Michael Varney, Ph.D.

Scientific Advisory Board Member

Dr. Varney is the Chairman of R&D, SAB Member and Board Director at Erasca, an early-stage biotechnology company on a mission to erase cancer by shutting down key cancer pathways. Dr. Varney is a pioneer drug discoverer and biotech leader—he has led research and early drug development efforts at Agouron, the developers of an early HIV protease inhibitor, Viracept^®, as well as multiple approved anti-cancer agents, including Xalkori^® (crizotinib) and Inlyta^® (axitinib). Dr. Varney was instrumental in expanding Genentech’s drug discovery capabilities to include small molecules, building an organization that produced anti-cancer drugs Erivedge^® (vismodegib) and Cotellic^® (cobimetinib). He most recently retired from Genentech as the Head of Research and Early Development. Dr. Varney has a BS in Chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a PhD in synthetic organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology. He was an American Cancer Society postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.