Michael Singer arrived at Yale as a Pell Grant student from Appalachian Pennsylvania with only $500 in his pocket. A self-described “naïve seventeen-year-old,” he was fortunate enough to be paired with roommates he remains close to today, noting that their room assignment, “was one of the best things that ever happened to me.” Dr. Singer came to New Haven determined to study medicine after being shaped by a childhood marked by chronic illness. A Spanish class in his first semester sparked a lifelong love of languages, but it was his work-study job in neurobiology that changed the course of his life. There, he had the opportunity to work alongside Gordon Shepherd, legendary professor of neuroscience, who took him under his wing, offering him a desk inside his own office, and coming in on Saturdays to teach him how to write a scientific paper. That mentorship ignited everything that followed. Dr. Singer completed his bachelor’s degree in biology and went on to Yale’s MD/PhD program, earning his doctorate in neuroscience and graduating cum laude with his MD. He spent eleven formative years in New Haven ultimately shaping him into the physician-scientist, entrepreneur, and investor he is today.
Dr. Singer is director and former chief scientific officer of Cartesian Therapeutics, which he co-founded in 2016. Now publicly traded, the biotech company is developing novel cell therapies for treatment of autoimmune disease. Its lead product, Descartes-08, is in late-stage clinical trials for treatment of myasthenia gravis— a debilitating, life-threatening disease involving muscle weakness—and is also being studied in adults with lupus and myositis, as well as children with juvenile dermatomyositis. Nature Medicine magazine named the Descartes-08 study in myasthenia as one of “eleven clinical trials that will shape medicine in 2026.” Dr. Singer also serves as a director and investor at several early-stage life-sciences companies which work in areas such as breast cancer, bladder cancer, and diabetes.
Dr. Singer credits Yale Medical School with giving him the “freedom to focus” on his research thanks to the collaborative—rather than competitive—culture. Yale also let him pursue other interests. While completing the MD/PhD program, he enrolled in classes across campus, from archeology to Hindi and Portuguese, and a Wilbur G. Downs Fellowship gave him the opportunity to study international health in Pakistan. After training as an ophthalmologist at Harvard, Dr. Singer realized his true calling was not in the clinic, but in the lab and boardroom—helping patients by building the companies that develop the drugs and treatments they need. Entrepreneurial since the age of five, by his own account, he went on to found multiple life sciences companies after completing his residency, including Health Honors (sold to Healthways in 2009) and Topokine (sold to Allergan in 2016). He has been named as an inventor on over one hundred issued patents and is the first author on a paper published in Nature, the world’s leading multidisciplinary science journal.
Dr. Singer remains deeply engaged with Yale. He serves on the Yale School of Medicine Scientific Advisory Board, the Yale for Humanity Campaign Committee, and volunteers as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Yale Ventures. He previously served on the Yale Alumni Fund board of directors. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he volunteered as faculty at Yale School of Medicine and as a clinician at vaccine clinics in the Boston area, helping to administer over 20,000 vaccines. A Fulbright Specialist in entrepreneurship, Dr. Singer is also a volunteer at Pine Street Inn, Boston’s largest homeless services organization, and has served on the board of advisors of the Museum of Science in Boston.
Dr. Singer resides in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts with his wife, artist Baharak Asefzadeh, and their two teenage daughters. This past fall, he was delighted to introduce them to Woolsey Jam, an event featuring all seventeen of Yale’s a cappella groups.
Michael Singer ’95 BS, ’00 PhD, ’02 MD discusses Yale, the university’s mission, and higher education.
