Key Points
- As a partner at an international law firm, Helen Connolly represents disruptive companies in technology, life sciences, and high-growth industries.
- Learn why she is excited about the potential of focused ultrasound to change lives.
Helen Connolly is a partner at Cooley (an international law firm), where she serves as an advisor to her clients – companies and boards navigating some of their most sensitive and high-stakes moments. Her practice focuses on complex employment matters, executive crises, internal investigations, litigations, and workforce strategy across a broad range of industries, from emerging venture-backed companies to public corporations.
Outside of her legal practice, Helen has been deeply engaged in civic life in Arlington, Virginia, including serving for more than a decade on the Arlington County Commission on Human Rights (two years in the role as Chair), where she had the privilege of helping draft important legislative initiatives. She is passionate about leadership, fairness, and helping institutions build strong foundations that allow people to thrive.
She is also a proud mom of four kids – two sons who are in boarding school in Ireland and two golf-loving daughters – and one delightful rescue pup.
Learn why Helen is passionate about promise of focused ultrasound and the Foundation’s work.
What is your connection to the Foundation?
I’m professionally connected to the Foundation and have come to personally support its mission to improve quality of life for patients with serious medical conditions.
How did you first hear about the Foundation?
One of my wonderful Cooley partners, Mike Lincoln, has served on the board of the Foundation for years and made the initial connection for me back in 2022. Since then, I’ve had the privilege of getting to know Dr. Neal Kassell, the Foundation, its work, and the wonderful team that helps patients every day.
What moved you to get involved?
Giving back to my community is a core value of mine, and I identify with the Foundation’s focus to help other people. In my professional life, I spend every day helping leaders manage risk, navigate complexity, and make consequential decisions, and I was inspired to lend my skills to the Foundation. The Foundation and its work resonate with me because of how it combines scientific discipline, strong governance, and a clear long-term strategy for impact.
What excites you most about focused ultrasound?
The idea that serious conditions can be treated without invasive surgeries, pain and suffering, all while preserving quality of life represents a meaningful evolution and a disruptive approach in medicine that I candidly think we should all be supporting.
Do you have any personal connections to focused ultrasound?
Health touches every family eventually. I care deeply about solutions that preserve dignity and expand access to care. Focused ultrasound challenges the assumption that effective treatment must always be invasive or burdensome.
What impact do you hope to achieve through your philanthropy?
I hope to help accelerate responsible innovation. Transformational technologies often take time to move from promising research to standard of care. Philanthropy can bridge that gap. If our support can help bring these therapies to patients sooner, that is meaningful impact.
What do you tell others about the Foundation?
The Foundation is helping to transform patient care and medical treatment that has the potential to disrupt and make positive changes in our healthcare system in how we manage and treat some of the most challenging diseases.
What would you tell someone who is considering making a gift to the Foundation?
If you care about shaping the future of medicine in a tangible way, this is an opportunity to support something foundational. Focused ultrasound has the potential to build a new frontier in patient care.