About Betsy
Dr. Elizabeth “Betsy” Nabel is a highly accomplished physician, scientist, and executive leader who has spent her career driving health innovation in major academic, government, and industry settings. She is a practicing cardiologist and a Professor of Medicine Emerita at Harvard Medical School. Betsy served as the President of Brigham Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital for eleven years, where she focused on patient-centered care and global medical expansion. Before that, she was the director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) at the NIH, where she launched major research programs and created the famous Red Dress Heart Truth campaign to raise awareness about women’s heart health. Today, Betsy is focused on the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. She currently serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, which celebrates and advocates for biomedical research. Additionally, she holds advisory roles at OPKO Health and serves on the Boards of several major companies, including Medtronic and Moderna, where she helped guide the development of their MRNA technology. From 2015 to 2018, Betsy also served as the first Chief Health and Medical Advisor to the National Football League (NFL), providing guidance on player safety. Her own research specializes in the genetics of heart diseases, and medicine runs in the family, as her husband and three children are also in medical careers.
