Mike Varney, PhD

Scientific Advisor | Board Member

Mike Varney is our Lead Independent Director and was most recently the head of Genentech’s Research and Early Development (gRED), serving as a member of the Roche Executive Committee.Dr. Varney was recruited to Genentech to build its small molecule discovery capability, which now accounts for more than 40% of Genentech’s development pipeline and has delivered Erivedge® and Cotellic® to the market. Earlier in his career, Dr. Varney pioneered structure-based drug design as a founding employee at Agouron, where he contributed to the development of Viracept®, Xalkori®, and Inlyta®. In 2018, he was named a Hero of Chemistry by the American Chemical Society.