Uli Stilz, PhD

Uli Stilz serves as Board member and Advisor to biotech companies and Venture Capital Funds. Until October 2025 he has been as Corporate Vice President, R&ED External Innovation Partners, External & Exploratory Innovation (E2I) responsible for External Innovation at Novo Nordisk. In this global leadership role anchored in Boston, was leading a cross-functional R&D team developing creative partnership models with biotech, venture capital, academia, and research hospitals to co-create next-generation therapeutics to provide life changing treatments for patients around the world. Based on the foundational success of the former Bio Innovation Hub, Uli and the E2I team were accountable to drive an externally-anchored portfolio of novel partnerships within key therapy areas including cardiometabolic and rare diseases, stimulating global innovation ecosystems to advance Novo Nordisk’s global pipeline.

Uli Stilz graduated with a Master degree in Organic Chemistry from ETH Zürich. He then moved to the Max-Planck-Institute of Biochemistry in Martinsried, where he received his Ph.D. in 1990.

After postdoctoral studies at the California Institute of Technology he joined Hoechst AG were he held various positions before he was appointed Associate Vice President of the newly established Innovation unit within the Diabetes Division at Sanofi in 2010. Over a period of 20 years, he contributed to more than 60 preclinical and clinical drug candidates across cardiometabolic, immunology, and oncology therapy areas. Between 2012 and 2014 he was President of the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry.

In 2014, Uli joined Novo Nordisk A/S in Copenhagen and in 2019 relocated to Boston to create and lead the Novo Nordisk Bio Innovation Hub.

Uli Stilz was appointed adjunct professor at the University of Frankfurt in 2012 and serves on Editorial Boards for international peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of several Scientific Advisory Boards in North America and Europe, and has represented Novo Nordisk A/S at trade organizations (EFPIA). From 2012 to 2014 he has been President of the European Federation of Medicinal Chemistry (EFMC). In 2020 he was awarded the inaugural EFMC honoree distinction. In 2024 he was named Fierce 50 honoree. He is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Vice Chair of the Kendall Square Association, serves on the Board of Aerska Therapeutics, and is a Venture Advisor for aMoon and Jefferson Life Sciences Funds.