Massachusetts is a global life sciences hub, and its pharmaceutical sector runs on sensitive research data, regulated manufacturing environments, and complex third-party ecosystems. Cybersecurity leaders here have to protect intellectual property, clinical and patient-related data, and production-adjacent systems—while supporting rapid R&D cycles, hybrid work, and increasingly strict governance expectations. The leaders below reflect that mix of speed, compliance, and resilience.
Russ Isaacs — Biopharmaceutical Cybersecurity Director, Ocular Therapeutix, Inc.
Russ Isaacs leads cybersecurity strategy and policy at Ocular Therapeutix, responsible for protecting employees, infrastructure, and data while aligning security controls to business objectives. His role spans implementing security measures, leading security operations through a team of professionals, and continuously monitoring threats and vulnerabilities to reduce risk. He also reports cybersecurity posture to senior stakeholders, translating technical realities into actionable direction for the organization.
Robert S. Sherman — Chief Information Security Officer, Lantheus
Robert S. Sherman serves as CISO at Lantheus and is part of the executive leadership team, responsible for establishing and growing the information security function while also contributing to strategic M&A activity. With an attorney’s perspective and a deep technology background, he emphasizes practical, risk-based security approaches that meet legal and regulatory expectations in critical environments. He highlights human-centered adoption as a key priority, pairing modern identity and access management with policies users can follow, and he has also led initiatives in zero trust/SASE and AI governance—bringing boards into the conversation on emerging risk.
Jennifer West — SVP, Chief Digital Trust Officer (CISO), Takeda
Jennifer West is the SVP and Chief Digital Trust Officer (CISO) at Takeda, overseeing global cybersecurity strategy and execution across core domains including identity and access management, IT risk management, cybersecurity architecture and engineering, and IT compliance. With two decades of global leadership across pharma and other regulated industries, she focuses on building mature, risk-appropriate programs through transformation of people, process, and technology. She is also strongly oriented toward education and collaboration—working to integrate security into everyday operations and project delivery rather than treating it as a separate, fear-driven function.
Dan Finkle — VP & Chief Information Security Officer, Alnylam Pharmaceuticals
Dan Finkle is VP and CISO at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, bringing more than 20 years of experience across operations, governance, and risk management. He is known for setting strategy, delivering outcomes, and building alignment across organizations for cybersecurity initiatives. His experience includes leading globally distributed teams, supporting cloud transformation through architecture and engineering, and strengthening enterprise security operations—from vulnerability remediation at large scale to third-party assurance, security reviews across application portfolios, and access control testing to validate privileged account governance.
Building Trust Across Discovery, Delivery, and Scale
In Massachusetts pharma, cybersecurity leadership is ultimately about enabling innovation while staying audit-ready and resilient—protecting R&D, strengthening identity and governance, and reducing risk across vendors and complex technology stacks. The leaders featured here represent that balance, helping organizations move fast without losing control of what matters most.
To see how cybersecurity leaders protect open research networks, student data, and large-scale academic environments, explore CISOs to Watch in Massachusetts’ Higher Education Industry.