William M. Burns

William Burns is the chairman of Molecular Partners. Mr. Burns joined the team from Roche Pharmaceuticals, where he worked for 28 years culminating in his tenure as CEO from 2001 to 2009. His board contributions during that time included seats at Roche, Genentech and Chugai Pharmaceutical. Mr. Burns was also non-executive director and chairman of BioTie Therapies Corp. Since 2010, he has been non-executive director and senior independent director of Shire Pharmaceuticals. More recently, Mr. Burns has been chairman of Vestergaard S.A. and vice-chairman of Mesoblast.

Mr. Burns is also a trustee and governor of the Wellcome Trust Ltd. and a trustee of the Institute of Cancer Research, London. He is a member of the Novo Holdings Advisory Group and a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Center for Integrated Oncology of the University of Cologne/Bonn. Mr. Burns holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.