Torben Straight Nissen is an experienced biotech entrepreneur and has been leading company formation and growth initiatives at Flagship Pioneering since joining the firm in 2016. He serves as an executive partner at Flagship Pioneering, contributing to its strategic and operational objectives, including establishing its Preemptive Health and Medicine initiative and providing executive leadership to portfolio companies such as Rubius Therapeutics and Generate Biomedicines. He currently serves on the board of Repertoire Immune Medicines and Flagship Labs 84.

Torben has provided executive and R&D leadership to biotech and pharmaceutical companies for more than 20 years. Prior to joining Flagship, Torben was at Pfizer where he headed up Strategic Portfolio Management for the company’s worldwide R&D organization. In this role, he oversaw ­­Pfizer’s portfolio, spanning from discovery to Phase 2 across Pfizer’s 300+ programs in all major therapeutic areas. Earlier in his career, Torben served as Chief Operating Officer for Ascendis Pharma (Nasdaq: ASND) and as Managing Director for Maxygen Inc.

Torben is a co-author or co-inventor of more than 100 publications and published patents. He holds a PhD in molecular biology and biochemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark and Carlsberg Laboratories and a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the Technical University of Denmark.