Patrick Connelly

Patrick Connelly joined Flagship Pioneering as Chief Scientific Officer in Residence in 2024. Pat works with Flagship’s Pioneering Business Units and early-stage companies to explore emerging areas of science and to support the advancement and application of novel technologies to create new products to improve human and planetary health.

Pat is an entrepreneurial scientist who created and led several specialized R&D business units at Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he was also member of the leadership team responsible for management of the company’s drug discovery and development efforts. After establishing the unique Materials Discovery & Characterization development function at Vertex, Pat, his staff, and colleagues co-invented three first-in-class medicines—INCIVEK® for hepatitis C, and KALYDECO® and ORKAMBI® for cystic fibrosis—and co-authored the NDAs leading to their regulatory approvals. He also co-founded and led Vertex’s Corporate Innovation unit that catalyzed the company’s entry into Sickle Cell Disease and Beta Thalassemia leading to Casgevy®, a cell-based CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing therapy approved by the FDA.

Pat became a founding scientist at Vertex in 1990 following postdoctoral work in Chemistry at Yale University, graduate work in Chemistry & Biochemistry at the University of Colorado, and undergraduate work at the University of Oxford and St. Michael’s College. In the last 30 years, he has also served as board director or advisor for numerous private companies and nonprofit organizations.