James W. Burns, Ph.D., - Head of the Sanofi Genzyme R&D Center, Global R&D, effective as of December 1st. Jim will continue to be based in Boston and will remain as interim Head of the Sanofi R&D Boston Hub and of the Global R&D Operational Excellence initiative. He will report directly to Elias Zerhouni and functionally to David Meeker. Jim joined Genzyme in December 1986 and was responsible for research and development for three technology platforms: small molecules, therapeutic polymers, and biomaterials. These groups discovered and developed several successful products including Cerdelga, Seprafilm, and Renagel. Following Genzyme's acquisition by Sanofi in 2011, Jim had been appointed Head of Sanofi's Boston R&D Hub, and more recently Jim took also the responsibility for Global R&D Operational Excellence. Jim earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Purdue University, and Master of Science and Doctorate degrees in Bioengineering from the University of Illinois-Chicago where his thesis work focused on drug delivery. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy's National Academy of Engineering and is a past president of Society for Biomaterials. He is a Board member of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, an Advisory Board Member for the Materials Science and Engineering Department, University of Florida, and the Biomedical Engineering Departments at Boston University, Yale, and Tufts. Jim is a past Advisory Member for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).