Torben Straight Nissen

Director at Axcella

Torben Straight Nissen is joining the board of directors in 2022 for the first time. He is a Senior Partner at Flagship Pioneering where he is responsible for company creation and maturation in the new medical field of Preemptive Health and Medicine. Dr. Straight Nissen joined Flagship Pioneering in 2016 where he initially served as President of Rubius Therapeutics and established the company as a pioneering cell therapy company with a broad product pipeline, a strong 200-person R&D organization, and a solid financial position following the company’s IPO in 2018.

Dr. Straight Nissen has provided executive and R&D leadership to biotech and pharmaceutical companies for more than 20 years. Prior to joining Flagship, he 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 2b across Pfizer’s 300+ programs in all major therapeutic areas. Earlier in his career, Dr. Straight Nissen served as Chief Operating officer for Ascendis Pharma (Nasdaq: ASND) and Managing Director for Maxygen Inc.