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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 Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵAPP, 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 – eRNAâ„¢ – a new class of programmable medicines capable of expressing therapeutic proteins inside the body); Generate Biomedicines (pioneering Generative Biologyâ„¢ 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 Synteinsâ„¢, 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.