Maria Freire is one of the world’s top public health leaders. Born in Peru, she moved to the United States to study science, but eventually felt a disconnect between the work she was doing and the people she wanted to help. As she told the Electric Ladies podcast, “I just needed to understand the impact on people … to bring science from the labs to positively affect people’s lives.”
Freire would go on to become the president and executive director of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), a nonprofit organization committed to accelerating biomedical research and advancing breakthrough discoveries to fight critical diseases. Under her leadership, the FNIH was firmly established as a global leader in pioneering public-private partnerships. Freire substantially increased its revenue and recruited dedicated, world-class staff and advisors. She stepped down from the FNIH in 2021 after nine years, making her the longest-serving head of the foundation since its inception more than 25 years ago. As a leader and mentor, Freire encourages women to advocate for themselves. “Women don’t understand that they actually have power — and it’s a power they give themselves,” she explains. “This is not something that you have to take, this is something that you own.… If you have the gravitas, if you have the knowledge, if you have the wherewithal, then you can and should put yourself forward.”
Prior to leading the FNIH, Freire was president and a member of the board of directors of the Albert and Mary Lasker Foundation, which supports biomedical research. Freire also served as president and CEO of the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development. An internationally recognized expert in technology commercialization, she directed the Office of Technology Transfer at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) from 1995 to 2001. She obtained her BS at the Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, and her PhD in biophysics from the University of Virginia. She completed postgraduate work in immunology and virology at the University of Virginia and the University of Tennessee. Freire is founder and principal of the Freire Group, a consulting firm focusing on strategic alliances in the life sciences.
