It has been a busy few months at the Boston Innovation Center, connecting with innovators across the northeast region. In July, our team took to the seas with New York BIO's summer cruise and organized a selfie scavenger hunt for passengers.We kicked off the fall conference season in September, when Tom Luby, Marian Nakada, Erin Washington, and V. Kadir Kadhiresan spoke at the RESI Boston Conference and Cris Deluca, Barry Fitzsimons, Kuldeep Neote took the stage at BioPharm America, exploring topics ranging from deal making to digital health. Additionally, PharmaVOICE named Robert Urban, PhD, and Marianne De Backer, PhD, among the 2016 PharmaVOICE 100 for their work removing barriers to innovation and excellence in deal-making.

At the beginning of September, when students went back to school, STAT asked some of Johnson & Johnson's top women leaders what inspired them to study science at a young age, and put them on a path to where they are today. Participants include Anuk Das, PhD, Head of Scientific Innovation, Janssen Human Microbiome Institute, based in Boston, Ann van Dessel, Senior Vice President of Enterprise Global Clinical Operations, Johnson & Johnson, based in Antwerp, Belgium, Widya Mulyasasmita, Manager, Johnson & Johnson Innovation New Ventures, based in Menlo Park, California and Marion Vetter, MD, RD, MS, Global Vice President of Cardiovascular & Metabolism Translational & Experimental Medicine at Janssen, based in Philadelphia.