Chris Coburn

Chris Coburn is the Chief Innovation Officer at Boston based Mass General Brigham, one of the largest academic medical centers in the Unites States. Chris leads a team of more than 135 people tasked with the worldwide commercial application of the unique capabilities and discoveries of all Mass General Brigham employees including its 6000 Harvard Medical School appointed faculty. His unit’s business development responsibilities include investing, company creation, innovation management, industry collaborations, and licensing. Among other achievements, their work to increase the diversity of the MGB innovation community has been a featured case at Harvard Business School.

Under Chris’ leadership, commercialization revenue exceeds $180 million annually and more than 300 companies have been spun-off from Mass General Brigham in the last decade. Large-scale industry collaborations have been established in areas such as drug development and artificial intelligence. His team also manages a nearly $450 million venture fund.

Prior to joining Mass General Brigham, Chris was the founding director of Cleveland Clinic Innovations and served for 13 years as its executive leader. During his tenure, Cleveland Clinic spun off 57 companies that raised more than $700 million in equity financing. His team also managed an innovation alliance network in which directly supported technology commercialization for other health care systems. Coburn was a vice president and general manager at Battelle Memorial Institute before joining Cleveland Clinic.