Curtis Keith PhD

Dr. Curtis Keith has served as Chief Scientific Officer of Harvard University’s Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator (previously, Harvard Biomedical Accelerator Fund) since its inception in 2008. By providing financial and other support, the Accelerator helps bridge the gap between early-stage research emanating from Harvard labs and validated de-risked technologies that are ready for industry partnership. To date the Accelerator has provided $17 million in direct funding to 93 projects from across Harvard University. Approximately half of completed Accelerator projects have been partnered with industry – either through startup formation, or collaborations and licensing agreements with existing biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

 Prior to joining Harvard University, Dr. Keith was Senior Vice President of Research at CombinatoRx, a Massachusetts-based biotechnology company he cofounded in 2000. Under his leadership, CombinatoRx created an integrated technology platform for the discovery of multi-target therapeutics, yielding a broad pipeline of preclinical and clinical drug candidates in areas including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis and neurodegenerative disease.  Dr. Keith earned his BSc in biochemistry from McGill University and received his AM and PhD in chemistry and chemical biology from Harvard University.