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Frida Polli

Visiting Innovation Scholar, Schwarzmann College of Computing, MIT

Dr. Frida Polli is an award-winning Harvard and MIT neuroscientist, entrepreneur, investor and philanthropist. She is currently a Visiting Innovation Scholar at the Schwarzmann College of Computing at MIT. There, she founded and leads PRISM (Precision, Sex-Based Medicine), a new precision Ai and medicine initiative at MIT using generative AI to model sex-based differences in health. She was previously the CEO and founder of pymetrics, an AI company pioneering cognitive science to improve workforce outcomes. pymetrics was a global company, serving millions, with offices in New York, London and Singapore. It had multinational companies like Unilever, JP Morgan Chase, Blackstone, and BCG as clients. The technology was translated in over 30 languages and operated in 150 companies. pymetrics was elected a CNBC Upstart 100 in 2018, a World Economic Forum’s Technology Pioneer in 2018 and Global Innovator in 2019, an Inc 5000’s Fastest Growing company in 2019, and Forbes AI 50 company in 2019. Dr. Polli was awarded multiple patents for the technology developed at pymetrics. Committed to the ethical use of AI, Dr. Polli and pymetrics played a pivotal role in passing the first-in-the-US algorithmic transparency law – New York’s Automated Employment Decision Tool law – which passed in 2021, and went into effect in July 2023. After raising ~90M in venture capital from investors such as Khosla Ventures, Dr. Polli had a successful exit to private equity in 2022. Prior to pymetrics, Frida was a neuroscientist at Harvard and MIT working on precision medicine brain imaging studies. She was the recipient of numerous awards including a BBRF Young Investigator Award, and the MIT100K Life Sciences Track. She is the author of over 30 peer-reviewed articles, including in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the Journal of Neuroscience, and Brain. She transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship by completing her MBA at the Harvard Business School as a Robert Kaplan Life Science fellow. A member of YPO, Frida was named one of Inc.’s Top 100 Female Founders, Entrepreneur’s Top 100 Powerful Women and 100 Brilliant Women in AI Ethics. Her work has been featured in hundreds of venues including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Economist, and World Economic Forum’s annual Davos meeting. In addition to her role at MIT, she is a multi-year member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Councils, founder of Alethia to promote ethical use of AI, and Rosalind Ventures to invest in women science founders. 

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