Council biographies

Martha Crowninshield is founding co-chair of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center's Council. A former general partner of Boston Ventures, Ms. Crowninshield played a primary role in the company's acquisition of Motown Records and Six Flags Entertainment. Today, Ms. Crowninshield is a private investor, writer, academic lecturer and public speaker. She has long been involved with the Harvard community, including the Graduate School of Education, the Kennedy School of Government, and Harvard Medical School, where she was a member of the Genetics Advisory Council, from 1997 to 2004. She joined the Harvard Medical School Board of Fellows in 2005. In addition, Ms. Crowninshield has served as a member or director of almost every civic institution in Boston including the United Way, the Huntington Theater, the Boston Symphony, WGBH, Simmons College and Boston University. 

Robert S. Kaplan is founding co-chair of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center’s Council, was recently named interim head of Harvard Management Co. Mr. Kaplan is also Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School and a Senior Director of The Goldman Sachs Group. He was previously vice chairman of the firm and a member of its Management Committee.  Mr. Kaplan also served as global co-head of the Investment Banking Division from 1999 through mid 2002. At that time, he became vice chairman of the firm with oversight responsibility for the Investment Banking and Investment Management Divisions. In January 2004, he joined the Executive Office. In addition, Mr. Kaplan is co-chairman of the Board of The TEAK Fellowship, co-chairman of the Board of Project A.L.S. and is a member of the Board of the Harvard Medical School and The Jewish Theological Seminary. He also has been appointed by the Governor of Kansas as a member of the newly-created Kansas Healthcare Policy Authority Board. Mr. Kaplan is a member of the Board of Directors of Bed Bath & Beyond. 

Richard M. Cohen is a contributor to the health and fitness pages of The New York Times and author of Blindsided: Lifting a Life Above Illness, a 2004 New York Times bestseller. These accomplishments follow a twenty-five year career as a network television news producer for ABC News and CBS Evening News. More recently, Mr. Cohen joined CNN, covering the election of Bill Clinton and producing the award-winning documentary, Bill Clinton of Arkansas. In 2005, Mr. Cohen was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Simpson College and in 2006 he received a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Mount Sinai Medical School. Mr. Cohen has won numerous awards in journalism, including three Emmys and a John Foster Peabody.

Daniel N. Freudenberger is a screenwriter and playwright who has written movies and television series for all of the major networks, several of which have been nominated for awards. His most recent play, Informed Consent, deals with fraud in medical research. He was artistic director of the Phoenix Theatre in New York for five seasons. He also has directed on the German stage in Stuttgart, Duesseldorf, and Kiel, as well as at the Habimah National Theatre of Israel. Mr. Freudenberger is a graduate of Philips Exeter Academy, where he has served as trustee. He served as president of the board of Parents Anonymous of California, as president of the board of trustees at Marlborough School in Los Angeles and is a member of the Board of Harvard Medical School. In addition, he was a recipient of a Henry Fellowship at Pembroke College, Oxford.

Timothy Johnson, MD, is one of the nation's leading communicators of health care information. As Medical Editor for ABC News, Dr. Johnson provides on-air medical analysis for "World News Tonight," "Nightline," "20/20," and "Good Morning America." Dr. Johnson's programs and feature reports have won several awards, including an Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and two Emmy Awards from the Boston/New England Chapter of the organization. In 1999, he earned a Gabriel Award in the best news story category for the two-part piece, "Alzheimer's: A Faded Memory." Dr. Johnson is the founding editor of the Harvard Medical School Health Letter and co-editor of the Harvard Medical School Health Letter Book. He is also co-editor of the book, Your Good Health, co-author of Let's Talk, and author of Dr. Timothy Johnson's On Call Guide to Men's Heath and Finding God in the Questions: A Personal Journey.

Robert Pozen is chairman of MFS Investment Management. In January 2002, he published the second edition of The Mutual Fund Business, the major textbook on this subject. His other publications include three books, guest editorials in the Wall Street Journal and other leading newspapers, as well as numerous articles on domestic and international finance. Mr. Pozen has served as Secretary of Economic Affairs for Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. He also served on President Bush's Commission to Strengthen Social Security, and developed a well-known plan for restoring its solvency. Previously, Mr. Pozen held positions as vice chairman of Fidelity Investments and president of Fidelity Management & Research Company, the investment advisor to the Fidelity mutual funds, a partner at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Caplin & Drysdale, associate general counsel to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and law professor at New York University. Mr. Pozen was also a visiting professor at Harvard Law School and Georgetown University.

Kathleen Rasmussen is a partner at C.A. Rasmussen, Inc., a contract based engineering and construction firm, headquartered in Simi Valley, California. Ms. Rasmussen has an accomplished career in development and public relations. Her previous positions have included Director of Capital Campaign & Development at the Viewpoint School in Calabasas, California, Assistant Director of Development at Columbus Academy in Ohio, and Director of Alumni &  Public Relations at The Pennington School in New Jersey. Ms. Rasmussen has a strong interest in fighting neurodegenerative diseases, especially ALS and Parkinson’s disease. She is the Chair of the Board of the Greater Los Angeles Chapter of The ALS Association (ALSA). Her husband, Dean, shares this interest and is an Emeritus Trustee of the National ALS Association and the current Co-Chair of the California Advocacy Committee for ALSA.

Edward I. Rudman is Co-Founder of Link Medicine Corporation. Previously, Mr. Rudman was Co-Founder / Chairman of Pell Rudman, prior to its acquisition by INVESCO PLC in 2001, when he was named Senior Partner and the firm was renamed Atlantic Trust. He retired in 2006. Mr. Rudman is a leader in the field of wealth management, serving a variety of senior positions prior to Pell Rudman, including President and CEO of The Boston Company Financial Strategies, Inc., a subsidiary of The Boston Company. Mr. Rudman is committed to the community and has maintained a strong presence with area organizations, such as director of several corporations and a member of the Babson College Corp. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Beth Israel Hospital, and is now a member of the Board of Directors of CareGroup, Inc. and a Trustee Emeritus of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He also is a Trustee of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and a member of the Board of Directors of Give Kids the World Foundation in Orlando, FL.

Arthur Ullian is founding partner of the Boston Land Company, which specializes in development and management of mixed-income housing and currently maintains properties in five states. In 1991, Mr. Ullian became paralyzed following a bicycling accident, and has since used his business and entrepreneurial skills to advocate for increased federal funding of biomedical research. Mr. Ullian serves as President of the National Council on Spinal Cord Injury and Chairman of the Task Force on Science, Healthcare & the Economy. A two-term member of the Advisory Committee to the Director of NIH, he also is a member of the Council for Harvard Medicine and the Harvard Stem Cell Advisory, and chairs the New England Ad Hoc Committee for Federal Research. With Pardes, Manton, Lander, and Tolley, Mr. Ullian co-authored "Effects of Medical Research on Health Care and the Economy in Science," Volume 283, Jan. 1, 1999. He is co-author of a new study, published in Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (June 12, 2007) entitled, "Labor Force Participation and Human Capital Increases in an Aging Population: Effects on National Investment in Basic and Applied Research." Mr. Ullian has received many honors and awards for his work on behalf of medical research funding, including an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Rutgers University in 2005.