The guest for the latest First Rounders podcast is Noubar Afeyan, founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering. He was born in Beirut, his family fled to Canada during the Lebanese Civil War, and he earned his PhD from MIT. This kind of background — uprooting and resettling — means he is familiar with confronting the unknown, and this has uniquely prepared him for building biotechs.

We discussed his experience immigrating to Montreal, how Flagship is trying to systematically drive innovation, and what is required to nurture completely new sets of knowledge. We also talked about the global pandemic, and how things might look different on the other side of it. 

The podcast can be found here, or wherever you get your podcasts.