Gilead Appoints Executives

William Lee, Ph.D., has been appointed executive vice president of Research at Gilead Sciences and Brett Pletcher has been named executive vice president and general counsel; both join Gilead’s senior leadership committee.
 
Dr. Lee joined the company in 1991 and was promoted to senior vice president, Research in 2000. He has led research activities across HIV, liver diseases, hematology/oncology, inflammation and respiratory diseases and cardiovascular conditions. He reports to Norbert Bischofberger, Ph.D., executive vice president, R&D and chief scientific officer. Dr. Lee previously worked at California Biotechnology, Inc. and Syntex.
 
“Over the past nearly 25 years, Bill has helped Gilead bring multiple product candidates from early stage research into development. His contributions to the discovery and advancement of internal drug candidates and evaluation of external candidates for potential partnership have allowed Gilead to bring important new medicines to patients around the world,” said Dr. Bischofberger.
 
Mr. Pletcher joined the company in 2005 and most recently served as senior vice president and general counsel. With this promotion, Mr. Pletcher also becomes corporate Secretary for the company. He reports to Gregg Alton, executive vice president, Corporate and Medical Affairs. Mr. Pletcher was previously a partner in the law firm of Gunderson Dettmer, LLP, where he focused on corporate and securities services.
 
“Brett’s leadership has been instrumental in helping Gilead manage a period of significant growth and complexity, particularly as we introduce medicines in new geographies. His expertise has helped Gilead protect its intellectual property around the world and ensure compliance across countries with vastly different legal systems,” said Mr. Alton.