Lesley Solomon, MBA, Senior Vice President for Innovation and Chief Innovation Officer at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, has received the 2020 Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare Award from The Commonwealth Institute, a nonprofit organization devoted to advancing women in leadership positions. The award is the first of its kind, recognizing and celebrating the health-care leaders of Massachusetts for their career achievements and impact.
Lesley Solomon, MBA
Ms. Solomon joined Dana-Farber in 2017. Prior to that, she served as founding Executive Director of Brigham and Women’s Hospital’s Innovation Hub and as Director of Strategy and Innovation at the Brigham Research Institute. At Dana-Farber, Ms. Solomon leads a team focused on commercializing Dana-Farber’s science and technology initiatives. Her work centers around developing innovative models for partnerships to sustain Dana-Farber’s research funding and expanding the reach of the institution’s clinical care.
Ms. Solomon has more than 25 years of experience in business development, strategy, and marketing. She received her MBA from Harvard Business School and has a BA in English from Cornell University. Ms. Solomon is a co-founder of the Food Allergy Science Initiative at The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, which brings together experts across disciplines to unlock the biology of food allergy and to develop new treatments.
Barri Blauvelt, MBA, MPH
Elizabeth L. Hailer
Barri Blauvelt, MBA, MPH, founder and Co-Chair of the Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare Awards, proposed the awards in late 2018. “I was researching women in executive leadership across diverse sectors of health care. I noticed that few from Massachusetts were being acknowledged for their contributions. That was when I realized that for our amazing emerging leaders to be recognized, we need to help them. That was the true beginning.”
Recognizing Women Leaders
More than 150 nominations were received for the 2020 Awards. Ten finalists were selected for their impact and innovating ways of advancing health care, for inspiring and leading others, and for fostering diversity.
“The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a global leader in the health-care industry, so it is fitting that The Commonwealth Institute—an organization founded over 24 years ago to help women leaders in Massachusetts achieve greater success—would celebrate and honor emerging women leaders in the industry,” said Elizabeth L. Hailer, Executive Director of The Commonwealth Institute and Extraordinary Women Advancing Healthcare Co-Chair. “This award is a testament to the dedication, innovation, and influence of each of these extraordinary women leaders.”
