McKeon, who holds an unparalleled understanding of the Houston life sciences sector and has held numerous leadership positions in the pharmaceutical and medical industries, will contribute invaluable collaboration and insight to the Launch Pad as it moves closer to transforming Houston into a global center for medical innovation. Since 2017, he has served as the president and chief executive officer of the Texas Medical Center. With more than four decades of experience in the life sciences sector, he holds this position.
McKeon, in his capacity as president and CEO of the TMC, regulates over 120,000 employees and over 60 institutions with an annual revenue in excess of $22 billion. By driving innovation, strategic, and operational initiatives, he establishes TMC as a global leader in the life sciences. McKeon commenced his professional trajectory at DuPont, subsequently assuming leadership positions at Stanford University Medical Center, Raytel Medical Systems, U.S. Oncology, and Medtronic. Furthermore, he contributed to the expansion and ingenuity of MicroPort in Shanghai and Cellnovo in London while serving as their president and CEO.
McKeon currently holds the position of vice chairman of the Board of Trustees at Roger Williams University. Additionally, he is a member of the TMC Venture Fund, Greater Houston Partnership, and Deep 6 AI boards. Roger Williams University awarded him a Bachelor of Science in legal studies, and the University of San Francisco granted him a Master of Science in health care business management.
McKeon is the fourteenth member of the external advisory council of the Launch Pad. The other members are Jason Bock, founder and CEO of CTMC; Albert Cha, managing partner of Frazier Life Sciences; Rima Chakrabarti, partner at KdT Ventures and adjunct professor of neuroscience at the Geisinger Commonwealth School of Medicine; John Flavin, founder and CEO of Portal Innovations, co-founder and chairman of Pyxis Oncology and entrepreneurial advisor of Argonne National Laboratory; Pierre Jacquet, managing director and vice chairman of L.E.K.’s health care consulting practice; Robert Langer, professor at the David H. Koch Institute for Integrated Research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Dennis Lee, senior program officer, accelerator at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; Ferran Prat, senior vice president of research administration and industry relations at the MD Anderson Cancer Center; Josh Richardson, managing director and senior investor on the life sciences investigating team at Goldman Sachs; David Schull, president of Russo Partners; Lisa Wright, president and CEO of Community Health Choice; Kevin Sheridan, managing director and joint global head of health care investment banking at Jefferies; and Robert Ruffolo, chairman of Aragen Biosciences.
Concerning Rice Biotech’s Launch Pad
The Rice Biotech Launch Pad is an accelerator headquartered in Houston that aims to accelerate the process of developing remedies for health and medical technology discoveries made at Rice University. The purpose of this initiative is to facilitate the transition of platform technologies that are developed internally from concept to clinical trials and commercialization. Through identifying and supporting highly differentiated projects, the Rice Biotech Launch Pad will propel Houston’s development into an international medical innovation hub. Local researchers will be connected with a network of industry executives through the accelerator.
