CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (MIT News) — Noubar Afeyan PhD ’87, an inventor and parallel entrepreneur with a penchant for bold ideas, will deliver the address at the OneMIT Commencement Ceremony on Thursday, May 30.
Afeyan is the founder and CEO of the venture creation company Flagship Pioneering, which founds companies that build biotechnology platforms to transform human health and sustainability. Since its founding in 2000, the company has built more than 100 science-based companies; Flagship-founded companies currently have more than 60 drugs in clinical development.
One of Afeyan’s most well-known successes is Moderna, which invented and produced an effective Covid-19 vaccine approved and deployed to billions of people in more than 70 countries. Currently the company’s chairman, he co-founded Moderna working with his team at Flagship and three academic co-founders in 2010, when the idea of using messenger RNA in therapies was virtually unheard of. But Afeyan has long been known for asking unconventional “What if?” questions and building companies with visionary goals. “Why wouldn’t you think you can actually change the world?” he said in a 2021 interview with Forbes.
“You might expect that after Moderna’s success in bringing lifesaving Covid-19 vaccines to the world, Noubar would rest on his laurels. But he isn’t that kind of entrepreneur,” says MIT President Sally Kornbluth. “In fact, he cautions that anyone seeking to benefit humanity on a large scale should avoid getting comfortable. He’s not afraid to make long-shot, long-term bets, investing in the most innovative science for the biggest impact. We are delighted to welcome Noubar to share his bold, dynamic outlook with the Class of 2024.”
“MIT is a place where audacious ideas abound, thanks in large part to its remarkable students. I’m thrilled to address the Class of 2024 as they prepare to make an impact in the world. We need their curiosity, imagination, inventiveness, courage, and determination — now more than ever,” Afeyan says.
A member of the MIT Corporation, Afeyan has a long relationship with the Institute. He earned his PhD in biochemical engineering at MIT in 1987 and was a senior lecturer at the MIT Sloan School of Management for 16 years, starting in 2000. Among other activities, he serves on the advisory board of the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning, and has spoken at numerous Institute events, including MIT Solve.
