Stephen Wilson

Stephen Wilson joined Flagship Pioneering in 2025 as Director of Drug Discovery and Translational Research, where he drives translational strategy for programs approaching the clinic and leverages translational/clinical datasets for target ideation.

Earlier in his career, Stephen worked at the Novartis Institute for Biomedical Research, where he studied molecular drug mechanisms across therapeutic landscapes. In graduate school, he led some of the initial work illuminating cGAS-STING signaling in humans. His post-doctoral studies focused on elucidating genes of unknown function critical for cellular metabolism and RNA-based strategies for targeting neurodegeneration. Following his time in academia, he worked at Celgene-Bristol Myers Squibb for seven years, leading programs within their autoimmune disease portfolio. During this time, he also led multiple research alliances, mentored numerous scientists across functions, and continued his track record of impactful scientific publications.

Stephen has published papers in the areas of immunology, biochemistry, cellular biology, and structural biology, including first/corresponding author publications in Nature Communications, Molecular Cell, and PNAS. Stephen is also the co-inventor on patents that fueled the Aduro-Novartis cancer immunotherapy partnership, which led to Phase II clinical trials.

Stephen completed his postdoctoral training at the Whitehead Institute. He received his Ph.D. from the University of California-Berkeley and two additional degrees, an M.S. and a B.A., from Brandeis University.