About Robert Plenge

Robert Plenge

Robert Plenge is a former Vice President at MRL in Boston, transitioning to a new job in biopharma in Cambridge. Prior to joining Merck in July 2013, Robert served as Director of Genetics & Genomics in the Division of Rheumatology, Immunology and Allergy at Brigham and Women’s Hospital; Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School; and Associate Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. His academic research focused on genetic and genomic underpinnings of complex human disease, with attention to immune-mediated diseases such rheumatoid arthritis (RA). His original research has been published in Nature, New England Journal of Medicine, Science, Nature Genetics, and other top-tiered medical journals.

Robert graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Science from the University of California, San Diego in 1992; received his MD and PhD degrees from Case Western Reserve University in 2000 (thesis advisor Hunt Willard); completed his Internal Medicine residency as a Molecular Medicine Fellow at University of California, San Francisco in 2002; and served as rheumatology fellow at Brigham and Women’s Hospital from 2002-2006 and post-doctoral research fellow at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard from 2003-2007 (advisor David Altshuler). Between 2007-2013 he was on the faculty of Harvard Medical School and an Associate Member of the Broad Institute while practicing clinical rheumatology and running a research laboratory at Brigham & Women’s Hospital.

He lives with his wife and three daughters in Wellesley, MA. He enjoys outdoor activities, flying drones, socializing with friends and family, and participating in any activities that his kids want him to do.

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