Moderna co-founder is a billionaire once again at $1.7 billion—he once turned down 20 high-paying job offers to ‘have more of an impact on the world’

The net worths of CEOs and founders are largely at the whim of their company stock—all it takes is one breakout earnings report or blockbuster news to shake up their fortunes.

Now, Moderna cofounder Robert Langer has re-entered the billionaires club following promising cancer vaccine trials that sent the company’s stock soaring.

Langer, known as the “ Edison of Medicine,” witnessed his equity in the biotech business double in value, shooting his net worth up to roughly $1.7 billion, according to a Forbes analysis .

His wealth surge followed the news this Wednesday that Moderna and pharmaceutical company Merck’s mRNA cancer vaccine hit its goals in a Phase 3 trial targeting melanoma.

The announcement sent Modern’s stock soaring more than 100%, valuing Langer’s roughly 3% stake past the billion-dollar threshold—a massive jump from the roughly $730 million he boasted on Tuesday.

This is the second time that Langer has made it to the billionaires club.

Langer first came into 10-figure wealth back in November 2020, when Moderna shares surged after the company reported promising Phase 3 results for its COVID-19 vaccine.

During the pandemic-era Moderna boom, Forbes even put his net worth as high as $4.9 billion in 2021, before plunging and knocking him out of the club.

The 77-year-old cofounder’s stake was estimated to be just $343 million when Modern’s shares were at a rock-bottom low of $29.81 in early January.

Now, he’s back in the ultra-rich club again—but still urges young workers to prioritize meaningful work over money and job security.

“What you want is somebody to have a great career and be happy,” Langer said in an interview with Big Think in 2018.

“So my advice to students is don’t do what’s going to make you the most money or the most security, but do something that will make you happy, whatever that is.” Fortune reached out to Moderna for comment.

Langer turned down 20 job offers to chase his dreams—he advises workers not to ‘give up too easily’ Langer’s major piece of advice to young workers is to be “broad and open-minded” when it comes to their careers.

After all, the billionaire founder lived a whirlwind of a career, turning down lucrative job offers and weathering professional rejection before ultimately launching one of the world’s biggest biotech companies.