Monday, March 11, 2013

Flew to Boston for the day to give Keynote Lecture at the dedication of the new building for the Ragon Institute of MGH, Harvard, and MIT. Held at 400 Technology Square in Cambridge, MA. Orchestrated by Bruce Walker who is amazing at raising money for his biomedical research. Terry and Susan Ragon (software billionaires) gave Bruce $10 million per year for 10 years and now an additional $30 million to renovate the building for the Ragon Institute. I spent a few hours interacting with the Ragon scientists, gave my Keynote and then had dinner at the “Catalyst” restaurant in Cambridge. Many Boston scientific and other luminaries at lecture and dinner including Bob Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots, and his family (wife and son Jonathan). Also at lecture and at dinner and with whom I had great conversations were Drew Faust (President of Harvard), Raphael Reif (President of MIT), Ray Slavin (President of MGH) among others. We discussed the potential effects of the “sequestration” Very nice visit.