DLF Science Advisory Board Spotlight
Dan Lewis Foundation | Winter 2024

David Margulies, M.D. founded, co-founded, and participated as a director and senior executive of a number of companies in the clinical computing, molecular diagnostics, and biotechnology fields. The central theme of his work over 4 decades has been ‘precision medicine’, creating systems which provide the medical knowledge, clinical data, genomic insights, and personalized treatments to physicians and their patients.


In the early 1980s, he co-founded and led BRS Medical, later acquired by WB Saunders and, ultimately, Elsevier North Holland (NYSE:RELX). This company was the first commercial supplier of full text searching and online biomedical books and journals for physicians and researchers. Its product (BRS/ Colleague) was the first online experience for nearly 100,000 physicians.


In the mid 1980s, while Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Boston Children’s Hospital, his team created software which was then acquired by Cerner Corporation and became the basis for Cerner Corporation’s Enterprise clinical applications. Margulies became EVP and Director at Cerner (NASDAQ:CERN) as it grew to be the dominant supplier of clinical computing systems in the US.


In 1996, he co-founded and was a Director of CareInsite (NASDAQ:CARI), acquired by WebMD in 2000.


In 2000, he became co-founder, CEO, and Chairman of Correlagen Diagnostics, which pioneered highly automated DNA diagnostic sequencing and interpretation and was acquired by LabCorp (NYSE:LH) in 2011 to be its genomic center of excellence.


He returned to Boston Children’s Hospital in 2011 as VP of Strategy and led the development of the institution’s genomic medicine strategy. In 2013, he co-founded and was Chairman of Q-State Biosciences, a Cambridge-based biotechnology company which invented methods to create genomically-targeting medicines using patient-derived, CRISPR-edited human iPSCs, optogenetics, and antisense oligonucleotides.


In 2023, he and a colleague acquired the assets of Q-State and formed Quiver Bioscience (www.quiverbioscience. com). He is currently Chairman of that company.


Dr. Margulies co-founded the Dan Lewis Foundation in 2020, a non-profit group supporting scientific research focused on both brain regeneration research and improving awareness of traumatic brain injury. He sits on the board of directors and the science advisory board.


He joined the Board of Variantyx in December 2022 and became Chairman shortly thereafter. Over the years, he has served as a Director and advisor for numerous public and private Boards (including, among others, D2 Hawkeye (Verisk) (NASDAQ:VRSK), Ixxion Biotechnologies, ObMedical (acquired by Philips (NYSE:PHG), Circulation (acquired by Logisticare), Generation Health (acquired by CVS (NYSE:CVS), Travera (www.travera. com), and Commonwealth Care Alliance.


Dr. Margulies received his B.A. from Amherst College (1973), and his M.D. from Harvard Medical School (1977). He completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons (1982) and retains both licensure and board certification. He has DLF Science Advisory Board Spotlight subsequent training, experience, and/or publications in commercial computer science, neuroscience, bioinformatics, and genomics. He recently retired from the faculties of Genetics and Bioinformatics at the Harvard Medical School.

Two women embrace, comforted. A man watches from a separate chair. Interior, daytime.

What Does “Ambiguous Loss” Mean?

By Hal Lewis • December 5, 2025
My daughter, currently nearing completion of a graduate program in counselling, recently introduced me to the term “ambiguous loss”. This term applies to a loss that is unclear and lacks certainty, leaving family members and close friends feeling stuck because it is so difficult to mourn or find closure. One type of ambiguous loss is when the person is physically present but psychologically absent because their personality, memory, cognition, or emotional connection has been altered. Examples might include a family member with dementia, a progressive disease, a severe emotional disorder, or substantial brain injury. A second type of ambiguous loss is when the person is psychologically present but physically absent. This could include a missing person due to a natural disaster, a long- term incarceration, a kidnapping, or severe estrangement from the family. This type of loss can lead to intense confusion, frozen grief, and a prolonged sense of helplessness.
Marchell smiling, sitting on a couch, holding notebooks

Marchell’s Story

By Dan Lewis Foundation • December 2, 2025
Marchell is an engaging and energetic middle-aged man who was enthusiastic about being interviewed for the DLF newsletter. He is an activist working to promote the rights and well-being of persons in the brain injury community, with a particular emphasis on helping persons with brain injury who are incarcerated or have been released from prison. Marchell is a successful businessman, proud of the company he co-founded--the Association of Young Business Owners (AYBOS), a marketing company in the Denver, Colorado area. He also works for Well Power (Denver’s Mental Health Center system) as a Zero Suicide Certified Peer and Family Specialist.  Marchell is clearly a man on the move to get a lot of positive things done. But this wasn’t always the case. Marchell spent much of his younger adult life incarcerated himself for a variety of crimes including robbery and assault. He had a history of recidivism following multiple releases.