Barbara E. Bierer, MD

Professor of Medicine
Harvard Medical School

Program Director
Harvard Catalyst

Senior Physician
Brigham and Women's Hospital/EH&E

Barbara E. Bierer, M.D., a hematologist-oncologist, is Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is the Program Director of the Regulatory Foundations, Law and Ethics Program of the Harvard Catalyst, the Harvard Clinical and Translational Science Award. Dr. Bierer co-founded and now leads, as faculty co-director, the Multi-Regional Clinical Trials (MRCT) Center at Harvard, a University-wide and collaborative effort to improve standards for the planning and conduct of clinical trials in the developing world. From 2003-2014, she served as Senior Vice President, Research, at the BWH and was the institutional official for human subjects and animal research, for biosafety and for research integrity at the BWH. She initiated the Brigham Research Institute and the Innovation Hub (iHub), a focus for entrepreneurship and innovation. In addition, she was the Co-Chair of the Partners HealthCare Committee on Conflict of Interest. Dr. Bierer established and directed the Center for Faculty Development and Diversity at the BWH; for these efforts, she was the first recipient of the HMS Harold Amos Faculty Diversity Award in 2008.

In addition to her academic responsibilities, Dr. Bierer served on the Board of Directors of both the Association for Accreditation of Human Research Protection Programs (AAHRPP) and the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB). She served as the Chair of the Secretary’s Advisory Committee for Human Research Protections, Department of Health and Human Services from 2008-2012. She is currently a member of the National Academies of Sciences Committee on Science, Technology and the Law. She serves on the Board of Directors of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research (PRIM&R), dedicated to promoting the ethical conduct of biomedical and behavioral research; Management Sciences for Health (MSH), an international organization working in partnership globally to strengthen health care, local capability, and access; and the Edward P Evans Foundation, a foundation supporting biomedical research. She has authored or co-authored over 180 publications and is on the editorial boards of a number of journals including Current Protocols of Immunology. .

Dr. Bierer received a B.S. from Yale University and an M.D. from Harvard Medical School.