About Us
Seres’ visionary team has been at the forefront of live biotherapeutics for over a decade.
Pioneering live biotherapeutics for serious diseases
Seres Therapeutics is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing new therapies comprised of rationally selected live bacteria consortia. We have a strong development pipeline and rigorous scientific underpinning. We are working to revolutionize treatment for a wide range of diseases by modulating the composition and function of the human microbiome.
We are an exceptional team of drug development and microbiome experts. Our leadership team, board of directors and scientific advisory board have vast experience in the discovery, development, regulatory approval, and successful commercialization of a wide range of therapeutic products.
Notably, our team pioneered the development and FDA approval of the first-ever oral live biotherapeutic, VOWST™, which was sold to Nestlé Health Science in September 2024.
Our mission is to transform the lives of patients worldwide with revolutionary live biotherapeutics.
Our leadership
team
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Eric Shaff is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Seres. Mr. Shaff was previously the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of Seres. He has over 20 years of experience working in leadership roles in biotechnology finance, corporate development and capital markets. Prior to joining Seres, he was Vice President, Corporate Finance, at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, where he helped manage Momenta’s accounting, finance, planning and procurement functions, as well as contributing to Momenta’s investor relations efforts. Prior to joining Momenta, Mr. Shaff was Vice President, Finance, of Genzyme’s Rare Genetic Disease Division, responsible for a global portfolio of products. Mr. Shaff held several positions at Genzyme in business unit finance, corporate finance and corporate development. Prior to Genzyme, Mr. Shaff worked in corporate finance at Pfizer and worked in investment banking for Broadview International (now Jefferies LLC). Mr. Shaff serves on the board of directors of Sigilon Therapeutics, Inc. Mr. Shaff earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in political science and economics and his MBA with a concentration in finance from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
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Thomas J. DesRosier is the Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary of Seres. He brings more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Seres, he served as Chief Legal and Administrative Officer at ARIAD Pharmaceuticals, and prior to that held the same position at Cubist Pharmaceuticals, where he led the negotiation of the acquisition of Cubist by Merck. Previous to that, he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, North America of Sanofi, a position he assumed in 2011 after Sanofi acquired Genzyme Corporation, where he was Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer. Prior to his 12-year tenure at Genzyme, Mr. DesRosier held senior legal positions at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, predecessor Genetic Institute, and E.I. DuPont de Nemours. Mr. DesRosier serves on the board of directors of Avanir Pharmaceuticals where he is Chairman of both the Audit Committee and Compliance Committee. He received his B.A. in chemistry from the University of Vermont and his J.D. from Wake Forest University School of Law.
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Matthew Henn is the Executive Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of Seres. He has over 20 years of combined research experience in microbial ecology, genomics and bioinformatics that spans both environmental and human disease applications. He has been involved in the discovery and clinical development of multiple microbiome therapeutics including all of Seres’ product candidates and has authored over 65 peer-reviewed publications. His research has focused on microbial physiology and the functional role of microbes in both environmental and human disease applications, and on the development of genomic and functional tools to study microbial systems. Prior to helping launch Seres in 2012, he was the Director of Viral Genomics and Assistant Director of the Genome Sequencing Center for Infectious Diseases at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. He has served on various NIH working groups on antimicrobial resistance and microbiome research, as a scientific advisor for NIH’s Viral Pathogen Bioinformatics Resource Center, and as an ad-hoc reviewer and editor of various peer-reviewed journals. He currently serves on the scientific advisory board of Growcentia, Inc., an agricultural microbiome company. Dr. Henn earned his B.S. in ecology and evolutionary sciences from the University of New Hampshire and his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a NASA Earth Systems Sciences Fellow, and trained as an NSF Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University.
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Lisa Von Moltke, M.D., is the Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Seres. She has extensive experience in directing successful development programs, leading clinical teams and interacting with regulatory agencies across multiple areas of medicine. Prior to joining Seres, Dr. Von Moltke worked for Alkermes, Inc., where she served in roles of increasing seniority, culminating as Senior Vice President and Head of Clinical Development. Prior to joining Alkermes, Dr. Von Moltke served as Vice President Clinical Pharmacology at Sanofi/Genzyme Corporation, where she also served as U.S. Head Clinical & Exploratory Pharmacology Sciences (CEP) and Early Development and later as Head CEP for Japan and China regions. Earlier in her career, Dr. Von Moltke served as Head, Translational Medicine for the Takeda Oncology Company. She has served as President of the American College of Clinical Pharmacology and as the Editor-in-Chief of The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Dr. Von Moltke earned a B.A. at Wellesley College and her M.D. from Michigan State University, College of Human Medicine.
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Marella Thorell is Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Seres Therapeutics. She is a seasoned finance and operations expert with over 25 years of experience leading capital strategy, financial planning, accounting operations and building finance organizations at public and private biotechs. She has led several financing transactions, IPO readiness programs, and M&A activities. Most recently Ms. Thorell served as the Chief Financial Officer of Evelo Biosciences. Prior roles include Chief Accounting Officer at Centessa Pharmaceuticals, Chief Financial Officer of Palladio Biosciences, prior to its acquisition by Centessa, and Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Realm Therapeutics. Ms. Thorell began her career at Ernst & Young, LLP, and later worked for Campbell Soup Company in roles of increasing responsibility in finance and human resources. She holds a B.S. in Business from Lehigh University. Ms. Thorell is a Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of ESSA Pharmaceuticals and was previously a director of Vallon Pharmaceuticals prior to its merger in 2023.
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Terri Young is the Executive Vice President, Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer at Seres Therapeutics. Prior to joining Seres, Dr. Young served as Vice President, Global Commercial Strategy at Sage Therapeutics, where she led development of Sage’s global commercial capabilities, including global marketing, insights and analytics and new product planning. Previously, she held commercial leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Bristol-Myers Squibb, culminating in her role as Vice President and General Manager, Cardiovascular, in which she led the global ELIQUIS® business to become the company’s largest product by revenue. Earlier in her career, Dr. Young held marketing and sales roles at GlaxoSmithKline, where she catalyzed growth for the company’s Urology, Diabetes and NeuroHealth organizations. Dr. Young received her B.S. in pharmacy and her Ph.D. in healthcare marketing from the University of South Carolina. Dr. Young is a member of the Women in Bio and Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association, and served on the Advisory Board of the Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association.
Board
of directors
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Eric Shaff
President, Chief Executive Officer
Eric Shaff is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Seres. Mr. Shaff was previously the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer of Seres. He has over 20 years of experience working in leadership roles in biotechnology, finance, corporate development, and capital markets. Prior to joining Seres, he was Vice President, Corporate Finance, at Momenta Pharmaceuticals, where he helped manage Momenta’s accounting, finance, planning, and procurement functions, as well as contributing to Momenta’s investor relations efforts. Prior to joining Momenta, Mr. Shaff was Vice President, Finance, of Genzyme’s Rare Genetic Disease Division, responsible for a global portfolio of products. Mr. Shaff held several positions at Genzyme in business-unit finance, corporate finance, and corporate development. Prior to Genzyme, Mr. Shaff worked in corporate finance at Pfizer and worked in investment banking for Broadview International (now Jefferies LLC). Mr. Shaff serves on the board of directors of Sigilon Therapeutics, Inc. Mr. Shaff earned his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania in political science and economics and his MBA with a concentration in finance from the Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University.
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Stephen Berenson
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Stephen Berenson is a Managing Partner at Flagship Pioneering and member of the firm’s Resource Allocation and Management Committees. Prior to Flagship, Mr. Berenson spent over 3 decades in various roles as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan. During his last 12 years at J.P. Morgan, Mr. Berenson was Vice Chairman of Investment Banking. He was also cofounder of J.P. Morgan’s Global Strategic Advisory Council and cofounder of the firm’s Board Initiative. Mr. Berenson is chairman of the board of directors of Cellarity, and he also serves on the boards of directors of Moderna, Inc. and Repertoire Immune Medicines.
Mr. Berenson earned his S.B. in mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. -
Dennis Ausiello, M.D.
Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School; Chair of Medicine, Emeritus at Massachusetts General Hospital
Dennis A. Ausiello is the Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He is concurrently the Director, Emeritus of the Harvard Medical School’s M.D./Ph.D. Program. Dr. Ausiello is also Chair of Medicine, Emeritus, and Director of the Center for Assessment Technology and Continuous Health (CATCH) at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Ausiello was the former Lead Director of the board of directors at Pfizer, Inc. Previously, Dr. Ausiello served as an editor of Cecil’s Textbook of Medicine. Dr. Ausiello serves on the boards of directors of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Rani Therapeutics Holdings, Inc., and previously served on the board of directors of Pfizer, where he currently serves on the advisory board. He received his B.S. from Harvard College and his M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. Throughout his career, Dr. Ausiello has made substantial contributions to the study of epithelial biology in the areas of membrane protein trafficking, ion channel regulation, and signal transduction, and has published numerous articles, book chapters, and textbooks.
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Paul Biondi
Executive Partner, Flagship Pioneering
Paul Biondi serves as Executive Partner and President of Pioneering Medicines at Flagship Pioneering where he has been since November 2019. Mr. Biondi joined Flagship Pioneering following a 17-year tenure at Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) where he was most recently the Senior Vice President of Strategy and Business Development. Prior to serving in the role of Senior Vice President of Strategy, from 2002 to 2015, Mr. Biondi held a series of other leadership roles within BMS’ Research and Development organization overseeing strategy, portfolio, and project management, as well as clinical and business operations. Mr. Biondi holds a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.
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Willard Dere, M.D. FACP
Associate Vice President for Research and Professor of Internal Medicine, University of Utah Health Sciences
Willard H. Dere, M.D., joined the University of Utah Health Sciences Center in November 2014 as the Executive Director of Personalized Health and Professor of Internal Medicine. He currently serves roles as Associate Vice President for Research, codirector of the Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science, and codirector of the Center for Genomic Medicine. Prior to rejoining academia, Dr. Dere was in the biopharmaceutical industry for 25 years, first at Eli Lilly, then at Amgen, where he was most recently Head of Global Development and Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Dere led the clinical development of raloxifene, rPTH 1-34, denosumab, and other drugs in a broad range of therapeutic areas. Dr. Dere serves on the boards of directors of BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc., Radius Health, and Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Dere received his undergraduate and medical degrees from the University of California, Davis, completed his internal medicine residency training at the University of Utah, and his postdoctoral training in endocrinology and metabolism at the University of California, San Francisco. He was awarded the 2008 Transformational Leadership Award from UC Davis School of Medicine, multiple teaching awards from the University of Utah School of Medicine, and is a fellow in the American College of Physicians.
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Kurt Graves
Executive Chairman, i20 Therapeutics, Former Chairman, President, and CEO, Intarcia Therapeutics, Inc.
Kurt Graves serves as Executive Chairman of i20 Therapeutics. Mr. Graves is the former Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Intarcia. Prior to joining Intarcia, Mr. Graves was EVP, Chief Commercial Officer, and Head of Corporate and Strategic Development at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Prior to his tenure at Vertex, he spent nearly 10 years at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, most recently as Global Head of the General Medicines Business & Chief Marketing Officer for the Pharmaceuticals division. Mr. Graves also previously held several commercial and general management positions at Merck and Astra Merck/Astra Pharmaceuticals, where he spent most of his time leading the GI Business Unit responsible for Prilosec and Nexium. Mr. Graves earned his B.S. in biology from Hillsdale College and has attended executive leadership programs at Harvard University, the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Management, and University of Michigan.
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Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D.
Director, Institute for Genome Sciences
Claire M. Fraser, Ph.D., is the director of the Institute for Genome Sciences and a Professor of Medicine and Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. From 1998 to 2007, she served as president and director of The Institute for Genomic Research, a not-for-profit research organization engaged in human and microbial genomics studies. Dr. Fraser has served on the board of directors of Becton, Dickinson, and Company since 2006, and previously served as the Chair of the Board and a director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Dr. Fraser received her bachelor’s degree in Biology from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from State University of New York-Buffalo.
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Richard Kender
Former Senior Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Licensing, Merck
Richard Kender most recently served as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Corporate Licensing at Merck. Mr. Kender spent his entire professional career at the company in various corporate roles of increasing responsibility. At Merck, Mr. Kender was involved in more than 100 business development and licensing transactions. Currently, he also serves on the boards of directors of Poxel, Bicycle Therapeutics PLC and ReViral Ltd. Mr. Kender earned his B.S. in accounting from Villanova University and his MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.
Scientific
advisory board
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Wendy Garrett, M.D.
Irene Heinz Given Professor of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Department of Immunology & Infectious Diseases, and Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Molecular Metabolism, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University; Professor of Medicine, Brigham & Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School
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Andrew Goodman, Ph.D.
C.N.H. Long Professor of Microbial Pathogenesis; Director of Microbial Sciences Institute; Chair, Department of Microbial Pathogenesis, Yale School of Medicine
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Curtis Huttenhower, Ph.D.
Professor of Computational Biology and Bioinformatics, Department of Biostatistics, and Faculty Affiliate in the Department of Immunology & Infectious Diseases, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University
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Jackie Papkoff, Ph.D.
Scientific Strategy, Drug Discovery & Development Consultant
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Cynthia Sears, M.D.
Professor of Medicine & Oncology, School of Medicine; Professor of Molecular Microbiology & Immunology, Bloomberg School of Public Health; Microbiome Program Lead Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, Johns Hopkins University
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Marcel van den Brink, M.D., Ph.D.
President, City of Hope Los Angeles and City of Hope National Medical Center; Chief Physician Executive and the Deana and Steve Campbell Chief Physician Executive Distinguished Chair