Leaders from Genetics and Health Care Join Trustees

Geneticist Eric S. Lander, a driving force behind today’s revolution in genomics, and health-care consultant C. A. “Lance” Piccolo (SED’62), a pioneer in building strategic health-care businesses, were recently elected to the Boston University Board of Trustees, Alan M. Leventhal, the chairman of the board, has announced.

“Eric Lander and Lance Piccolo each represent important industries that will influence our society and shape our future,” says Leventhal. “Their expertise and vision will be invaluable to our strategic development and long-range planning. We welcome them and look forward to their contribution.”

Lander is the founding director of the Broad Institute, a research collaboration of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University and its affiliated hospitals, and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research. Founded in 2003 with a $100 million gift from philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad, the institute was created to promote the application of advances in genetics research to the understanding and treatment of disease.

Lander, who received a B.A. with honors in mathematics from Princeton University in 1978 and a doctorate in pure mathematics from Oxford University in 1981, joined the Whitehead Institute in 1986, and he founded the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research in 1990. Lander was also one of the principals of the international Human Genome Project, which he helped complete in 2003. Under his leadership, the Whitehead Institute/MIT Center for Genome Research was responsible for developing many of the key tools of modern mammalian genomics. In addition to his work at both institutes, Lander is a professor of biology at MIT and a professor of systems biology at Harvard Medical School.

He has served on governing and advisory boards for various government agencies, academic institutions, scientific societies, and corporations, including the Joint Steering Committee for Public Policy, the American Association of Cancer Research, and the National Institutes of Health. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Institute of Medicine.

Lance Piccolo is president and CEO of HealthPic Consultants, Inc., a strategic health-care consulting firm. He also serves as a director of numerous health-care related companies, including CVS/Caremark, the largest retail pharmacy/pharmacy benefit manager. Piccolo was founder and formerly chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Caremark International, the nation’s largest provider of prescription drug benefits.

In 1992, Caremark was spun off from Baxter International, Inc., where Piccolo was executive vice president. Under his management, Caremark’s revenues increased from $1 billion to $3 billion. In 1996, MedPartners of Birmingham, Ala., acquired Caremark and named Piccolo vice chairman of the board. In 2005, Caremark reported sales of $33 billion and employed 13,628 individuals. In 2007, Caremark merged with CVS to create CVS/Caremark, which has sales in excess of $80 billion.

Piccolo, who attended BU on a football scholarship, graduated from the School of Education in 1962 with a bachelor of science degree in physical education. After graduation, he served for three years in the U.S. Marine Corps, attaining the rank of captain.

As the governing body of Boston University, the Board of Trustees provides oversight of, and has fiduciary responsibility for, the University’s academic, financial, and business affairs. Members of the board are elected to terms of one to three years, subject to an overall limit of 14 consecutive years of service.

Art Jahnke can be reached at jahnke@bu.edu.