The MAB advises the president and vice presidents regarding:

• The long-range strategy of the Institute for achieving its mission to promote biomedical research and science education;
• Proposals for new research programs, investigator competitions, and grants programs;
• The scientific achievements and future potential of current investigators, including the evaluation of whether an investigator's term of appointment should be renewed;
• Other matters concerning scientific programs and performance upon which the president requests advice and recommendations.

The MAB typically consists of up to ten members including a Chairman. The term of appointment of each member is four years. Appointments are made by the president after consultation with the Chief Scientific Officer. The president and selected vice presidents are ex officio members of the MAB.

The MAB meets in plenary session usually four times annually. Each member is expected to attend one of the Institute's scientific meetings and to participate in investigator review sessions, which are normally held in conjunction with MAB meetings.

MAB Members

• David Baltimore, PhD
  President Emeritus and
  Robert Andrews Millikan Professor of Biology
  California Institute of Technology
• J. Michael Bishop, MD
  Director, G.W. Hooper Foundation and University Professor
  University of California, San Francisco
• Michael R. Botchan, PhD
  Chairman
  Richard and Rhoda Goldman
  Distinguished Professor of Biochemistry
  Co-Chair of the Department of Molecular and Cell Biology
  University of California, Berkeley
• Gerald R. Fink, PhD
  Member, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research
  Herman and Margaret Sokol Professor
  American Cancer Society Professor of Genetics
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Carol W. Greider, PhD
  Daniel Nathans Professor and Director
  Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics
  The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine
• Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz, PhD
  Bethesda, Maryland
• Rowena G. Matthews, PhD
  G. Robert Greenberg Professor Emeritus
  of Biological Chemistry and
  Research Professor Emeritus
  Life Sciences Institute
  University of Michigan
• Elizabeth G. Nabel, MD
  President
  Brigham and Women's Hospital
  Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School
• Janet Rossant, PhD
  Chief of Research
  The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto
• Phillip A. Sharp , PhD
  Institute Professor
  Koch Institute of Integrative Cancer Research
  Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Bruce Stillman, PhD, FRS
  President and CEO
  Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
• Marc Tessier-Lavigne
  President
  The Rockefeller University
• Craig B. Thompson, MD
  President and CEO
  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center