User account menu Search Menu Home About Executive Committee James Bradner James (Jay) Bradner, M.D. President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) since 2016 Biography Summary Jay Bradner is President of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), the company’s innovation engine. He leads thousands of scientists at six research sites around the world in an effort to discover life-changing medicines for patients. Jay’s bold ambition is for NIBR to go after the highest hanging fruit in drug discovery, including targets previously deemed impossible to reach, or “undruggable.” To support this research, NIBR has invested in powerful approaches and technologies such as targeted protein degradation, molecular glues and CRISPR. If we are to reimagine medicine, we have to be agnostic about the learnings of the last generation and imagine that new therapeutic concepts can heroically be delivered to patients around the world. Jay was previously a clinician at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an associate professor at Harvard Medical School. As an entrepreneur, he has co-founded five biotechnology startups. He has long been a proponent of open science, and when his lab at Dana-Farber discovered the bromodomain inhibitor JQ1, they took the unorthodox step of making it available to other researchers with no restrictions. The results have been shared with hundreds of labs worldwide, generating extensive data and fueling further open-source research. Jay brought this same open approach when he joined Novartis in 2016. NIBR collaborates with an external network of academic and industry partners to facilitate cutting-edge science in areas of mutual interest. NIBR’s open science programs include the Global Scholars Program, which supports innovation through academic partnerships, and the annual Hackathon, which brings data scientists and NIBR researchers together to work on complex problems in the life sciences. For the past several years, Jay has also helped support patients outside of the lab, riding in the annual Pan-Mass Challenge, a long-distance cycling event that raises funds for Dana-Farber and honors the many patients who are bravely battling cancer. Information is accurate as of Dec 31, 2020 Novartis Navigate Patients and Caregivers Healthcare Professionals Researchers Job Seekers Journalists Investors Partners Suppliers Topics Clinical Trials COVID-19 Info Center ESG Explore Stories Diseases Locations Companies Sandoz Advanced Accelerator Applications Footer Bottom © 2021 Novartis AG Terms of Use Privacy Contacts Cookie Settings Site Map Novartis Site Directory This site is intended for a global audience