Harry W. Orf, PhD

Harry W. Orf, PhD, serves as a life sciences advisor and lab design consultant for Siena Construction Corporation. He recently retired as the senior vice president for Research at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) in Boston, where he oversaw the largest hospital-based research enterprise in the nation. (The Mass General Research Institute, a community of over 9,500 members, has over 2,000 principal investigators, occupies 1.3 million SF of space, and has annual research revenues of $1.3 billion.)

Harry earned a BS in Chemistry (summa cum laude) from the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL). He then went to Harvard, where he earned his PhD in Chemistry, joined the faculty shortly thereafter, where he conducted research in organic chemistry, served as Dean of Mather House at Harvard College, and later became Harvard’s inaugural Director of Biochemical Laboratories. In 1983, Harry moved to Harvard Medical School and MGH to become its first Director of Molecular Biology Laboratories. He also co-founded Cambridge Laboratory Consultants, a company that helped found over 65 biotech and pharmaceutical companies in the greater Boston area over a 25-year period.

In 2003, Harry’s Army Reserve unit was activated for Operation Iraqi Freedom. A Colonel and Senior Nuclear Medical Officer, Harry spent a year in Iraq, where he earned the Bronze Star and, upon his retirement from the army in 2005, was awarded the Legion of Merit medal. Shortly after returning home from active duty, Harry was named Vice President for Scientific Operations and Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute, where he directed the construction of its new 350,000 SF Florida campus and built and directed the entire science support operation. In February 2012, Harry left Scripps and returned to MGH as its Senior VP for Research. Under his steadfast leadership, MGH’s research revenue grew by 54% to $1.3 billion in 2022. At the end of 2022, Harry stepped down as the MGH Research SVP and retired fully from MGH and Harvard Medical School in June 2023.

Throughout his career, Harry championed science education, especially among young children. The US Department of Education and the City of Boston awarded him the American Hero Award for his work with minority middle school students and teachers and for creating science education programs in the Boston Public School System over a 30-year span. Harry also established similar education programs in the Palm Beach Public School System during his tenure at Scripps Florida.

In 2012, Harry received an honorary ScD degree from UMSL, and in 2021, he was the 8-Spoked Salute Honoree from the Boston Bruins for his Outstanding Service in the US Military. He resides with his wife, Karen, in Lexington, Massachusetts, where they enjoy golf, bowling, and spending time with their three children and five grandchildren.