{"slug": "stat-he-grew-up-near-boston-went-to-harvard-and-worked-at-mit-why-did-he-found", "title": "STAT+: He grew up near Boston, went to Harvard, and worked at MIT. Why did he found his startup in California?", "summary": "Felix Wong, 33, a Harvard-educated biotech entrepreneur with MIT roots, chose to found his startup in Redwood City, California, despite his Massachusetts upbringing and the state's dominance in biotech, citing California's creative spirit. Wong, who was born in Quincy, graduated from Braintree High School, and earned two degrees from Harvard before a post-doc at MIT, now leads a biotech startup targeting age-related diseases with AI.", "body_md": "REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — By all rights, [Felix Wong](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2023/05/04/business/california-startup-with-mit-roots-harnessing-ai-target-age-related-diseases/) and his company should be in Massachusetts.\n\nWong, 33, was born in Quincy, graduated from Braintree High School, and spent a decade living in Cambridge, where he earned two degrees from Harvard and worked as a post-doc at MIT. His parents still live in Massachusetts, and he now leads a startup in biotech, [an industry Boston has owned](https://www.bostonglobe.com/2026/01/08/business/life-sciences-biotech-massachusetts-jp-morgan/) for the better part of two decades.\n\nBut on a recent Wednesday, Wong was in sunny Silicon Valley, walking in the shade of the jacaranda trees near the hiking trail outside his office and reflecting on the** **creative spirit of California.\n\n## This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers\n\n### Unlock this article — plus daily coverage and analysis of the biotech sector — by subscribing to STAT+.\n\nAlready have an account? [Log in](/login/)\n\n[View All Plans](https://www.statnews.com/stat-plus/)", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stat-he-grew-up-near-boston-went-to-harvard-and-worked-at-mit-why-did-he-found", "canonical_source": "https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/07/why-did-this-boston-entrepreneur-found-his-biotech-startup-in-california/?utm_campaign=rss", "published_at": "2026-08-07 08:30:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-09 12:42:18.137251+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-startups", "ai-products"], "entities": ["Felix Wong", "Harvard", "MIT", "Redwood City", "California", "Massachusetts", "Braintree High School", "Quincy"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stat-he-grew-up-near-boston-went-to-harvard-and-worked-at-mit-why-did-he-found", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stat-he-grew-up-near-boston-went-to-harvard-and-worked-at-mit-why-did-he-found.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stat-he-grew-up-near-boston-went-to-harvard-and-worked-at-mit-why-did-he-found.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/stat-he-grew-up-near-boston-went-to-harvard-and-worked-at-mit-why-did-he-found.jsonld"}}