Chairman, CymaBay Therapeutics
Robert Wills, Ph.D. has over three decades of experience as a leader in the pharmaceutical industry. Dr. Wills is currently serving as the Chairman of the Board of CymaBay Therapeutics, Board Member at Parion Sciences, Inc., Board Member at Go Therapeutics, Board Member at Oncternal Therapeutics and a Member of the Emerging Companies Section Governing Board of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).
Dr. Wills also served as Executive Chairman of GTx, Inc. from 2015 – 2019. Prior to that he spent over 25 years at Johnson & Johnson. His roles included Vice President, Alliance Management, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson and as Senior Vice President Global Development, where he was responsible for the R&D pipeline and a member of the R&D Board of Directors.
In addition he served on several of the commercial Operating Company Boards and key pharmaceutical group decision-making committees. Dr. Wills began his career at Hoffmann-LaRoche where he spent 10 years in several roles of scientific responsibility. He holds a BS in Biochemistry and an MS in Pharmaceutics from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas.