Science entrepreneur Philip Goelet joins Whitehead Institute Board of Directors

The Whitehead Institute Board of Directors has elected Philip Goelet, a scientist, entrepreneur, and investor with decades of experience in biotechnology and life sciences, to the board.

“Philip has spent his career at the intersection of science and innovation, with a firsthand understanding of how new ideas can move from the laboratory into the real world,” says Board Chair Sarah Williamson. “That perspective is particularly valuable to Whitehead Institute given that we focus on the impact of fundamental research as well as the discovery mindset that drives great science.”

Goelet received a Ph.D. in biochemistry from the University of Cambridge, where he studied under scientists Jonathan Karn and Sydney Brenner. From 1984 to 1987, he was a Helen Hay Whitney Fellow in the lab of Nobel laureate Eric Kandel.

Since 1990, Goelet has co-founded several biotechnology companies, including Molecular Tool, RiboTargets, Population Genetic Technologies, Arginetix, ZuvaChem, and AgriMetis. Several of these companies were initiated and incubated by Acidophil, an innovation company Goelet co-founded with Brenner. In 2003, he co-founded Red Abbey Venture Partners, a life sciences private equity fund, with Frank Bonsal and Matt Zuga.

Goelet says he was drawn to joining the Whitehead Institute Board because of the Institute’s distinctive approach to scientific discovery and its relationship with a leading research university.  

“I’ve not come across a biological research institute of this quality since my time at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK,” he says. “I’m excited to support an institute that takes on challenging biological problems and, through its affiliation with MIT, gives researchers access to enabling technologies.”