Prologue

Lovisa Afzelius is a general partner at Flagship Pioneering and leads one of Flagship’s Business Units. A computational scientist by training, she brings to Flagship two decades of leadership experience and a passion for data-driven drug discovery. Lovisa has served as CEO, co-founder, president, board chairman, and executive director, in emerging biotech and large pharma companies. She joined Flagship as an origination partner in early 2020, leading innovation as founding CEO of Alltrna, founding CEO and board chair of World Economic Forum 2023 Technology Pioneer Apriori Bio, co-founder and founding CEO of Metaphore Biotechnologies, and co-founder and CEO of Prologue Medicines.

Previously, Lovisa built and led Pfizer’s systems immunology function and served as executive director of clinical programs. In this role, she launched several Phase II studies across autoimmune indications and as a member of the Inflammation & Immunology Research Unit leadership team, Lovisa co-managed the portfolio from early target discovery to Phase II clinical trials across all immunological assets leading to several drugs currently on the market. In addition, she served on Pfizer’s Worldwide R&D Data Strategy Committee.

Lovisa serves on the board of the Swedish New England Chamber of Commerce. Before moving to the US in 2013, Lovisa was CEO of BioChromix Pharma. In 2017, Lovisa co-founded Elsa.science, a digital health company in the rheumatoid arthritis space where she also served as a board member. She began her career at AstraZeneca as Project Director, Global In Vitro Metabolism Leader and Computational Chemist across cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Lovisa has received numerous accolades for her work: In 2024, she was recognized on Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 250 List, in 2023, she was named to the PharmaVoice 100 list of life science industry leaders, and in 2022, she was named one of the Top Women in Biopharma by Endpoints. She was included in the top 100 “most influential persons under age 40 in Sweden” by Affärsvärlden, and awarded “scientist of tomorrow” at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations’ 30th anniversary. Lovisa received the Rosenön Award for best thesis of the year within the field of pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetics in Sweden.

Lovisa holds a PhD in computational chemistry from Uppsala University, a Master of Science in integrative pharmacology from Gothenburg University as well as an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Theonie Anastassiadis is Founding President of Prologue Medicines and a Senior Principal at Flagship Pioneering where she conceives, builds and grows Flagship’s next breakthrough startups. Prior to joining Prologue Medicines, she was a co-Founder and member of the founding team of the tRNA platform company Alltrna where she also served as Chief Innovation Officer.

Theonie ’s work has resulted in 15+ published patent applications and numerous publications, including articles in Nature Biotechnology, Molecular Cell, and Journal of Biological Chemistry. She was honored in 2022 in Endpoints News' 20 under 40 list of the next generation of biotech leaders and in Boston Business Journal' 40 under 40 list for successful professionals giving back to their community. She is a Business Advisory Board member of the Harvard Institute for RNA Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology with a focus in Cancer Biology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Hozefa Bandukwala is Vice President and Science Partner at Flagship Pioneering and currently serves as Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Prologue, in addition to interim chief scientific officer at Apriori Bio. Prior to joining Flagship, he served as vice president of platform biology at Sigilon Therapeutics. Prior to that, he was the senior director and head of discovery biology at Rheos Medicines. Before Rheos, Hozefa served as head of the immunometabolism laboratory at Pfizer where he pioneered novel target discovery in the field of immunometabolism. Hozefa earned a BS in biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and a PhD in immunology from University of Chicago. His postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University focused on epigenetic and metabolic regulation of T cell functions.

Raj Chopra, MD, PhD, serves as Chief Scientific Officer at Prologue Medicines. Most recently, he was Chief Medical Officer of Marengo Therapeutics and Head of Oncology/Venture Partner at ATP (Apple Tree Partners). His previous roles include Corporate Vice President of Translational and Early Drug Development at Celgene, where he led a team of more than 100 scientists, and leadership positions in AstraZeneca’s Oncology Therapeutics group. Dr. Chopra also directed the Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, leading one of the largest academic drug discovery groups globally.

Dr. Chopra trained in medicine at University College London, where he earned his MD and PhD in medicine, cell and molecular biology. He is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, the Royal College of Pathologists, and the Royal Society of Biology.

Leonardo Rodrigues serves as Vice President of Machine Learning & Computational Biology at Prologue Medicines, where he defines the data and modeling strategy for the DELVE® platform. Before joining Prologue, he led bioinformatics, data, software, and pipeline engineering at Sanofi, where he launched a global proteomics platform and served as proteomics scientific advisor to the Open Targets consortium. Previously, he was Vice President of AI & Machine Learning at Olaris and, earlier in his career, Leonardo spent a decade at BPGbio (formerly BERG), rising to Executive Vice President of AI/ML & Head of IT, where he built analytics infrastructures, oversaw analytics strategy across R&D and clinical programs, and delivered AI-based solutions in collaboration with partners across industry, academia, and government. Leonardo earned a Ph.D. in Biochemistry/Bioinformatics from the University of São Paulo and completed postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research at MIT.

Renee is Head of Strategy and Operations at Prologue and brings nearly 20 years of expertise at the intersection of science, strategy, and execution.

Throughout her career, Renee has built a reputation for driving innovation and growth by bridging scientific discovery with strategic business leadership. She has led high-impact initiatives across business development, program and portfolio strategy, and organizational leadership, consistently shaping portfolios and guiding teams through complex challenges in drug discovery and development.

Before joining Prologue, Renee was Head of Program Strategy at Enveda Biosciences, where she spearheaded transformational partnerships and strategic initiatives to accelerate pipeline innovation. She has also held senior leadership roles at Cyclerion Therapeutics, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. 

Lovisa Afzelius is a general partner at Flagship Pioneering and leads one of Flagship’s Business Units. A computational scientist by training, she brings to Flagship two decades of leadership experience and a passion for data-driven drug discovery. Lovisa has served as CEO, co-founder, president, board chairman, and executive director, in emerging biotech and large pharma companies. She joined Flagship as an origination partner in early 2020, leading innovation as founding CEO of Alltrna, founding CEO and board chair of World Economic Forum 2023 Technology Pioneer Apriori Bio, co-founder and founding CEO of Metaphore Biotechnologies, and co-founder and CEO of Prologue Medicines.

Previously, Lovisa built and led Pfizer’s systems immunology function and served as executive director of clinical programs. In this role, she launched several Phase II studies across autoimmune indications and as a member of the Inflammation & Immunology Research Unit leadership team, Lovisa co-managed the portfolio from early target discovery to Phase II clinical trials across all immunological assets leading to several drugs currently on the market. In addition, she served on Pfizer’s Worldwide R&D Data Strategy Committee.

Lovisa serves on the board of the Swedish New England Chamber of Commerce. Before moving to the US in 2013, Lovisa was CEO of BioChromix Pharma. In 2017, Lovisa co-founded Elsa.science, a digital health company in the rheumatoid arthritis space where she also served as a board member. She began her career at AstraZeneca as Project Director, Global In Vitro Metabolism Leader and Computational Chemist across cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurodegenerative diseases.

Lovisa has received numerous accolades for her work: In 2024, she was recognized on Inc. Magazine’s Female Founders 250 List, in 2023, she was named to the PharmaVoice 100 list of life science industry leaders, and in 2022, she was named one of the Top Women in Biopharma by Endpoints. She was included in the top 100 “most influential persons under age 40 in Sweden” by Affärsvärlden, and awarded “scientist of tomorrow” at the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations’ 30th anniversary. Lovisa received the Rosenön Award for best thesis of the year within the field of pharmacodynamics/pharmacokinetics in Sweden.

Lovisa holds a PhD in computational chemistry from Uppsala University, a Master of Science in integrative pharmacology from Gothenburg University as well as an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

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 Omega Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OMGA), 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.

Theonie Anastassiadis is Founding President of Prologue Medicines and a Senior Principal at Flagship Pioneering where she conceives, builds and grows Flagship’s next breakthrough startups. Prior to joining Prologue Medicines, she was a co-Founder and member of the founding team of the tRNA platform company Alltrna where she also served as Chief Innovation Officer.

Theonie ’s work has resulted in 15+ published patent applications and numerous publications, including articles in Nature Biotechnology, Molecular Cell, and Journal of Biological Chemistry. She was honored in 2022 in Endpoints News' 20 under 40 list of the next generation of biotech leaders and in Boston Business Journal' 40 under 40 list for successful professionals giving back to their community. She is a Business Advisory Board member of the Harvard Institute for RNA Medicine. She received her Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology with a focus in Cancer Biology from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

Hozefa Bandukwala is Vice President and Science Partner at Flagship Pioneering and currently serves as Co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Prologue Medicines, in addition to interim chief scientific officer at Apriori Bio. Prior to joining Flagship, he served as vice president of platform biology at Sigilon Therapeutics. Prior to that, he was the senior director and head of discovery biology at Rheos Medicines. Before Rheos, Hozefa served as head of the immunometabolism laboratory at Pfizer where he pioneered novel target discovery in the field of immunometabolism. Hozefa earned a BS in biotechnology from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay and a PhD in immunology from University of Chicago. His postdoctoral fellowship at Harvard University focused on epigenetic and metabolic regulation of T cell functions.