Dr. Elizabeth Nabel, president of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, said Thursday she was resigning from Moderna’s board of directors after the Globe inquired about whether her role at the Cambridge biotech company was a conflict of interest with her hospital’s participation in a large study of Moderna’s experimental COVID-19 vaccine that just got underway.
The hospital said in a statement Thursday that when Nabel joined Moderna’s board in 2015, Brigham and Women’s parent company put several guardrails in place to prevent a conflict of interest. More safeguards were imposed when the hospital was named one of 87 clinical sites for the late-stage trial trial that began Monday, it said. The study is being led partly by a Brigham infectious diseases specialist, who also is helping to run the nationwide testing.
In addition to sitting on the Moderna board, Nabel also owns stock in the company, whose share price has almost quadrupled this year. On July 15, she sold 73,975 shares worth nearly $6.5 million.
Wasnt she the Chief Medical Advisor to the NFL???