Noubar Afeyan
CEO, Flagship Pioneering
Dr. Noubar Afeyan, is the founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, an enterprise where entrepreneurially minded scientists invent pioneering solutions to improve human health, nutrition, and sustainability. Dr.
Afeyan is a lecturer at Harvard Business School; and from 2000 to 2016 was a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan
School of Management where he taught courses on technology-entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership.
He teaches and speaks around the world on topics ranging from entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic
development to biological engineering, new medicines, and renewable energy.
Dr. Afeyan has co-founded and helped build over 50 life science and technology startups during his career as
an inventor, entrepreneur, and CEO. He was founder and CEO of PerSeptive Biosystems, a leader in bioinstrumentation that grew to $100 million in annual revenues. Aer 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.
Dr. Afeyan currently serves on the boards of a number of public and private Flagship companies in addition to
YourBio Health, including Moderna, Rubius Therapeutics, Cellarity, Omega Therapeutics, Tessera Therapeutics,
and others. Previously, he was a member of the founding team, director and investor in several highly
successful ventures including Chemgenics Pharmaceuticals (acquired by Millennium Pharmaceuticals), Color
Kinetics (acquired by Philips), Adnexus Therapeutics (acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb) and Affinnova
(acquired by AC Nielsen).
Dr. Afeyan 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.