Robert Wills, Ph.D.
Vice President, Alliance Management, Johnson & Johnson

Dr Wills is Vice President, Alliance Management, Johnson & Johnson. He is responsible for managing strategic alliances for the Pharmaceutical Group worldwide. This includes an active role in the negotiations of alliances (structure, governance, dispute resolution, communication), in leading the integration post-signing and in managing the overall alliance.

Prior to moving into this role in late 2001, Dr Wills spent 22 years in pharmaceutical drug development including, 12 of which have been at Johnson & Johnson. In his previous role as Sr Vice President Global Development, 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.

Much of Dr Wills' accomplishments are related to his R&D career which included the successful development of over 30 NDA's, PLA's, MAA's in the therapeutic areas of CNS (analgesia, anesthesia, epilepsy), dermatology, hematology, cardiovascular, infectious disease, metabolism and endocrinology, virology and oncology. Additionally, he directed efforts in other major therapeutic areas under numerous IND's. He has authored over 40 peer reviewed research articles, 5 book chapters, and 50 professional presentations or abstracts in the area of pharmacokinetics.

Dr Wills holds a B.S. in Biochemistry and an M.S. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in Pharmaceutics from the University of Texas.