David L. Lucchino is the President, CEO and Co-Founder of Frequency Therapeutics, Inc., and is a member of its Board of Directors.  Frequency Therapeutics is a regenerative medicine company focused on developing therapeutics to activate a person’s innate potential to restore function within the body. The Company’s lead program is for remyelination in multiple sclerosis (MS) and is designed to activate oligodendrocyte progenitor cells in the central nervous system to generate new oligodendrocytes and regenerate myelin, potentially repairing damage caused by MS.

Frequency’s scientific approach originated in the labs of MIT Institute Professor Roberts S. Langer, who is also a company co-founder. The Company’s initial focus was on advancing small molecule therapeutics to restore hearing in patients with sensorineural hearing loss. The Company advanced two hearing restoration assets into clinical studies, data from which was published in Otology & Neurotology.  During that time, David secured three rounds of private funding, which led to a successful initial public offering in 2019. He also entered into a global pharmaceutical partnership with Astellas Pharma in a deal valued at $625, which included an $80M upfront payment.

Prior to Frequency, David co-founded Semprus BioSciences (also with Dr. Langer). Over seven years at Semprus, he led the financing, strategy and ultimately FDA marketing and European CE marketing clearance of a product to reduce blood clotting on medical devices. Semprus was acquired by Teleflex (NYSE: TFX) in 2012.  Previously, David worked at the Boston-based venture capital firm Polaris Partners, where he focused on healthcare investing. He began in the life sciences as a co-founder at LaunchCyte, a biotechnology investment entity backed by the University of Pittsburgh and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. LaunchCyte has founded and backed numerous companies. These include a portfolio firm that partnered with Biogen on the development of a clinical stage candidate for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and a contract research organization, Reaction Biology, that was sold last year to a private equity firm.

As past Chairman of MassBio, a 1500-member biotechnology trade association based in Cambridge, MA, David led several key initiatives including the founding of “Project Onramp,” a first-of-its-kind program to provide opportunities within life science companies for student from underserved communities. Over the past four years, Project Onramp has served hundreds of students and has expanded to Philadelphia, San Francisco, and New York City. David was appointed by former Governor Charlie Baker to the Massachusetts STEM Advisory Council and is member of the College of Fellows for the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering. He is on the boards of the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the National Outdoor Leadership School (NOLS) and was part of a NOLS expedition that summited Denali.

David earned a B.A. from Denison University, an M.S. from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and an M.B.A. from the MIT Sloan School of Management where he was an Alfred P. Sloan Fellow.