CAMBRIDGE, Mass., June 14, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagship
Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, announced today
that Stephen Hahn, M.D. will help
lead its Preemptive Medicine and Health Security initiative as
Chief Medical Officer, and join Flagship's Senior Leadership Team,
effective June 16, 2021. Dr. Hahn
served as the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner from
2019–2021. Prior to joining the FDA, he was the Chief Medical
Executive, The University of Texas MD
Anderson Cancer Center.
During his time as the 24th Commissioner of the U.S. Food and
Drug Administration, Dr. Hahn led the 17,000+ person
agency that regulates approximately 20 percent of
consumer spending in the United States. He oversaw both COVID
and non-COVID regulatory affairs, including
therapeutics and vaccine development, devices,
diagnostics, and clinical trials.
"The COVID-19 pandemic brought into stark focus how important it
is to bring increased attention and investment to our health
security globally, and to preemptive medicine more broadly," said
Noubar Afeyan, Ph.D., Founder and
CEO of Flagship Pioneering. "We are delighted that Flagship will
benefit from Steve's clinical and administrative leadership in
helping us dimension and pursue our growing number of explorations
and companies in this emerging field."
"The importance of investing in innovation
and preemptive medicine has never been
more heightened," said Dr. Stephen
Hahn, former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner.
"In my career I have been a doctor and a researcher foremost and it
is an honor to join Flagship Pioneering in its efforts
to prioritize innovation, particularly in its Preemptive
Medicine and Health Security Initiative. The more we can
embrace a "what if …" approach the better we can support
and protect the health and well-being of people here in the US and
around the world."
About Dr. Stephen Hahn
Stephen Hahn, M.D., joins
Flagship Pioneering following two decades of distinguished
leadership in healthcare strategy, clinical experience, and
commercialization know-how.
Dr. Hahn, a well-respected oncologist, served as chief medical
executive in 2018 at the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center
in Houston prior to his FDA
appointment. He was named deputy president and chief operating
officer in 2017. In that role, he was responsible for the
day-to-day operations of the cancer center, which includes managing
more than 21,000 employees and a $5.2
billion operating budget. He was promoted to that position
two years after joining MD Anderson as division head, department
chair, and professor of Radiation Oncology. Prior to MD Anderson,
Dr. Hahn served as head of the radiation oncology department at the
University of Pennsylvania's Perelman
School of Medicine.
A 1980 Rice University graduate, Dr.
Hahn grew up in the Philadelphia
area. He earned his medical degree at Temple
University and was an internal medicine resident at the
University of California San Francisco
before completing a fellowship and residency at the National Cancer
Institute in Bethesda, Maryland.
He joined the University of
Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine as an assistant
professor in 1996 and rose to chair its radiation oncology
department from 2005.
About Flagship Pioneering
Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops
first-in-category bioplatform companies to transform human health
and sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, the firm has, through
its Flagship Labs unit, applied its unique hypothesis-driven
innovation process to originate and foster more than 100 scientific
ventures, resulting in over $90
billion in aggregate value. To date, Flagship has deployed
over $2.4 billion in capital toward
the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more
than $19 billion of follow-on
investments from other institutions. The current Flagship ecosystem
comprises 41 transformative companies, including Denali
Therapeutics (NASDAQ: DNLI), Indigo
Ag, Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Rubius Therapeutics (NASDAQ:
RUBY), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Seres Therapeutics
(NASDAQ: MCRB), and Valo Health.
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SOURCE Flagship Pioneering