Chair, MassBio Board of Directors
Charles (“Chuck”) Wilson is the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Unum Therapeutics Inc. (now named Cogent Biosciences, Inc.), a company developing novel therapies for the treatment of cancer. From 2008 to 2014, Dr. Wilson served as Vice President, Global Head of Strategic Alliances for the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR), the research and early development division of Novartis. In this role he was responsible for leading partnering efforts across all disease areas up through clinical proof-of-concept. His efforts included academic and biotech collaborations, equity investing in early stage companies, in-licensing of compounds, and spin-out of assets/technologies to start ups. In 2001, Dr. Wilson co-founded Archemix, a Cambridge, MA biotech company focused on the development of aptamers as therapeutics, and served as its Chief Technology Officer where he was responsible for both developing the company’s technology platform and managing its drug discovery efforts. As part of the senior management team, Dr. Wilson helped the company raise over $100 million in equity financing and advance multiple programs into clinical development. Before moving into industry, Dr. Wilson was a professor in the Markey Center for the Molecular Biology of RNA at the University of California, Santa Cruz from 1994 to 2001. Trained in structural biology and molecular biology, Mr. Wilson received a PhD with David Agard (UCSF, HHMI) and received his postdoctoral training with Nobelist Jack Szostak (Havard University / Massachusetts General Hospital). He received a B.A. and M.A. from Boston University. In addition to serving as Board Chair for the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, he also serves as a member of the Board for GigaGen, Inc.