Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D.

Ugur Sahin was born in Turkey and moved to Germany at age four, growing up in Cologne. He studied medicine at the University of Cologne, completing a doctoral thesis in cancer immunotherapy. He remained in academia as an oncohematology physician and researcher at university hospitals in Saarland and Zurich before establishing a research group at the University of Mainz in 2000 and becoming a professor of experimental oncology in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded Ganymed Pharmaceuticals with Ozlem Tureci and Christoph Huber, developing the monoclonal antibody zolbetuximab for gastrointestinal cancer. Ganymed was sold to Astellas Pharma in 2016 for over $436 million after demonstrating significant survival benefit in gastric cancer. Sahin's defining founding philosophy was the conviction that cancer treatment must be individualized because each patient's tumor is genetically unique—a insight developed through years of clinical practice watching standardized therapies fail.

Prof. Ugur Sahin, M.D. is the Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chair of the Management Board of BioNTech SE. Born in Turkey and raised in Germany, Sahin trained as a physician and immunologist, completing his medical doctorate at the University of Cologne with a focus on cancer immunotherapy. He held academic positions at Saarland University Medical Center, the University of Zurich, and the University of Mainz, where he established a research group in 2000 and became a professor of experimental oncology in 2006. In 2001, he co-founded Ganymed Pharmaceuticals with Ozlem Tureci and Christoph Huber, developing zolbetuximab for gastric and esophageal cancers. Ganymed was acquired by Astellas Pharma in 2016 for over $436 million after demonstrating significant overall survival benefit in a randomized clinical trial. Sahin launched BioNTech in 2008 to pursue individualized cancer immunotherapies based on mRNA technology, and in January 2020—weeks before the WHO pandemic declaration—he initiated 'Project Lightspeed' to develop an mRNA vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, leveraging two decades of platform development. Under his leadership, BioNTech developed the world's first approved mRNA medicine (Comirnaty) and is now pivoting the company toward oncology with over 20 active late-stage clinical trials. Sahin holds a minority interest in the listed company and has consistently emphasized that economic success is secondary to the scientific mission of improving patient outcomes. He is married to co-founder Ozlem Tureci.