Lovisa Afzelius is an origination partner at Flagship Pioneering and the former SVP of Strategy & Operations at Flagship-founded Cogen Immune Medicines, now known as Repertoire Immune Medicines. A computational scientist by training, she has two decades of leadership experience and a passion for data-driven drug discovery, from early inception to clinical development across multiple therapeutic areas.

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. In addition, she served on Pfizer’s Worldwide R&D Data Strategy Committee.

In 2017, Lovisa co-founded Elsa.science, a digital health company in the rheumatoid arthritis space where she serves as chairman of the board. She also 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.

Lovisa 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: she was included in the top 100 ​“most influential persons under age 40 in Sweden” by Affärsvärlden, and ​“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 Ph.D. in computational chemistry from Uppsala University, a Master of Science in integrative pharmacology from Gothenburg University as well as an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Theonie is a principal at Flagship Pioneering where she conceives, builds and grows the science, intellectual property and business strategy that form the foundation of Flagship’s next breakthrough startups. She co-founded Alltrna and serves as its chief innovation officer. 

Prior to joining Flagship, Theonie completed her graduate studies in cell and molecular biology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Her research focused on replication fork dynamics in the context of cancer development and therapeutics. Theonie has received several awards and has been granted multiple fellowships for her academic work, including an NIH NRSA Predoctoral Fellowship. During her graduate studies, Theonie held multiple leadership positions on Executive and Curriculum Committees. She also completed a Wharton Business Foundations Specialization and was a mentor at the yearly Larta Institute NIH CAP FeedForward Sessions. 

Theonie is a Business Advisory Board member of the Harvard Institute for RNA Medicine and a member of the Bioscience & Investor Inclusion Group (BIIG) Diverse Talent Network Group. Theonie’s work has resulted in multiple pending patents and publications, including articles in Nature Biotechnology, Molecular Cell and Journal of Biological Chemistry.

91. tRNA therapies, Lovisa Afzelius, Founding CEO, Theonie Anastassiadis, Co-founder & CIO, Alltrna

Synopsis: 

We recorded this episode in December 2022 with Florian Brand and Srinivas Rao, the Co-Founders and CEO & CSO, respectively, of atai Life Sciences, a biopharmaceutical company that leverages a decentralized platform approach to incubate and accelerate the development of highly effective mental health treatments that address the unmet needs of patients, including psychedelics and digital therapeutics. Florian and Srinivas provide an overview of the neuropsychiatry landscape, the history of psychedelics within mental health, and the role COVID played in increasing mental health awareness. They also discuss the model at atai around drug development and how they approach tackling such a massive unmet need. Finally, Florian talks about how self-awareness can lead to healthier habits and decision-making, and the importance of investing in therapy.

Biography: 
Florian Brand is the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of atai Life Sciences. Prior to joining atai, Florian was starting and building user-centric technology companies as a serial entrepreneur.

Florian suffered from anxiety in his youth and was able to achieve remission through a combination of psychotherapy and robust meditation practice. It was ultimately his experiences seeing his friends and loved ones failed by the mental healthcare system that inspired him to join the movement to transform the treatment landscape for patients who have been unable to find relief in currently available therapies.

In 2022, Florian was recognized in Fortune’s 40 Under 40 list spotlighting influential individuals shaping business and Business Insider’s 30 Under 40 in Healthcare. Florian was also featured in Endpoint News’ list of 20 Under 40 Innovators in Biotech in 2021. He is a proud member of the Founders Pledge, a global community of mission-aligned entrepreneurs dedicated to doing good.

Srinivas Rao is the Chief Scientific Officer at atai Life Sciences. Dr. Rao has over 19 years of professional experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Prior to atai, Dr. Rao has held the titles of Chief Scientific, Medical, or Executive Officer at companies ranging from venture-backed startups to vertically-integrated, publicly-traded pharmaceutical companies.

Dr. Rao completed an internship in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. He received his Ph.D. in neurobiology from Yale Graduate School and his M.D. from Yale School of Medicine. He holds both a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Yale College and Yale Graduate School, respectively.

Mental health: psychedelics & beyond, Florian Brand, CEO, & Srinivas Rao, CSO, atai Life Sciences

Biotech2050 Podcast is a think tank chronicling the disruptions changing the biotech industry over the next 50 years.

Mental health: psychedelics & beyond, Florian Brand, CEO, & Srinivas Rao, CSO, atai Life Sciences

Biotech2050 Podcast

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