# Cheri Ackerman Araromi

> Cheri Ackerman Araromi is the cofounder and CEO of Concerto Biosciences, a Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech that reads the social lives of microbes the way a producer reads a band. Using kChip, a droplet screening platform she helped build during her postdoc at the Broad Institute, Concerto tests how thousands of microbial combinations interact and assembles the winning ensembles into products for skin health, agriculture, and beyond. A Hertz Fellow with a Berkeley PhD in chemical biology, she frames the future of medicine as building healthy ecosystems rather than killing bad cells with toxins.

- **Role:** Cofounder & CEO at Concerto Biosciences
- **Organizations:** Concerto Biosciences, Fannin Innovation Studio, Hertz Foundation, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** B.S. in Biochemistry and Spanish, Calvin College (Calvin University), Grand Rapids, MI, Ph.D. in Chemistry (Chemical Biology), advisor Chris Chang, University of California, Berkeley, NIH Kirschstein Postdoctoral Fellow, advisor Paul Blainey, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
- **Known for:** Cofounder and CEO of Concerto Biosciences, an MIT/Harvard-area spinout, Co-developed the kChip microbial interaction screening platform, Co-first author on a 2020 Nature paper on CARMEN viral diagnostics

## Career timeline

- **2012** — Named a Hertz Fellow
- **2017** — Completed Ph.D. in chemical biology at UC Berkeley (thesis on detecting, measuring, and manipulating copper in biological systems)
- **2018-2020** — NIH postdoctoral fellow at the Broad Institute, building kChip droplet screening technology and contributing to CARMEN viral diagnostics (published in Nature, 2020)
- **2020** — Cofounded Concerto Biosciences; won the Hertz Foundation's Harold Newman and David Galas Entrepreneurial Initiative Award; selected for Activate Global fellowship
- **2022** — Closed a $23M Series A as Concerto advanced its microbiome platform
- **2023** — Named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year New England finalist
- **2024** — Elected to the Hertz Foundation Board of Directors

## Achievements

- Cofounder and CEO of Concerto Biosciences, an MIT/Harvard-area spinout
- Co-developed the kChip microbial interaction screening platform
- Co-first author on a 2020 Nature paper on CARMEN viral diagnostics
- Won the Hertz Foundation's Harold Newman and David Galas Entrepreneurial Initiative Award (2020)
- EY Entrepreneur Of The Year 2023 New England finalist
- Elected to the Hertz Foundation Board of Directors (2024)
- Raised approximately $47.5M in total funding for Concerto, including a $23M Series A

## Latest updates

- **2024-03** — Elected to the Hertz Foundation Board of Directors.
- **2023-04** — Named an EY Entrepreneur Of The Year New England finalist.
- **2022-11** — Concerto Biosciences advanced its microbiome platform following a $23M Series A.

## Links

- Website: https://concertobio.com
- LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cheriackerman
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/concertobio

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/cheri-araromi
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-14