Taylor brings a deep understanding of both the science his capital is funding and the policy environment that determines whether it ultimately reaches patients.

Richard Bagger, Partner and Executive Director at Christie 55 Solutions, has spent decades at the intersection of government and industry. A former elected member of the New Jersey Legislature and Chief of Staff to Governor Chris Christie, his subsequent roles as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Public Affairs and Policy at Pfizer and Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Market Access at Celgene give him a broad vantage point on how policy gets made, how it gets implemented, and how it lands on companies trying to bring treatments to patients.

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Host or Publisher Pioneer Institute