Uli Stilz, PhD

Uli Stilz, PhD, is Corporate Vice President, R&ED External Innovation Partners, External & Exploratory Innovation (E2I) at Novo Nordisk. In this global leadership role anchored in Boston, he leads 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 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 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 PhD 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 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). He is currently a member of the Board of Directors at the Kendall Square Association and Gensaic and is a Venture Advisor for aMoon Fund.