After a nationwide search, Jennifer Willcox, JD, has been named Senior Vice President, General Counsel, and Chief Governance Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. In this role, Ms. Willcox has overall responsibility for the legal and board governance function of Dana-Farber. She will serve on the Institute’s executive leadership team and lead the Office of General Counsel, which includes overseeing a range of commercial, litigation, labor and employment, regulatory, and intellectual property matters.
Jennifer Willcox, JD
Laurie H. Glimcher, MD
“Jennifer is a deeply experienced leader with expertise in complex health-care legal issues, developed both as a legal leader within an academic health-care organization and as a partner at a large, regional firm. The work of our legal department is foundational to our growth and innovation and in advancing our mission, and she will be a strong asset to our organization,” said Laurie H. Glimcher, MD, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dana-Farber.
Professional Background
Ms. Willcox joins Dana-Farber from Yale New Haven Health (YNHH), where she served as Vice President of Legal Services. In this role, she led a legal department that provides corporate, litigation, clinical risk management, patient care regulatory, and employment and labor advice for the five-hospital, 28,000-employee health system. Ms. Willcox has played a leading role in significant acquisition and financing transactions, as well as advising the boards of YNHH and senior executives on matters such as antitrust compliance, governance of tax-exempt organizations, and enterprise risk management, in addition to other legal matters.
As a professional committed to diversity and health equity, Ms. Willcox helped establish the first medical legal partnership at YNHH and led ongoing department initiatives to improve diversity in the hiring of attorneys at partner firms. She serves on the boards of several community organizations and has written and spoken extensively on health-care legal issues at conferences around the country.
“I am thrilled to join Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and honored I’ve been asked to lead a team of such high-performing and committed lawyers. I look forward to working with Dana-Farber leadership and the Board of Trustees to help achieve the Institute’s vision of ‘a world free of the fear and burden of cancer,’” said Ms. Willcox.
