Dr. Alastair Bell oversees the comprehensive system strategy and operations of BMCHS' entities, including BMC, Boston Accountable Care Organization, Clearway Health, and the WellSense Health Plan.

Prior to joining in 2012, Dr. Bell was a leader in the North American payor and provider practice at McKinsey and Company, advising a range of national and international healthcare organizations and leading large-scale transformation programs. He received his Doctor of Medicine from the University of Oxford, his Master of Arts in physiology from the University of Cambridge, and his Master of Business Administration with distinction from Harvard Business School. Dr. Bell currently serves as co-chair of the board for the Boston Children’s Chorus.

Julie Kim is CEO-elect of Takeda. She was appointed by the Takeda Board of Directors to succeed Christophe Weber as president & CEO of Takeda in June 2026. In this role and as part of her transition to CEO, she is focusing on activities that will help set the direction for the company once she assumes the office. She is also serving as the interim head of the Global Portfolio Division.

Julie joined Takeda in 2019 through the acquisition of Shire and has held several diverse roles with increasing responsibility, including president of the Plasma-Derived Therapies Business Unit and president of the U.S. Business Unit. 

With three decades of experience in health care, Julie’s leadership spans global, regional and country-level roles across a variety of therapeutic areas and markets. Renowned for her collaborative and inclusive approach, she is committed to serving patients and advancing innovation. She holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a bachelor’s in economics from Dartmouth College.

Since becoming CEO of Novartis in 2018, Vas has led a strategic and cultural transformation to build a fully focused medicines company—one that delivers high-value medicines that alleviate society’s greatest disease burdens through technology leadership in R&D and novel access approaches. He leads a company of more than 78 000 associates that does business in approximately 130 countries and that reached more than 250 million patients with innovative medicines in 2023.

Over the last five years, Vas has sharpened the company’s focus on key therapeutic areas and technology platforms, including siRNA, radioligand, and gene and cell therapies, to deliver new medicines for patients with cardiovascular disease, cancer and rare but debilitating genetic disorders. In parallel, he has led a transformation to make culture a driver of innovation, reputation and performance at Novartis, while advancing a digital revolution to use data science and technology to find new ways to discover and develop medicines and increase efficiency.

Vas has focused his education and career on improving human health and on his personal purpose of inspiring a healthier world. During and after his medical studies, he worked on public health issues such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis in India, Africa and South America. He continues to champion access and global health priorities, including through a commitment by Novartis to expand access to innovative medicines in low- and middle-income countries by at least 200% by 2025.

Since joining Novartis in 2005, Vas has held a range of leadership roles, including Global Head of Development for Novartis Vaccines, and Global Head of Drug Development and Chief Medical Officer. In recognition of his sustained efforts to improve human health, he is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine in the US, and a member of the board of fellows at Harvard Medical School. Vas previously served as chair of the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), and remains on its board of directors.

Originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Vas lives in Basel, Switzerland, with his wife and two sons. A lifelong vegetarian, he is passionate about environmental and wildlife conservation — and is Chair of the African Parks Network in South Africa. He is an avid reader on topics including history, leadership and philosophy.

Patrick Gilligan is an accomplished health care executive with more than 25 years of leadership experience spanning health plans, provider systems, and retail health. As Chief Executive Officer of Point32Health, he leads one of New England’s largest health plans through a transformative era of performance improvement and stakeholder collaboration, with unprecedented opportunities to engage members in their own health.

Patrick brings a unique dual-lens perspective, having held senior executive roles on both the payer and provider sides of health care. Prior to Point32Health, he was a senior advisor with CWH Advisors, where he led strategic turnaround work for major health systems including Baylor Scott & White Health. He previously served as Chief Commercial Officer and Executive Vice President at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA), where he oversaw all market-facing functions and led key initiatives to rebuild market trust, grow membership, and expand digital and value-based care capabilities.

Patrick has also served as President of Indigo Insurance Services and CEO of Zaffre Investments, two subsidiaries of BCBSMA, where he directed strategic investment initiatives and expanded specialty insurance offerings. Previously, Patrick held leadership roles at CVS Health as Senior Vice President of Health System Alliances, where he developed strategic partnerships with more than 60 health systems to advance care delivery via the MinuteClinic platform. At Partners HealthCare (now Mass General Brigham), he helped lead payer contracting and financial strategy across the system.

Patrick, a New England native, holds a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from the College of the Holy Cross and is a former Associate of the Society of Actuaries. He currently serves on the Board of United Way of Massachusetts Bay and has held governance roles with Blue Venture Fund, Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, and Cobalt Benefits Group.

Clara Filice, MD, MPH, MHS is the Chief Medical Officer for MassHealth.  She oversees MassHealth’s Office of Clinical Affairs, which promotes delivery of high quality, equitable, and high value care for 2.2 million MassHealth members.

Dr. Filice has worked at the intersection of clinical innovation, healthcare, and social safety net systems as a clinician, researcher, and leader.  At MassHealth, she has led key programs and strategic initiatives related to social determinants of health, value-based care, and health equity.  Before MassHealth she worked in clinical innovation at a health system, as a federal health policy leader at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and as a child health researcher and advocate.  

Dr. Filice earned her MD and MPH degrees at Northwestern, completed pediatric residency at Lurie Children’s Hospital in Chicago, and was a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Clinical Scholar at the Yale School of Medicine.  Dr. Filice is an Assistant Professor at UMass Chan Medical School in the Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences.  She has practiced as a pediatric hospitalist and a general pediatrician and is Board Certified in Pediatrics.

Basima Tewfik (pronounced buh-see-ma too-fik) is an Assistant Professor of Work and Organization Studies at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her research examines the “science of the social self at work,” with a particular focus on what she terms workplace impostor thoughts—the belief that others overestimate one’s competence—popularly known as impostor syndrome. Her work has been published in leading journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Organization Science, and has earned recognition from INFORMS, the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, and the Academy of Management. She was named a Poets & Quants “40 Under 40” Best Business School Professor and a Thinkers50 “thinker to watch.” Before academia, Tewfik worked as a management consultant at Booz & Company. She holds a PhD in management (Organizational Behavior) from the Wharton School and an AB, summa cum laude, in psychology with a secondary in economics from Harvard University.

Zeid Barakat is an experienced consultant and entrepreneur with 25+ years in the Biopharma sector. As a Managing Partner with Scimitar Inc., Zeid has led dozens of successful, mission-critical initiatives across the value chain, including major R&D enterprise transformations, digital/ AI initiatives, large-scale partnerships, post-merger integrations, new product launches, and operational turnarounds. These have often led to 30-50% shorter times for products to reach patients, 50%+ COGS reductions, and major enhancements in productivity and ways of working.

Zeid has worked with cutting-edge clients like Moderna, Sarepta, Amgen, Genentech and Takeda. He also serves as an adjunct faculty member with the Tufts CSDD, an Alliance Partner with the DVLP Medicines AI Platform, and as a Board Member with Innotech Precision Medicines. Zeid also serves as CEO of Deck Therapeutics- a preclinical biopharma company spun out of Columbia University to address major ischemic injuries like strokes, TBI, and HIE (birth asphyxia)- the 2nd leading cause of neonatal morality globally.

Zeid previously served as co-founder and COO of Flyberry Capital, an AI-ML-driven hedge fund (acquired in 2014), and was an early contributor/ consultant to Aura Biosciences (2021 IPO).

Zeid earned his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management, a Masters in in Biotechnology from Harvard, and a BA in Biochemistry from Bowdoin College. He enjoys playing tennis (former Davis Cup Team of Jordan), chess and painting.

Rebecca Schechter is a transformational CEO & Board Director with a track record of driving profitable growth across diverse scales—from $100M high-growth ventures to $6B+. A multi-sector leader operating at the convergence of Financial Services, Benefits, and Healthcare, Rebecca combines industry expertise with the agility to deploy disruptive technologies. She possesses the unique ability to hyperscale GenAI innovation, while applying the financial and operational rigor necessary to execute profitable growth at scale. She is a proven architect of value creation, delivering over $1B in combined margin improvement over her tenure.

Rebecca is currently serving as a Senior Advisor with McKinsey in their healthcare practice, where she engages with Private Equity, Corporate and Government clients. Prior to that, she led the core ambient/generative AI business at Nuance/Microsoft, and one of the most successful deployments of AI/GenAI in healthcare (4X growth, SaaS transformation to target margins reaching 10K physicians).

Prior to that, she was the CEO of Optum Behavioral Health serving over 50 million members across Commercial, Individual, Medicare and Medicaid, with digital, coverage and care delivery solutions. She has held President and C-Suite roles at Liberty Mutual and State Street.

Rebecca is a public Board Director at iA Financial Group, one of Canada's largest insurance and wealth management companies. As a Venture Partner at Nina Capital, a global healthtech venture fund, she supports early-stage startups that are developing cutting-edge solutions in healthcare.

Rebecca has an MBA from MIT Sloan, and has lived, worked and studied across Europe, North America and Asia.