The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative

Dr. Afeyan is also founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, a company that creates bioplatform companies to transform human health and sustainability. An entrepreneur and biochemical engineer, Noubar holds more than 100 patents and has co-founded more than 70 life science and technology startups during his 36-year career. He is co-founder and chairman of the board of Moderna, the pioneering messenger RNA company. 

Noubar entered biotechnology during its emergence as an academic field and industry, completing his doctoral work in biochemical engineering at MIT in 1987. He was a senior lecturer at MIT’s Sloan School of Management from 2000 to 2016, a lecturer at Harvard Business School until 2020, and he currently serves as a member of the MIT Corporation. He teaches and speaks around the world on topics ranging from entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic development to biological engineering, new medicines, and renewable energy. In 2022, Noubar was elected to the National Academy of Engineering. 

Noubar has received multiple awards for his passionate advocacy of the contributions of immigrants to economic and scientific progress. Besides Aurora, he is the co-founder of several other philanthropic initiatives.

Honored to have known and experienced the wisdom of the late Vartan Gregorian, she volunteered to chair the fundraising campaign for the VG Humanitarian Fund at Aurora in 2022, and she is currently chairing the “Endowment Oversight Committee.” 

Since leaving a career in biochemical engineering, Anna Afeyan has devoted her time to raising her four children and volunteering in public and independent schools as well as non-profit organizations with special focus on innovation and equity in education. For eight years, she had the privilege of teaching Science at Beacon Academy in Boston, “a 10-year program that prepares highly motivated students from communities with limited resources to succeed in competitive high schools, colleges, and careers.” Anna Afeyan joined the Beacon board in 2014 and served as Chair of the Finance Committee and Treasurer in 2015–2023. Anna is also serving on the board of Dilijan International School of Armenia (UWCD) and co-chairing the board of YerazArt Foundation for Young Musicians. 

Before coming to the US in 1988 to take on a position in process development for the Schering-Plough Corporation, Anna Afeyan worked as a process engineer at Alfa-Laval, Sweden. She received her M.S. in Biochemical Engineering from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden.

He is also President of Gravestar, Inc. Anthony is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts (Amherst) and Suffolk University School of Law in Boston, Massachusetts. 

Anthony has been a Board Member of the Armenian Assembly of America since 2002 and served as Vice Chair in 2002–2004 and Chairman of the Board of Directors in 2003–2006 and is currently co-chair of the Board of Trustees beginning in 2015. He also serves on the Advisory Board of the Armenia Tree Project since 2006, a reforestation and rural development project which has planted and monitored nearly 8 million trees in Armenia.

Anthony recently completed a three-year term as the first Armenian American President of the Massachusetts Council of Churches, the oldest Christian ecumenical organization in the U.S., founded in 1903. He also has represented the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Church as a Delegate on the Board of the National Council of Churches for 12 years and served two years as the chair of the Constitution and Bylaws Committee.

Anthony began traveling regularly to Armenia in 1987. He is a member of the executive board of World Link for Law, a network of International Law Firms located in 70 countries. He sits on various for-profit and non-profit boards and organizations and frequently speaks and regularly lectures on Estate and Tax, and to various groups on Estate and Family Succession Planning and non-profit advocacy organizations throughout the United States and Canada. 

He is a Consultant Surgeon at Imperial College NHS Trust and the Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust. Professor Darzi is Chair of the NHS Accelerated Access Collaborative, Executive Chair of the World Innovation Summit for Health in Qatar, and Chair for the Pre-emptive Health & Medicine Initiative at Flagship Pioneering UK. 

He is also Chair of the Fleming Centre Initiative, a collaboration between Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust and Imperial College London to build The Fleming Centre, which will drive a global movement to tackle antimicrobial resistance. 

Professor Darzi leads a large multidisciplinary academic and policy research team, publishing over 1,500 peer-reviewed research papers focused on convergence science across engineering, physical and data sciences, specifically in the areas of robotics, sensing, imaging and digital and AI technologies. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal Society, Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and past president of the British Science Association. 

In 2002, Professor Darzi was knighted for his services to medicine and surgery, and in 2007 was introduced as Lord Darzi of Denham to the UK’s House of Lords as the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health. He has been a member of His Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council since 2009 and was awarded the Order of Merit in 2016.

He attended the University of California at Berkeley and graduated with a major in integrative biology and a minor in English. He subsequently graduated from the Loma Linda University School of Medicine and completed a residency in internal medicine at the University of Southern California. He was named intern, junior resident, and senior resident of the year during all three years of his residency training. He completed his gastroenterology fellowship at UCLA where he also obtained a Master of Public Health degree with the assistance of an NIH sponsored training grant. He is also a graduate of the Executive Program in Management from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Dr. Esrailian served on the Medical Board of California from 2010-2011 after being appointed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Dr. Esrailian is a Health Sciences Clinical Professor of Medicine and the Chief of the Vatche and Tamar Manoukian Division of Digestive Diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In 2012, the School of Medicine awarded Dr Esrailian the Lincy Foundation Chair in Clinical Gastroenterology. Dr. Esrailian is part of the leadership of several philanthropic organizations including, but not limited to, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors of the Hammer Museum, the Board of Governors of the Motion Picture & Television Fund, and the Board of Directors for XPRIZE. He is closely involved in strategic planning efforts for the UCLA Health, the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, and for the entire university. He also works to facilitate community engagement with a number of other schools and departments within the UCLA campus and its Los Angeles community partners, and he is a co-chair for the university’s Second Century Council. He is also one of the co-founders of the recently announced California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy. 

He has also produced films with a focus on human rights issues. Most notably, he produced “The Promise” by Terry George, starring Oscar Isaac and Christian Bale. He also produced the educational companion documentary “Intent to Destroy” with Joe Berlinger, which was nominated for an Outstanding Historical Documentary Emmy. These films, and the accompanying social impact campaigns, drew unprecedented attention to the Armenian Genocide, contributed to U.S. government recognition of the historical facts, and led to the creation of The Promise Institute for Human Rights and The Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA. In 2017, the university designated Esrailian as a UCLA Optimist – among its notable alumni and faculty dedicated to solving the world’s problems. In 2021, he was also honored by Pope Francis at the Vatican with the Benemerenti Medal for his humanitarian activities around the world. In 2024, Dr. Esrailian joined the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative as its Co-Founder to help steward the organization toward its 10th anniversary year and beyond.

The main focus of Memory Matters is on helping communities build resilience through commemoration and documentation of traumatic history. 

From January 2017 to September 2022, Ms. Greenwald served as President & CEO of the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, where she was responsible for the overall vision, financial well-being, management, and long-term sustainability and relevance of the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. From 2006-2016, Ms. Greenwald was Executive Vice President for Exhibitions, Collections, and Education and Director of the Memorial Museum. In this role, she oversaw the articulation and implementation of a founding vision for the 9/11 Memorial Museum, managing its programming, collecting, exhibition, and educational initiatives.

Ms. Greenwald previously served as Associate Museum Director, Museum Programs, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Her 19-year affiliation with USHMM began in 1986, when she served as a member of the “Design Team” for the Permanent Exhibition. Her book, The Stories They Tell: Artifacts from the National September 11 Memorial Museum, co-edited with Clifford Chanin and published by SkiraRizzoli, was cited in The New York Times as one of the best books about New York City published in 2013. She is also the executive editor and primary contributing author of No Day Shall Erase You: The Story of 9/11 as Told at the National September 11 Memorial Museum, the official companion volume to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, published by SkiraRizzoli in August 2016. 

Ms. Greenwald serves on the boards of the United Kingdom Holocaust Memorial Foundation, the International Council of Museums (U.S.), and Central Synagogue in New York City, and is first vice-president of The Lotos Club. She holds an M.A. in the History of Religions from the University of Chicago Divinity School, and a B.A with concentrations in English Literature and Anthropology from Sarah Lawrence College, where she delivered the commencement address to the class of 2007.

Dr. Gregorian retired in April 2024 from the U.S. State Department after nearly 25 years serving in a variety of domestic and overseas assignments related to conflict and post-conflict challenges.  These included secondment as Principal Deputy High Representative and Supervisor of Brcko District in Bosnia and Herzegovina and as Director for Peace Operations, Sanctions and Counterterrorism and Deputy Coordinator for Counterterrorism in Washington, D.C.  He spent nearly 14 years working on and in the Balkans bringing war criminals to justice while helping survivors to identify and bury their loved ones in dignity.  As a NATO official, he negotiated the previously unthinkable creation of a single army from Bosnia’s three former warring factions. 

Dr. Gregorian also negotiated key UN Security Council counter-terrorism resolutions, including those requiring all countries to adopt systems to screen for known and suspected terrorists and other internationally wanted criminals.  He was the leading force in the development of the UN’s Office of Counter-Terrorism and in 2019 became its first director as well as a Deputy Under-Secretary-General serving on the Secretary-General’s Deputies Committee.

He served 13 years as a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, including active duty in Bosnia, Kosovo, and the Joint Staff.  He started his government as an historian for the U.S. Army, then worked as a senior analyst for a defense contractor before returning to government.

Dr. Gregorian holds numerous government and military decorations and earned his Ph.D. in Strategic Studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, an M.A. in War Studies from King’s College London, and a B.A. with Honors from the University of Pennsylvania.

He is married to the former Amy Elizabeth Cordes. 

Arman Jilavian is the Co-Founder and CEO of the Mediacrat Studio. He is a publisher and entrepreneur specializing in strategic communications, brand development, and marketing. 

A graduate of Lomonosov Moscow State University with a PhD in philology, Arman Jilavian brings over 25 years of experience in international journalism and media management. He is a Member of the Board of Governors of UWC Dilijan, actively contributing to development of education in Armenia and internationally. 

In this role, she is responsible for the company’s internal and external communications, brand management, and social impact strategy.

Laura Kline brings a wealth of experience in leading organizational communications as well as advising global companies on reputation building, issues management and purposedriven communications. Previously, she served as Managing Director of Communications and Program Influence at The Rockefeller Foundation where she oversaw and directed an integrated communications team to advance the Foundation’s initiatives and enhance its brand.  

Prior to this role, Laura Kline was Executive Vice President and head of the Social Impact Practice in New York for Weber Shandwick, a global communications agency, where she worked closely with purpose-led brands and mission-driven organizations to drive conversations, deepen engagement, and achieve impact. She also spent several years as a senior member of the agency’s Corporate Issues team, advising clients on high-profile issues and complex transactions. Laura Kline began her career at The Benjamin Group, a technology PR firm based in the Bay Area. 

Laura Kline received a Master of Science in Global Affairs from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts in English from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.