Team
Avak Kahvejian, Ph.D. is a life sciences inventor, entrepreneur, and CEO who has co-founded more than ten companies. Since 2011, he has been a partner at Flagship Pioneering, where he leads a team to invent and launch new therapeutic platforms. His work has led to the creation of multiple high-value public and private companies including Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), the first microbiome therapy platform; Ring Therapeutics (revolutionizing gene therapy with its commensal virome platform); Cellarity (designing medicines against the cell as opposed to a single molecular target); Laronde (a predecessor to Sail Biomedicines which pioneered endless RNA – eRNA™ – a new class of programmable medicines capable of expressing therapeutic proteins inside the body); Generate Biomedicines (pioneering Generative Biology™ to create breakthrough medicines); ProFound Therapeutics (pioneering the expanded human proteome); Ampersand Biomedicines (designing and programming medicines to act only where needed); Abiologics (reimagining biologics with Synteins™, a new class of supranatural medicines); Cygnal Therapeutics (now part of Sonata Tx, a company designing therapeutics that reprogram diseased cells to become the coordinators of cure); Rubius Therapeutics (red blood cell therapeutics); and Codiak BioSciences (engineered exosome therapeutics).
Avak served as founding President and CEO of Rubius from 2013 to 2017, as co-CEO of Generate from 2018 to 2021, and as founding CEO of Cellarity (2017 to 2020), Laronde (2017 to 2020), Ring (2017 to 2020), ProFound (2020 to 2023), Ampersand (2021 to 2023), and Abiologics (2021 to present). He is on the boards of Cellarity, Sail, and Ring and Chairman of Ampersand and ProFound.
Prior to Flagship, Avak was Vice President of Business Development at Helicos BioSciences. In this role, he developed and commercialized the world’s first single molecule DNA sequencer.
Avak serves as the Chairman of the Board of the International Institute of New England, an institution which creates opportunities for refugees and immigrants to succeed through resettlement, education, career advancement and pathways to citizenship. He is also on the Board of Genome Canada, the Advisory Board of the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST), and the McGill University Regional Advisory Board US.
Avak earned his Ph.D. and B.Sc. in Biochemistry from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Maria-Chiara (Chiara) Magnone is Chief Scientific Officer at Abiologics. Chiara has extensive experience across various stages of drug development and a wide range of therapeutic areas.
Chiara joins Abiologics from Johnson & Johnson (J&J), where she was initially Vice President of Kidney Disease Research and Boston Site Head, and more recently Vice President, Head of Discovery for the Cardiovascular, Metabolic, Retina and Pulmonary Hypertension therapeutic area. During her time at J&J, she led efforts to develop the kidney disease area strategy and pipeline through internal programs and external asset acquisition, and played a key role in advancing several programs to clinical candidate selection. Prior to J&J, she served as Head of Translational Sciences at AstraZeneca, where she led the establishment and implementation of the translational strategy across the cardiovascular, metabolism, and renal portfolio. Chiara began her career in drug discovery and early development and held positions of increasing responsibility at Roche, Novartis and Serono in discovery and development in metabolism and neuroscience.
Chiara’s work has resulted in publications in Science Translational Medicine, Circulation, Cell Reports, Diabetes Care, and the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Chiara is a biologist by training and completed her Ph.D. in Neurobiology and Neurophysiology at the University of Ferrara (IT) and her post-doc at the University of Fribourg (CH), working on neural and metabolic aspects of circadian rhythms.
Mike is Chief Innovation Officer as well as Co-Founder and member of the Founding Team of Abiologics where he leads and oversees the organization’s efforts in identifying, developing, and implementing breakthrough innovations. He also serves as Senior Principal at Flagship Pioneering where works as part of a team of entrepreneurial scientists exploring innovative ideas, developing the science, intellectual property, and business strategy that form the foundation of breakthrough startups and providing operational leadership through their early stages.
Prior to Flagship, Mike was VP and Head of Research at Axcella Therapeutics, a clinical-stage Flagship Pioneering company that aimed to develop a new approach to treat complex diseases and improve health using endogenous metabolic modulator (EMM) compositions. He joined Axcella in 2011 as part of the founding scientific team and gained experience across R&D while assuming positions of increasing responsibility and leadership, including leading the platform's innovative development and the company's IPO in 2019. During his tenure at Axcella, Mike led the conception and design of multiple novel assets, two of which advanced to late-stage therapeutic development. Mike is also an author on several published scientific articles foundational to the Axcella platform and an inventor on over a dozen granted patents.
Prior to Axcella, Mike gained diverse technical experience, including in structural biology at MIT, analytical sciences at Virdante Pharmaceuticals, and synthetic chemistry at Scynexis.
Mike holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Boston University and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Gettysburg College.
Kala Subramanian joined Flagship Pioneering in 2021 as an Operating Partner working with Flagship NewCos to increase value creation as well as drive operational and strategic initiatives. She brings broad expertise in strategic planning, operations, business development and licensing, and global program and portfolio management. Kala has held leadership positions in emerging biotech companies as well as large pharma.
Before joining Flagship, Kala was Chief of Staff, Head of Strategy and Business Development & Licensing at Ichnos Sciences. She led Ichnos’ separation from its parent company, developing the company’s corporate strategy and preparing for fundraising and due diligence necessary for external partnerships. Prior to Ichnos, Kala served as VP, Chief of Staff Oncology at Gilead Sciences/Kite Pharma and SVP, Head of Strategic Development and Operations at CRISPR Therapeutics. She spent 13 years at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in a variety of roles including VP, Global Head of Strategic Development, and Program Management in Oncology Global Development and Medical Affairs. She led the program and portfolio management, as well as strategic planning and budget management for a portfolio of over 25 compounds. Prior to Novartis, Kala worked at Accenture and Millennium.
Kala holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University, and completed postdoctoral research in cell biology at Duke University Medical Center.
Jaclyn Dunphy is a Co-Founder and Senior Director of Strategy and Research Operations at Abiologics. She brings expertise in scientific innovation, bioplatform development, business strategy, and operations.
Before joining Abiologics, Jaclyn was a Senior Associate at Flagship Pioneering, where she was part of a team of scientist-entrepreneurs that endeavor to create value by exploring areas of new biology and emerging technologies. Jaclyn’s work led to the creation of several Flagship-founded companies including Ampersand Biomedicines and Abiologics.
Jaclyn completed her doctoral studies in Neuroscience at Tufts University. Her graduate work investigated how astrocytes, a glial cell in the brain, contribute to information processing to enable learning and memory formation. Her graduate work elucidated contextual guidance cues that govern the release of D-serine, a non-canonical amino acid gliotransmitter from astrocytes onto neurons at the synapse. She was the recipient of a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) during her studies. Jaclyn’s work has resulted in several patents and publications. While pursuing her academic research, Jaclyn was also involved in multiple entrepreneurial activities, including leading the Tufts Biomedical Business Club and participating in startup competitions.
Jaclyn holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Tufts University, a M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Kent State University, and a B.S. in Biology from Xavier University in Ohio.
Daniel Smith is Senior Director and Head of Computation at Abiologics, driving the creation of the machine learning and computational design pipeline as well as the digital backbone upon which the company operates. He brings expertise in a broad range of computational tools, creating machine learning models, lab automation, and digital infrastructure.
Before joining Abiologics, Daniel was a Co-Founder and Director of Software at Iambic. He played a pivotal role in establishing the company's foundational digital framework, integrating machine learning and lab automation to create a seamless, closed loop platform to accelerate small molecule drug discovery. Before his tenure at Iambic, Daniel was one of the founding software scientists at the Molecular Science Software Institute. He spent much of his time working with external parties to help define the needs of the computational molecular landscape, created projects to accelerate machine learning adoption and began the educational indicatives which now affect thousands of computational chemistry students worldwide. Daniel has a history of developing scientific software tools like Iambic Envision, Psi4, opt_einsum, QCArchive, and other solutions that have impacted the scientific community.
Daniel has a PhD in Chemistry from Auburn University and completed his postdoctoral research in quantum mechanics at Georgia Tech.
Xin Sun is the Director of Discovery at Abiologics, leading screening and discovery to drive the company’s novel platform. Xin brings broad biochemical, biophysical and cell-based assay and screening expertise and has built and led teams in both early stage and large biotech companies.
Before joining Abiologics, Xin was the Associate Director of Biophysics and Screening at Radial Therapeutics where she led discovery efforts to identify small molecule modulators of RNA biology. Prior to Radial, Xin was Head of Assay Development and Screening at Walden Biosciences where she built out small molecule and biologics screening for kidney disease programs. Prior to Walden, Xin was the Head of Biochemistry and Screening at FogPharma. Xin began her industry career in the Discovery Assay group at Biogen and also spent time in the high throughput screening group at Forma Therapeutics.
Xin holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Brandeis University and completed postdoctoral training in Chemical Biology at Boston University.
Noubar Afeyan is founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. He is also co-founder and Board Chairman of Moderna.
Founded in 2000, Flagship is an enterprise where entrepreneurially-minded scientists invent seemingly unreasonable solutions to challenges facing human health and sustainability. They begin by asking “What if?” and iterate toward the unexpected answers resulting in the creation of first-in-category bioplatform companies with significant impact. Flagship has developed more than 100 scientific ventures resulting in over $100 billion in aggregate value, thousands of patents and patent applications, and more than 50 drugs in clinical development.
During his career as inventor, entrepreneur, and CEO, Noubar has cofounded and helped build over 70 life science and technology startups. Prior to founding Flagship Pioneering, Noubar was the founder and CEO of PerSeptive Biosystems, a leader in bio-instrumentation that grew to $100 million in annual revenues. After PerSeptive’s acquisition by Perkin Elmer/Applera Corporation in 1998, he became senior vice president and chief business officer of Applera, where he initiated and oversaw the creation of Celera Genomics.
In addition to his role at Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), the pioneering messenger RNA medicines company, he is also co-founder and Board Chairman of Generate:Biomedicines, Tessera Therapeutics, Alltrna, Apriori Bio, and ProFound Therapeutics. Previously, he was a member of the founding team, director, and investor in highly successful ventures including Chemgenics Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Millenium Pharmaceuticals), Color Kinetics (acquired by Philips), Adnexus Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb), and Affinnova (acquired by AC Nielsen).
Noubar entered biotechnology during its emergence as an academic field and industry, completing his doctoral work in biochemical engineering at MIT in 1987. He has written numerous scientific publications and is the inventor of over 100 patents. He was a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management from 2000 to 2016, and a lecturer at Harvard Business School until 2020. He teaches and speaks around the world on topics ranging from entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development to biological engineering, new medicines, and renewable energy.
Noubar’s commitment to improving the human condition through science and business goes hand in hand with social investments and a global humanitarian initiative. Together with his partners, he has launched philanthropic projects including the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, FAST Foundation, and the UWC Dilijan School. Noubar is a member of the Corporation of MIT (the Institute’s governing body) and a member of the board of trustees for the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Noubar was born in Beirut to Armenian parents in 1962, did his undergraduate work at McGill University in Montreal, and completed his Ph.D. in biochemical engineering at MIT in 1987. A passionate advocate of the contributions of immigrants to economic and scientific progress, Noubar received the Golden Door Award in 2017 from the International Institute of New England, in honor of his outstanding contributions to American society as a U.S citizen of foreign birth. He was also awarded a Great Immigrant honor from the Carnegie Corporation in 2016, received a Technology Pioneer award from the World Economic Forum in 2012, and was presented with the Ellis Island Medal of Honor in 2008. In 2022, Noubar was elected to the National Academy of Engineering.
Avak Kahvejian, Ph.D. is a life sciences inventor, entrepreneur, and CEO who has co-founded more than ten companies. Since 2011, he has been a partner at Flagship Pioneering, where he leads a team to invent and launch new therapeutic platforms. His work has led to the creation of multiple high-value public and private companies including Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ: MCRB), the first microbiome therapy platform; Ring Therapeutics (revolutionizing gene therapy with its commensal virome platform); Cellarity (designing medicines against the cell as opposed to a single molecular target); Laronde (a predecessor to Sail Biomedicines which pioneered endless RNA – eRNA™ – a new class of programmable medicines capable of expressing therapeutic proteins inside the body); Generate Biomedicines (pioneering Generative Biology™ to create breakthrough medicines); ProFound Therapeutics (pioneering the expanded human proteome); Ampersand Biomedicines (designing and programming medicines to act only where needed); Abiologics (reimagining biologics with Synteins™, a new class of supranatural medicines); Cygnal Therapeutics (now part of Sonata Tx, a company designing therapeutics that reprogram diseased cells to become the coordinators of cure); Rubius Therapeutics (red blood cell therapeutics); and Codiak BioSciences (engineered exosome therapeutics).
Avak served as founding President and CEO of Rubius from 2013 to 2017, as co-CEO of Generate from 2018 to 2021, and as founding CEO of Cellarity (2017 to 2020), Laronde (2017 to 2020), Ring (2017 to 2020), ProFound (2020 to 2023), Ampersand (2021 to 2023), and Abiologics (2021 to present). He is on the boards of Cellarity, Sail, and Ring and Chairman of Ampersand and ProFound.
Prior to Flagship, Avak was Vice President of Business Development at Helicos BioSciences. In this role, he developed and commercialized the world’s first single molecule DNA sequencer.
Avak serves as the Chairman of the Board of the International Institute of New England, an institution which creates opportunities for refugees and immigrants to succeed through resettlement, education, career advancement and pathways to citizenship. He is also on the Board of Genome Canada, the Advisory Board of the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST), and the McGill University Regional Advisory Board US.
Avak earned his Ph.D. and B.Sc. in Biochemistry from McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
Mike is Chief Innovation Officer as well as Co-Founder and member of the Founding Team of Abiologics where he leads and oversees the organization’s efforts in identifying, developing, and implementing breakthrough innovations. He also serves as Senior Principal at Flagship Pioneering where works as part of a team of entrepreneurial scientists exploring innovative ideas, developing the science, intellectual property, and business strategy that form the foundation of breakthrough startups and providing operational leadership through their early stages.
Prior to Flagship, Mike was VP and Head of Research at Axcella Therapeutics, a clinical-stage Flagship Pioneering company that aimed to develop a new approach to treat complex diseases and improve health using endogenous metabolic modulator (EMM) compositions. He joined Axcella in 2011 as part of the founding scientific team and gained experience across R&D while assuming positions of increasing responsibility and leadership, including leading the platform's innovative development and the company's IPO in 2019. During his tenure at Axcella, Mike led the conception and design of multiple novel assets, two of which advanced to late-stage therapeutic development. Mike is also an author on several published scientific articles foundational to the Axcella platform and an inventor on over a dozen granted patents.
Prior to Axcella, Mike gained diverse technical experience, including in structural biology at MIT, analytical sciences at Virdante Pharmaceuticals, and synthetic chemistry at Scynexis.
Mike holds a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Boston University and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Gettysburg College.
Kala Subramanian joined Flagship Pioneering in 2021 as an Operating Partner working with Flagship NewCos to increase value creation as well as drive operational and strategic initiatives. She brings broad expertise in strategic planning, operations, business development and licensing, and global program and portfolio management. Kala has held leadership positions in emerging biotech companies as well as large pharma.
Before joining Flagship, Kala was Chief of Staff, Head of Strategy and Business Development & Licensing at Ichnos Sciences. She led Ichnos’ separation from its parent company, developing the company’s corporate strategy and preparing for fundraising and due diligence necessary for external partnerships. Prior to Ichnos, Kala served as VP, Chief of Staff Oncology at Gilead Sciences/Kite Pharma and SVP, Head of Strategic Development and Operations at CRISPR Therapeutics. She spent 13 years at Novartis Pharmaceuticals in a variety of roles including VP, Global Head of Strategic Development, and Program Management in Oncology Global Development and Medical Affairs. She led the program and portfolio management, as well as strategic planning and budget management for a portfolio of over 25 compounds. Prior to Novartis, Kala worked at Accenture and Millennium.
Kala holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Cornell University, and completed postdoctoral research in cell biology at Duke University Medical Center.
Jaclyn Dunphy is a Co-Founder and Senior Director of Strategy and Research Operations at Abiologics. She brings expertise in scientific innovation, bioplatform development, business strategy, and operations.
Before joining Abiologics, Jaclyn was a Senior Associate at Flagship Pioneering, where she was part of a team of scientist-entrepreneurs that endeavor to create value by exploring areas of new biology and emerging technologies. Jaclyn’s work led to the creation of several Flagship-founded companies including Ampersand Biomedicines and Abiologics.
Jaclyn completed her doctoral studies in Neuroscience at Tufts University. Her graduate work investigated how astrocytes, a glial cell in the brain, contribute to information processing to enable learning and memory formation. Her graduate work elucidated contextual guidance cues that govern the release of D-serine, a non-canonical amino acid gliotransmitter from astrocytes onto neurons at the synapse. She was the recipient of a Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Fellowship (F31) during her studies. Jaclyn’s work has resulted in several patents and publications. While pursuing her academic research, Jaclyn was also involved in multiple entrepreneurial activities, including leading the Tufts Biomedical Business Club and participating in startup competitions.
Jaclyn holds a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Tufts University, a M.S. in Biomedical Sciences from Kent State University, and a B.S. in Biology from Xavier University in Ohio.
Alicia joined Flagship Pioneering in 2021 and works on venture creation at the convergence of machine learning and biology. She partners with entrepreneurial scientists to establish and build revolutionary biotechnology platform companies.
Before joining Flagship, Alicia was a Senior Data Scientist at Amgen. She led teams building machine learning models to improve patient outcomes using a wide variety of datasets, such as clinical trial results and electronic medical records. While at Amgen, Alicia worked with Kári Stefánsson at deCODE Genetics in Iceland to develop algorithms that stratify patient risk using multi-omic datasets. Alicia was part of the Amgen Ventures Operating Team, where she co-led investments and partnerships that deepened Amgen’s drug discovery and biomarker capabilities. Before Amgen, Alicia worked on the Novartis Strategic Venture Capital team to evaluate data-rich biotech startups.
Alicia earned her Ph.D. and M.Sc. at ETH Zurich in Biotechnology as an Excellence Scholar. During graduate school, she collaborated closely with clinicians to design personalized microfluidics-based diagnostic devices for drug repurposing studies on subtypes of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and developed software to measure cardiac arrhythmia on high-density microelectrode arrays. She holds a B.Sc. in Biological Engineering from MIT.
Bradley L. Pentelute is a Professor of Chemistry at MIT (https://pentelutelabmit.com). He is also an Associate Member, Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, an Extramural Member of the MIT Koch Cancer Institute, and Member, Center for Environmental Health Sciences MIT. He received his undergraduate degree in Psychology and Chemistry from the University of Southern California, and his M.S and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Chicago with Prof. Steve Kent. He was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. R. John Collier at Harvard Medical School, Microbiology. Bradley L. Pentelute has been recognized with several prestigious awards since 2013, including the Damon Runyon-Rachleff Innovation Award (2013), the Young Chemical Biologist Award from the International Chemical Biology Society (2013), the Sontag Distinguished Scientist Award (2013), the NSF CAREER Award (2014), the Sloan Research Fellowship in Chemistry (2015), the Novartis Early Career Award in Organic Chemistry (2015), the Amgen Young Investigator Award (2016), the Eli Lilly Award in Biological Chemistry (2018), and the Rao Makineni Lectureship from the American Peptide Society (2021).
Dr. Gevorg Grigoryan is the co-founder and Chief Technology Officer at Generate Biomedicines and has been on the faculty at Dartmouth College since 2011, holding positions across the departments of computer science, biological sciences, and chemistry. After receiving two bachelor’s degrees in computer science and biochemistry, he earned his PhD from MIT, specializing in computational protein design and modeling of protein interactions. Driven by a multidisciplinary approach, his work combines elements from biology, computer science, chemistry, math, and physics to develop novel technologies in protein design.
Gevorg’s research at Dartmouth, prior to co-founding Generate Biomedicines, focused on understanding the relationship between amino-acid sequence and structure, leading to breakthroughs in data-driven protein design. The founding of Generate Biomedicines in collaboration with Flagship Pioneering was the realization of Gevorg’s vision of a data-driven approach to therapeutics design powered by machine learning. As the founding CTO, Gevorg enjoys tackling challenging problems in molecular and therapeutic science alongside the incredibly talented team at Generate. With over 50 peer-reviewed papers and recognition from prestigious foundations and institutes such as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, NIH, NSF, and the American Cancer Society, his contributions have significantly impacted the field of protein science.
Anthony (Tony) is an independent advisor assisting innovative companies to develop novel therapeutics that benefit society. Over a 30-year career Tony has built and led drug discovery organizations across all sectors of the biopharmaceutical sector, from biotech startups to global pharma. Teams led by Tony have discovered multiple product candidates for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including novel biologics, peptides and small molecules. Tony was involved in the approvals of both Actemra and Rituxan for the treatment of Rheumatoid Arthritis, and several of the drug candidates he and his teams discovered are currently undergoing phase 3 clinical trials.
Most recently Tony was Chief Scientific Officer at Momenta Pharmaceuticals where he built a pipeline of first-in-class therapeutics for the treatment of autoantibody-driven diseases, with Nipocalimab, a best-in-class anti-FcRn monoclonal antibody, advancing into multiple phase 3 clinical trials. Momenta was acquired by Johnson & Johnson Corporation in 2020 for $6.5bn. Earlier in his career, Tony led global research and drug discovery efforts in Inflammation and Immunologic Diseases at Roche Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacia Corp., Biogen Idec and several early-stage biotechnology companies.
Tony serves as a Board Director for Monte Rosa Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GLUE) and Palatin Technologies (NYSE MKT: PTN), and is a founder and Chairman of the non-profit Institute for Biomedical Entrepreneurship. Tony also serves as a Scientific Advisor for several companies and Harvard Medical School’s Therapeutics Initiaitve. Tony received his PhD in Biochemistry and has contributed over 120 scientific publications and patents in the fields of autoimmune diseases, gene regulation and drug discovery.
Cristina M. Rondinone, Ph.D. is a senior executive and leader with more than 25 years of experience in the bio pharmaceutical industry with a record of successfully leading teams for the discovery and development of numerous medicines. She is Founder and CEO of Pep2Tango Therapeutics Inc., a new biotech company developing superior unimolecular multi-agonist peptides for obesity and related disorders. She is a Member of the Health Council at TECNALIA and former member of the Board of Directors at Axcella (AXLA).
Prior, Cristina served as President of Cellarity Inc. (a Flagship Pioneering company) and former Senior Vice President of AstraZeneca (Medimmune), Head of Research and Development of Cardiovascular, Metabolic and Renal Diseases where she led numerous programs that progressed from target identification to late-stage clinical trials. Prior to Astra-Zeneca, she held leadership positions at Hoffmann-La Roche where she led multiple programs, including the discovery of Rezdiffra, as well as at Abbott Laboratories.
Before joining the pharmaceutical industry, she was Associate Professor (Docent) of Molecular Medicine at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Buenos Aires. Her postdoctoral training was at the Laboratory of Cellular and Developmental Biology at NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, USA. Cristina has authored more than 80 scientific publications and 7 patents, and has been inducted as a Member of the Royal Academy of Pharmacy and Biochemistry, Spain.
Tomi is Chief Drug Hunter & President of Maestro Therapeutics, a consulting/advisory enterprise supporting peptide drug discovery, which he founded in 2019. Recently, Tomi founded the Peptide Drug Hunting Consortium which is committed to strengthening the interface of science and business for peptide drug discovery worldwide to support biotech, pharma, academia, contract R&D organizations, service providers and investors. Over the past 40+ years in pharma and biotech, Tomi’s career has included being a Distinguished Scientist at Merck, Chief Scientific Officer at Aileron, Senior Vice-President of Drug Discovery at Ariad (now Takeda), and Senior Director of Chemical Sciences at Pfizer as well as scientific leadership positions at its legacy companies, Upjohn and Parke-Davis. He is credited with several molecules which have advanced into clinical development and/or achieved FDA approval. He has >660 scientific publications, patents, and presentations. Tomi also served as past-President of the American Peptide Society and was co-Chair of the Eighteenth American Peptide Symposium (Boston).
Tomi holds a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of Arizona, and a B.Sc. in Chemistry from Minnesota State University Moorhead.
Melissa Starovasnik is an accomplished scientific leader in the fields of protein sciences,
including protein/antibody therapeutics and small-molecule drug discovery. She spent nearly three decades at Genentech in roles of increasing responsibility and was an integral member of the research leadership team. As Vice President, Protein Sciences and head of large-molecule drug discovery from 2011-2017, she was responsible for overseeing the discovery and optimization of more than 20 protein therapeutic candidates that progressed to clinical trials. Prior to that, as Vice President, Research Operations and Structural Biology, she coordinated all operational activities for the more than 1300-member Genentech research organization, while also leading the Structural Biology department and serving on the small molecule leadership team. Most recently, as Senior Scientific Advisor, Research, she focused on mentoring scientists and leaders, advancing diversity and inclusion, and evolving Genentech’s informatics infrastructure in support of large-molecule discovery. Currently, Dr. Starovasnik serves on the Board of Directors for Twist Bioscience and on the Scientific Advisory Boards for numerous biotechnology companies, among other advisory roles.
Dr. Starovasnik earned a B.S. in Chemistry and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington and has co-authored more than 70 scientific publications and patent applications. She was recognized with the "Genentech Women's Professional Development Award" in 2011, and as one of the San Francisco Business Times' "Most Influential Women in Business" in 2016.
