BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced that Jennifer Schneider, M.D., M.S., has been elected to its Board of Directors as an independent director. Dr. Schneider has more than two decades of experience in the health care industry as a physician, scientist and health care executive. She co-founded and serves as Chief Executive Officer of Homeward Health, a company committed to rearchitecting the delivery of health and care for nearly 60 million Americans living in rural America. Prior to founding Homeward in 2022, Dr. Schneider served as President and Chief Medical Officer of Livongo Health, a biotechnology company serving people with chronic conditions including diabetes, hypertension, obesity and behavioral health issues. While there, she led the company through the largest consumer digital health Initial Public Offering in history and the industry’s largest merger between Livongo and Teladoc Health. She also served as Chief Medical Officer of Castlight Health, a health care navigation company for self-insured companies.
“We’re thrilled to have Jenny join the Vertex Board. She brings a unique perspective and experience as a physician-executive with deep expertise in health systems, policy and reimbursement, as well as technology-enabled health care. As Vertex enters a new era of commercial diversification, Jenny’s decades-long work in population health and reimbursement, her data and analytical skills, and ability to apply emerging health technologies to complex problems will help Vertex fulfill its mission to serve more patients across new diseases and therapeutic modalities,” said Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., Executive Chairman of Vertex.
“I am honored to join the Vertex Board at this incredibly exciting time in the company’s history with its commitment to innovation yielding extraordinary achievements in cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease, and beta thalassemia, among others,” said Jennifer Schneider, M.D., M.S. “I look forward to working with my fellow directors to support the company’s continued innovation and growth.”
Prior to her industry roles, Dr. Schneider conducted research in health services at Stanford University and worked as a physician in internal medicine at various hospitals. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Jasper Health and Maven Health. Dr. Schneider holds a Bachelor of Arts in biology from the College of the Holy Cross, a Doctorate in Medicine from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, and a Master of Science in health services research from Stanford University.
The addition of Dr. Schneider brings Vertex’s board of directors to 11 members, nine of whom are independent and 45% of whom are women.
About Vertex
Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases. The company has approved medicines that treat the underlying causes of multiple chronic, life-shortening genetic diseases — cystic fibrosis, sickle cell disease and transfusion-dependent beta thalassemia — and continues to advance clinical and research programs in these diseases. Vertex also has a robust clinical pipeline of investigational therapies across a range of modalities in other serious diseases where it has deep insight into causal human biology, including APOL1-mediated kidney disease, acute and neuropathic pain, type 1 diabetes, myotonic dystrophy type 1 and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency.
Vertex was founded in 1989 and has its global headquarters in Boston, with international headquarters in London. Additionally, the company has research and development sites and commercial offices in North America, Europe, Australia, Latin America and the Middle East. Vertex is consistently recognized as one of the industry’s top places to work, including 14 consecutive years on Science magazine’s Top Employers list and one of Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For. For company updates and to learn more about Vertex’s history of innovation, visit www.vrtx.com or follow us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter/X.