Mike Varney

Dr. Varney is the former head of Genentech’s Research and Early Development and a member of the Roche Executive Committee. He was recruited to Genentech to build its small molecule discovery capability, which now accounts for more than 40 percent of the company’s development portfolio, including the marketed anticancer agents Erivedge® and Cotellic®. Earlier in his career, Dr. Varney pioneered structure-based drug design as a founding employee at Agouron, which delivered Viracept® and resulted in the discovery of several currently marketed anticancer agents, including Xalkori® and Inlyta®. In 2018, Dr. Varney was also named Hero of Chemistry in 2018 by the American Chemical Society.