Zain Kassam

Zain Kassam, MD, MPH, is the Chief Medical Officer at Seed Health, a microbiome science company, where he oversees the company's R&D portfolio. He is an entrepreneur, investor, senior biotechnology executive, and physician-scientist at the intersection of medicine, biological engineering, and computer science.

Dr. Kassam has played a pivotal role in the advancement of microbiome science for over a decade. Before joining Seed Health, he co-founded and was Chief Medical Officer at two foundational microbiome therapeutics companies, OpenBiome and Finch Therapeutics. At OpenBiome, he was instrumental in creating the first public stool bank, setting a new standard for safe fecal microbiota transplantation, and pioneering clinical research in the microbiome. At Finch Therapeutics, he led two landmark positive Phase II trials and the company through its NASDAQ IPO.

Dr. Kassam has served as a Scientific Advisory Board member for the American Gastroenterological Association Center for Gut Microbiome Research & Education, and as Co-Chair of the Chief Medical Officer 360 Degree Summit, where he facilitated knowledge translation to clinicians. He is a mentor at Creative Destruction Labs, an investment committee member of the UCeed Health and Child Health Funds, and a steering committee member of the national MaRS-adMare Therapeutic Accelerator. He has experience with diverse technologies serving on the Board or as an advisor to venture capital firms, foundations, and private healthcare companies.

Dr. Kassam received the 2020 Public Health Innovator Award from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; was named to the Top 40 under 40 Healthcare Innovator List by MedTech in 2016; and received the Young Alumni Award from Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in 2017 for pioneering innovations in public health. He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed publications and abstracts, including in leading journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature Biotechnology, and Gastroenterology, and has been featured on PBS, CNN, BBC, The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and in numerous other media outlets. Ranked among the top 10 researchers in the world in this field of expertise by independent expert assessment platform Expertscape, Dr. Kassam is an inventor on over 15 patent applications or patents.

Dr. Kassam received his MPH degree from Harvard University with a focus on clinical trials on a Frank Knox Memorial Fellowship, and completed his post-doctoral training in biological engineering/AI at MIT. He was awarded his MD from Western University in London, Canada.