Life Science and Technology Leaders Jennifer Goldsack and Brian J. Fox Join Sage Bionetworks’ Board of Directors

The impact of scientific data sharing and reuse is limited if not viewed through the lens of improving real-world patient outcomes. To help achieve this wider mission of open science, Sage Bionetworks has appointed 2 new members to its Board of Directors: Jennifer Goldsack, MChem, MA, MBA, OLY, and Brian J. Fox.

Goldsack has dedicated her career to advancing the safe, effective, ethical, and equitable use of digital technologies to improve lives. With this in mind, she co-founded and serves as the CEO of the Digital Medicine Society (DiMe), a non-profit focused on redefining healthcare through digital innovation.

Prior to founding DiMe, Goldsack spent several years at the Clinical Trials Transformation Initiative (CTTI), where she helped lead the first randomized clinical trial using the FDA’s Sentinel System for monitoring medical product safety.

“The relationship between DiMe and Sage has been synergistic from the start,” says Goldsack. “I’m delighted to join the Sage board to further advance our shared focus, leveraging the new flows of data available in the digital era to reimagine what it means to care for people.”

Goldsack will direct Sage’s data contribution and reuse efforts toward goals that explicitly improve our understanding and treatment of disease. Along the way, her leadership will help Sage integrate patients' perspectives into its ongoing projects and encourage participants to become active partners in research.

Brian J. Fox is a technologist and entrepreneur known for his pioneering contributions to open-source software. He was the first employee of the Free Software Foundation, is the original author of the command language Bash, and also the creator of the first interactive online banking software in the US. He is currently the co-founder and architect of abk labs, which specializes in scaling innovations in artificial intelligence and the blockchain.

“I’m deeply grateful and energized to work on removing the roadblocks to using scientific data to solve existing problems in health and disease,” says Fox. “I look forward to an incredibly fruitful collaboration with the other members of the Sage Bionetworks Board.”

Fox has been instrumental in aligning technical expertise and incentives across stakeholders so that much of modern software remains open. He will now help Sage achieve similar goals in the realm of scientific data, so that biomedical information can remain as open as possible while still being mindful of privacy and security.

“We are thrilled to bring Jennifer and Brian onboard to help guide Sage’s vision of open science,” says Luca Foschini, PhD, President & CEO of Sage Bionetworks. “They have been longtime collaborators with our team and their diverse expertise will be a huge asset for increasing the clinical impact of our different programs.”

The appointment of Goldsack and Fox will bring fresh perspectives to Sage’s already extensive Board. The other existing members include:

• Stephen H. Friend MD, PhD: Board Chair & Sage Bionetworks Co-Founder
• Eric Schadt, PhD: Director & Sage Bionetworks Co-Founder
• Luca Foschini, PhD: President & CEO
• Anthony W. Ford-Hutchison, PhD: Treasurer
• Carole Goble, CBE FREng FBCS CITP: Director
• Gustavo A. Stolovitzky, PhD: Director
• Kim Baggett, MPA: Board Secretary (non-voting member)