People category: Staff

Julie Barrett O’Brien has long been a transformational leader.  As CEO of the newly launched OpenBiome Foundation, she is leading the organization’s evolution from a pioneering stool bank into a global engine for microbiome innovation, access, and impact. She’s guiding the organization’s next chapter—one focused on advancing science, supporting patients, and powering discovery through global partnerships and collaboration. 

She began her career in the coffee industry. As Director of Dunkin’s billion-dollar coffee and beverage category, where she and her team drove double digit growth year after year. She led the policy team for ethical supply chain management and pioneered one of the first Corporate Social Responsibility Initiatives on the globe.

As a member of the senior leadership team at Management Sciences for Health, she played a critical role in changing the face of global health. She was among the earliest advocates for investing in health system strengthening and was instrumental in bringing a successful resolution on Universal Health Coverage to the United Nations.

A distinguished lecturer at Yale’s Jackson Institute for Global Affairs and a guest lecturer at Boston University’s School of Public Health, Julie holds an MPA from Harvard Kennedy School and a BA from the University of San Diego. She’s co-authored several articles, has been an Adviser to the Clinton Global Initiative, the World Bank, and NAFTA’s Commission for Environmental Cooperation. She also serves as Board President of The Coffee Trust and of Play on for Africa.

Paul is a leader in driving innovative drug discovery approaches. His work has shaped diverse platform approaches to develop microbiome drug candidates for the treatment of infectious diseases and inflammatory disorders. As Chief Scientific Adviser at OpenBiome Foundation, Paul is helping to drive our scientific impact and reach. As the former CSO at Artizan Biosciences Inc., he guided a novel platform approach for identifying and targeting pathogenic intestinal bacteria with a focus on inflammatory bowel disease. He also served as the Vice President of Infection Biology at AstraZeneca and as the Chief Scientific Officer for Antibacterial Research at Pfizer, leading discovery teams that produced eight drug development candidates, provided critical research support for several marketed antibiotics, and successfully advanced a novel oxazolidinone for tuberculosis into Phase II studies. Paul received his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from Albany Medical College and conducted post-doctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health. He has served as a member of the Institute of Medicine’s Forum on Microbial Threats and as an advisor to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation on tuberculosis research strategy.

Majdi is an internationally recognized physician-scientist working to reduce health disparities and develop microbiome-based health solutions. Trained in internal medicine at University College London, he has previously conducted research at the World Health Organization and completed his Master’s in Public Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on a Frank Knox Fellowship. 

Majdi’s research focuses on infectious disease, malnutrition, and stool banking. His work has been published in The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, and Clinical Infectious Diseases. He was also a co-principal investigator on the THRIVE (Transfer of Healthy Gut Flora for Restoration of Intestinal Microbiota via Enema) study—the first fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) clinical trial on the African Continent.

At OpenBiome Foundation, Majdi helps develop new microbiome-based approaches for public health challenges including malnutrition and mental health. He is also the co-founder of YBank—a non-profit dedicated to adolescent health, a visiting assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, and a Trustee of the African Research Excellence Fund.