Craig Coburn
Senior Vice President, Head of Chemistry, Pioneering Medicines

Craig Coburn joined Flagship Pioneering in 2024 as Senior Vice President, Head of Chemistry for Pioneering Medicines. Craig is responsible for bringing medicinal chemistry expertise to contribute to the strategic direction, management, and operational execution of the Pioneering Medicines drug discovery portfolio.
Craig is an accomplished research and development leader with over 30 years of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery experience in biotech, CRO and large pharma organizations. Prior to joining Flagship, Craig led the chemistry departments at Trotana Therapeutics, Gossamer Bio, and Silverback Therapeutics. He began his career with Merck Research Labs where he designed and developed several early-stage clinical compounds against several neuroscience and infectious disease targets. His work earned him the American Chemical Society’s Hero of Chemistry award in 2017 for the invention of ZEPATIER®, a once-daily fixed-dose combination tablet for the curative treatment of chronic HCV infection.
Craig has co-founded two companies and has developed the foundational platform chemistry for several start-up companies as a consultant and scientific advisor. He has authored/co-authored over 40 publications and is an inventor on over 110 patents and patent applications across multiple therapeutic areas.
Craig received a B.A. in Chemistry from Gettysburg College, a Ph.D. in Chemistry from Brown University, and completed postdoctoral training at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
