Philip Gotwals BA, PhD

Dr. Gotwals is currently executive director of exploratory immuno-oncology at Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, and has been instrumental in building the company’s immuno-oncology strategic research area, including Novartis’ collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania to develop chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy. Dr. Gotwals has more than 20 years of experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, leading internal and collaborative R&D programs from drug discovery to new drug application filing and participation in the licensing of product candidates.

He was formerly vice president of project management at Altus Pharmaceuticals, where he was responsible for all product development project management activities. Prior to his engagement at Altus, he was senior director of program and alliance management at Biogen, where he oversaw leadership of internal and allied early product development teams in the autoimmune, neurology, and oncology therapeutic areas. Dr. Gotwals holds a Ph.D. in genetics from the University of California at Berkeley, completed postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and has published extensively in the area of integrin biology.