Dr. Michael D. Varney

Biography

 Mr. Michael D. Varney, also known as Mike, Ph.D., has been Head of Genentech Research & Early Development at Roche Holding AG since January 1, 2015. Mr. Varney serves as Executive Vice President of Genentech Research & Early Development of Genentech Inc. He served as Head of Small Molecule Drug Discovery and Co-Head of Genentech Research at Roche Holding AG until December 31, 2014. Mr. Varney served as Senior Vice President of Small Molecule Drug Discovery at Genentech Inc. He joined Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. in 1987 and served as its Vice President of Research since 1997. He served as Head of research at Agouron Pharmaceuticals He was involved in all aspects of drug discovery at Agouron Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He served as Vice President of Small Molecule Drug Discovery of Genentech Inc., since June 2005. Dr. Varney was responsible for directing the small molecule drug discovery efforts at Genentech and oversees its departments of Medicinal Chemistry, Small Molecule Assays and Screening, Drug Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics and Early Stage Formulation. Mr. Varney served with Pfizer Global Research and Development, where he served as Vice President of Drug Discovery. He was responsible for the management and direction of all drug discovery activities at the Pfizer La Jolla, Calif. site. He continued to work in leadership roles of increasing responsibility through the acquisition of Agouron by Pfizer. He served as a Member of Scientific Advisory Board of Tobira Therapeutics Inc. He has been a Director of Foundation Medicine, Inc. since April 2015. Mr. Varney serves as Member of two Scientific Editorial Advisory Boards and the author of numerous scientific articles. Mr. Varney received his B.S. in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles and PhD in Natural Product Synthesis and organic synthesis from the California Institute of Technology. He completed postdoctoral research in Bioorganic Chemistry at Columbia University.

Research Interest

 Bioorganic Chemistry, Biosynthesis