Advancement council

Dr. Niven R. Narain is co-founder, president and CEO of BERG, a Boston-based biopharma driving next generation drug development by combining patient-driven biology and Bayesian AI. He has been recognized as a pioneer in technology development at the intersection of Biology and AI and is inventor of the Interrogative Biology® platform. Under his leadership, actionable disease insight has fueled a deep pipeline of assets in oncology, metabolic, rare, immune, and CNS diseases, namely BPM 31510 currently in Phase 2 trials for aggressive cancers. His discoveries are covered by over 650 issued and pending US and international patents.  

An industry thought leader in precision medicine, drug development, and AI/ML, Dr. Narain has served as a frequent speaker at Economist, Bloomberg, Financial Times, Wired, and Aspen Ideas in addition to many international meetings on medicine and technology. He is a member of the NASA/Gene Lab Steering Committee, advisor to US Department of Defense leadership on breast and prostate cancer, and forged strategic partners with industry, academia, and US and UK governments. He also serves on the Advisory Board of Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School and the Healthy Aging Initiative Commission at No. 10 for the UK prime minister.  

Dr. Narain was named to the Boston Business Journal top 40 leaders under 40 (2014), was an EY Entrepreneur of Year finalist (2018) and was one of the Deep Knowledge Analytics Top 100 AI Pioneers in Drug Discovery and Advanced Healthcare (2019). He was an invited participant to the Ditchley Foundation Conference (2019) and was selected as one of the Top 10 Transformative CEO’s by The CEO Forum (2020). He has been featured on CNN, BBC, CNBC, FORBES, Fox Business, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal, among other media.  

Dr. Narain obtained a B.S. in Biological sciences/philosophy from St. John’s University, N.Y. and a Ph.D. in clinical biochemistry with a focus on cancer biology at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine where he also did clinical research training in cutaneous oncology in the dermatology and cutaneous surgery, later serving as director of cutaneous oncology research. He has been published in Nature Medicine, Science Translational Medicine, and Cell with leading collaborators from academia, NIH, and the DOD.  

Dr. Narain is most passionate about improving patient care and enabling increased access to innovative medicines towards improved health care outcomes. He is very active in STEM educational programs in Massachusetts and is an active leader at the Trinity Episcopal Church Boston, participating in numerous mission trips to the Caribbean.