In this episode of Spread Love in Organizations, Kristina Masson, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Business Operations at Acrivon Therapeutics, shares her journey from scientist to entrepreneur and biotech executive. She reflects on how a passion for cancer research, combined with the right timing, technology, and partnerships, led to the creation of Acrivon and its pioneering precision proteomics platform. Kristina also discusses the challenges of building a company from the ground up, taking it public, and translating cutting-edge science into therapies that have the potential to transform patients’ lives.
The conversation explores the future of precision medicine and how Acrivon’s AP3 platform is helping reshape oncology drug development by identifying predictive biomarkers, understanding resistance mechanisms, and enabling smarter clinical trial design. Kristina explains how integrating diagnostics, drug discovery, and therapeutics within one organization accelerates innovation while increasing the likelihood of delivering the right treatment to the right patient. She also shares insights into leading teams across the United States and Sweden and building a collaborative culture that fuels scientific excellence.
Beyond science and business, the discussion turns to leadership. Kristina reflects on the importance of accountability, authenticity, kindness, and integrity in building high-performing organizations. She explains why love and high performance are not mutually exclusive and why leaders have a responsibility to remain focused on the ultimate goal: improving patients’ lives. This episode offers an inspiring perspective on purpose-driven leadership, entrepreneurship, and creating lasting impact in healthcare.
“When we have good science, good people, and good options for patients, it’s our obligation to make it work.”
MEET OUR GUEST Kristina Masson, Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Business Operations at Acrivon Therapeutics.
Kristina Masson, Ph.D., MBA is a global biotech executive, entrepreneur, and scientist with extensive experience in company building, translational drug development, and operational leadership. She is Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Business Operations at Acrivon Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ACRV), where she leads key business operations and works closely with the CEO and executive team to scale the organization and support corporate execution.
Since co-founding Acrivon, she has helped grow the company from an early-stage startup into a public biotechnology company with more than 80 employees, building high-performing teams and an integrated U.S.–Scandinavian organizational culture.
In parallel, Dr. Masson serves as President and CEO of Acrivon AB, the company’s wholly owned Swedish research subsidiary, where she oversees European operations and scientific infrastructure. Dividing her time between Boston and Lund, she plays an important role in aligning strategy, talent, and operations across the company’s U.S. and European teams.
Prior to her current roles, Dr. Masson founded OncoSignature AB, a biotechnology company focused on biomarker discovery, which was later acquired by Acrivon Therapeutics and became foundational to the company’s proprietary technology platform. Earlier in her career, she was a Principal Scientist at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals and completed her postdoctoral fellowship at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where she conducted research at the intersection of molecular biology and systems science.
Dr. Masson holds a Ph.D. in Molecular Signaling and an M.Sc. in Biomedicine from Lund University, as well as an Executive MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. She also serves as a mentor with the Termeer Institute.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT: Kristina Masson
Naji Gehchan: Welcome to SpreadLove in Organizations, the healthcare leadership podcast where we explore leadership with purpose. This episode is in partnership with the Termeer Foundation, a nonprofit organization working to connect and empower healthcare innovators until every patient has a cure. I’m Naji, your host, and today I’m joined by Kristina Masson, a global biotech executive, entrepreneur, and scientist with extensive experience in company building, translational drug development, and operational leadership. Kristina is Co-Founder and Executive Vice President of Business Operations at Acrivon Therapeutics, where she leads key business operations and works closely with the CEO and executive team…
