About
Developing the right medicines for the right time
What if we could detect disease and preempt progression before it becomes too late?
In our healthcare system today, diseases are diagnosed too late, often when they are already irreversible. This reactive paradigm, more akin to “sickcare” than healthcare, results in ineffective treatments and inevitable patient decline.
However, at Etiome, we now know that many diseases begin to cause damage to the body well before any symptoms become apparent, resulting in a patient journey that does not match the underlying journey of their disease.
By characterizing and treating patients with “silent-stage” disease – early disease with measurable molecular and cellular signatures but without outward symptoms – Etiome is creating true preemptive healthcare where debility is prevented, morbidity is reduced, healthcare costs and burdens are lower and, ultimately, healthy and productive lifespans are extended.
Origins
The name Etiome (EH-tee-ohm) emerged from the fusion of two powerful scientific concepts: etiology, or the cause of a disease, and omics, or the large-scale exploration of biological systems.
The combination reflects the company’s mission to develop the tools, insights, and medicines needed to create a true preemptive healthcare system that prioritizes long-term health and well-being. Originating from Flagship Pioneering's Preemptive Health and Medicine initiative, an effort aimed at pioneering a new field to protect, maintain, or improve people's health before they get sick, Etiome was founded in 2021 with a vision of a healthier future.
Team
Leadership
Avak Kahvejian, Ph.D.
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.
Yann Echelard, Ph.D.
Yann Echelard, 61, has served on our Board since November 2012. Dr. Echelard, current Operating Partner at Flagship Pioneering, has over 30 years of research and biopharmaceutical experience. Dr. Echelard holds a Ph.D. from Université de Montréal and has completed post-doctoral studies at Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research in Montreal (McGill University). As a visiting scientist at the Roche Institute and at Harvard University (Developmental Biology), he had a key role in the isolation and characterization of the Hedgehog genes, the first identified vertebrate morphogens. From 1994 to 2010, he progressed through various positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Transgenics Corporation and at GTC Biotherapeutics, including Vice President of Research and Development, Vice President of Corporate and Technology Development, and President. In 1998, he led the scientific team that first performed goat somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning). In January of 2013, Dr. Echelard became the President and Chief Executive Officer of rEVO Biologics, Inc., the successor of GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc., a position he held until April 2018. Since joining Flagship Pioneering in 2018, Dr. Echelard has successively served as Founding President of Ring Therapeutics and Cellarity, as well as President and Co-Founder of Laronde (now Sail), ProFound Therapeutics, and Ampersand biomedicines. Based on Mr. Echelard’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience, as well as his extensive management experience, the Board of Directors believes that Mr. Echelard has the appropriate set of skills to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of TG Therapeutics.
Scott Lipnick, Ph.D.
Scott Lipnick joined Flagship Pioneering in 2021. As an origination partner, he leads a team of entrepreneurs responsible for originating and growing Preemptive Health and Medicine. These companies focus on detecting and intervening against major diseases before traditional clinical diagnosis or significant changes in symptomology occur.
Prior to Flagship, Scott served as the vice president of life and data science at PatientsLikeMe – initially a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group R&D and later Optum Ventures – where his team focused on generating and analyzing real-world and multi-omics data collected from individuals at key inflection points in disease onset and progression.
Before entering industry, Scott was a faculty member at the Harvard School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health. He also held affiliate positions at the Broad Institute, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. His research aimed to extract value from data captured within insurance claims, electronic health records, and genomics using machine learning and artificial intelligence. Scott’s publications relate to advancing the understanding of disease onset and progression, identifying people at risk of disease before major clinical presentation, determining who will respond to a given intervention, and exploring druggable pathways that underlie specific forms of disease.
Scott received his B.S in Physics and Economics from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his graduate studies, he was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine.
Katharine von Herrmann, Ph.D.
Katharine is a co-founder of Etiome, and a principal at Flagship Pioneering where she works as part of a team of entrepreneurial scientists to explore new areas of biology and develop the science, intellectual property, and business strategy that form the foundation of Flagship’s life science ventures. Katharine is primarily focused on origination supporting Flagship’s Preemptive Health and Medicine initiative.
Before joining Flagship in 2020, Katharine earned her Ph.D. in Experimental and Molecular Medicine at Dartmouth. Her research focused on delineating the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underly the progression of Parkinson’s disease, and in doing so investigated the role of the NLRP3 inflammasome in neuroinflammation. Katharine was also a Healthcare Fellow for Borealis Ventures in Hanover, NH. Prior to her graduate studies, Katharine worked at the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, where she supported preclinical and clinical development of therapeutics for SMA.
Katharine holds a Ph.D. in Experimental and Molecular Medicine from the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies at Dartmouth. She received an M.S. in Biological Sciences and a B.A. in Biochemistry from Smith College.
Founding Team
Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D.
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 100 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. 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.
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.
Torben Straight Nissen, Ph.D.
Torben Straight Nissen is an Executive Partner at Flagship Pioneering and the CEO of Repertoire Immune Medicines. In his role at Flagship, he contributes to the company’s strategic and operational objectives, including establishing its Preemptive Health and Medicine initiative and providing executive leadership to portfolio companies such as Rubius Therapeutics and Generate:Biomedicines. He currently serves on the board of Repertoire Immune Medicines and Etiome.
Torben has provided executive and R&D leadership to biotech and pharmaceutical companies for more than 20 years. Prior to joining Flagship, Torben was at Pfizer where he headed up Strategic Portfolio Management for the company’s worldwide R&D organization. In this role, he oversaw Pfizer’s portfolio, spanning from discovery to Phase 2b across Pfizer’s 300+ programs in all major therapeutic areas. Earlier in his career, Torben served as Chief Operating officer for Ascendis Pharma (Nasdaq: ASND) and Managing Director for Maxygen Inc.
Torben is a co-author or co-inventor of more than 100 publications and published patents. He holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology and biochemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and Carlsberg Laboratories and a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark.
Yann Echelard, Ph.D.
Yann Echelard, 61, has served on our Board since November 2012. Dr. Echelard, current Operating Partner at Flagship Pioneering, has over 30 years of research and biopharmaceutical experience. Dr. Echelard holds a Ph.D. from Université de Montréal and has completed post-doctoral studies at Ludwig Institute of Cancer Research in Montreal (McGill University). As a visiting scientist at the Roche Institute and at Harvard University (Developmental Biology), he had a key role in the isolation and characterization of the Hedgehog genes, the first identified vertebrate morphogens. From 1994 to 2010, he progressed through various positions of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Transgenics Corporation and at GTC Biotherapeutics, including Vice President of Research and Development, Vice President of Corporate and Technology Development, and President. In 1998, he led the scientific team that first performed goat somatic cell nuclear transfer (cloning). In January of 2013, Dr. Echelard became the President and Chief Executive Officer of rEVO Biologics, Inc., the successor of GTC Biotherapeutics, Inc., a position he held until April 2018. Since joining Flagship Pioneering in 2018, Dr. Echelard has successively served as Founding President of Ring Therapeutics and Cellarity, as well as President and Co-Founder of Laronde (now Sail), ProFound Therapeutics, and Ampersand biomedicines. Based on Mr. Echelard’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience, as well as his extensive management experience, the Board of Directors believes that Mr. Echelard has the appropriate set of skills to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of TG Therapeutics.
Scott Lipnick, Ph.D.
Scott Lipnick joined Flagship Pioneering in 2021. As an origination partner, he leads a team of entrepreneurs responsible for originating and growing Preemptive Health and Medicine. These companies focus on detecting and intervening against major diseases before traditional clinical diagnosis or significant changes in symptomology occur.
Prior to Flagship, Scott served as the vice president of life and data science at PatientsLikeMe – initially a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group R&D and later Optum Ventures – where his team focused on generating and analyzing real-world and multi-omics data collected from individuals at key inflection points in disease onset and progression.
Before entering industry, Scott was a faculty member at the Harvard School of Medicine, Department of Biomedical Informatics and the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health. He also held affiliate positions at the Broad Institute, the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and the Harvard University Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology. His research aimed to extract value from data captured within insurance claims, electronic health records, and genomics using machine learning and artificial intelligence. Scott’s publications relate to advancing the understanding of disease onset and progression, identifying people at risk of disease before major clinical presentation, determining who will respond to a given intervention, and exploring druggable pathways that underlie specific forms of disease.
Scott received his B.S in Physics and Economics from Brandeis University and his Ph.D. in Biomedical Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. Following his graduate studies, he was an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow at the NIH Center for Regenerative Medicine.
Katharine von Herrmann, Ph.D.
Katharine is a co-founder of Etiome, and a principal at Flagship Pioneering where she works as part of a team of entrepreneurial scientists to explore new areas of biology and develop the science, intellectual property, and business strategy that form the foundation of Flagship’s life science ventures. Katharine is primarily focused on origination supporting Flagship’s Preemptive Health and Medicine initiative.
Before joining Flagship in 2020, Katharine earned her Ph.D. in Experimental and Molecular Medicine at Dartmouth. Her research focused on delineating the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underly the progression of Parkinson’s disease, and in doing so investigated the role of the NLRP3 inflammasome in neuroinflammation. Katharine was also a Healthcare Fellow for Borealis Ventures in Hanover, NH. Prior to her graduate studies, Katharine worked at the Spinal Muscular Atrophy Foundation, where she supported preclinical and clinical development of therapeutics for SMA.
Katharine holds a Ph.D. in Experimental and Molecular Medicine from the Guarini School of Graduate and Advanced Studies at Dartmouth. She received an M.S. in Biological Sciences and a B.A. in Biochemistry from Smith College.
