Howard B. Rosen has spent more than four decades carrying ideas across one of the hardest distances in medicine: the space between a laboratory discovery and a treatment a patient can actually use.

A chemical engineer and biotechnology executive, Howard will become executive officer of the National Academy of Engineering on August 24, 2026. He comes to the role after serving on the NAE Council and as Home Secretary.

At MIT, Howard coinvented bioerodible polymers for controlled drug release. He later served as president of ALZA Corporation, vice president of commercial strategy at Gilead Sciences, and chief executive of AcelRx Pharmaceuticals and Pearl Therapeutics. Along the way, he advised and helped guide a wide range of biotechnology ventures.

Howard earned his bachelor’s degree from Stanford, his master’s from MIT, and his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He later returned to Stanford as a lecturer in chemical engineering and management, bringing hard won lessons from both the laboratory and the boardroom into the classroom.