Kay Holcombe recently served as senior advisor of public health for the Milken Institute. She retired as Senior Vice President for Science Policy at BIO, the Biotechnology Innovation Organization and prior to that held posts as Vice President for Government Relations at Sanofi-Genzyme; Executive Vice President of Policy Directions Inc., a policy advisory and advocacy firm; professional health legislative staff and senior health policy advisor for the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce; professional health legislative staff for the Senate Committee on Labor and Human Resources; Deputy Associate Commissioner for Legislative Affairs, U.S. Food and Drug Administration; Executive Vice President of the Foundation for Biomedical Research; Associate Director for Public Health Legislation, HHS Office of the Assistant Secretary for Legislation; Deputy Associate Administrator for Planning, Evaluation, and Legislation, Health Resources and Services Administration; Special Assistant to the Director, Division of Legislative Affairs, National Institutes of Health; Executive Secretary, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute National Advisory Council; and NHLBI researcher. Kay is a member of the boards of the Reagan-Udall Foundation for the FDA, the National Blood Clot Alliance, and the Critical Path Institute. She chairs the board of the National Organization for Rare Disorders. She received her B.S. in chemistry education from the University of Illinois and her M.S. in chemistry from the University of Virginia. She graduated with honors and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Phi KappaPhi, and Iota Sigma Pi.