Mary Saunders

Mary Saunders joined Flagship Pioneering in 2024 as a Principal Scientist, Toxicology, for Pioneering Medicines. She is responsible for driving strategy and providing technical expertise in toxicology from discovery to development across our diverse drug discovery portfolio.

Before joining Flagship, Mary led scientific investigations at Janssen Research & Development, Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, working in the areas of Mechanistic and Investigative Toxicology for Discovery Sciences, Hematological and Immunological Toxicology, and Secondary Pharmacology for Predictive, Investigative, and Translational Toxicology. She contributed to the development and execution of safety strategies, utilizing biological, preclinical, and pharmacological evidence necessary to competitively position emerging modalities for regulatory and clinical acceptance. She also led the scientific and intelligence strategies for creating and developing Janssen Artificial Intelligence for early target discovery biology efforts and managed the Pre-Portfolio.

Mary completed a NIH T32 Postdoctoral Fellowship at Indiana University School of Medicine on Gene Therapy of Blood Diseases. She earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Pathology with Designated Emphases in Biotechnology and Translational Research from the University of California, Davis. She has also been the recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award, the NIH IMSD Fellowship, and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute IMBS Fellowship, among others. She holds an ED.M. from Harvard University, a M.S. from California State University Dominguez Hills, and an A.B. from the University of California at Berkeley.