Company Group Chairman, Global Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals
Johnson & Johnson Dr. Paul Stoffels is Company Group Chairman, Global Research & Development, Pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson. As such, he is focused on leading global teams to discover and develop new and innovative treatments for unmet medical needs in the areas of CNS, pain, infectious disease, metabolism, cardiovascular and primary care across Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research & Development.

Previously, Dr. Stoffels was Company Group Chairman, Virology, where he led both R&D and commercialization activities for one of the newest business segments of Johnson & Johnson. Dr. Stoffels has more than 15 years global experience in both pharmaceutical and HIV/AIDS R&D. He joined the Janssen Research Foundation (JRF) and worked for four years as Physician/Researcher in Kinshasa (Congo) and Kigali (Rwanda). His research work in Africa was focused on AIDS and infectious diseases. In 1991, he became the head of development for infectious diseases at JRF in Beerse, Belgium, where he was instrumental in the development of antifungal drugs. In 1997, he left Janssen to become CEO of Tibotec-Virco, where he grew the company from a technology-based research company into an integrated pharmaceutical R&D organization focused on the discovery and development of new drugs and diagnostics for HIV/AIDS and infectious diseases.

Tibotec-Virco was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2002, and is the focal point of R&D of next-generation HIV drugs active on multi-drug resistant virus, including the protease inhibitor PREZISTA^TM, which was launched in 2006, and the NNRTI, INTELENCE^TM, which is approved by the U.S. FDA early 2008.

Both during and after his M.D. training, Dr. Stoffels had a special interest for the health care problems in the developing world, especially Africa. He was instrumental in building the relationship between UNAIDS/WHO and the pharmaceutical industry with regard to the provision of HIV drugs in Africa. He has a continued interest to explore solutions for health care problems in the developing world. He also represents Johnson & Johnson for in-depth discussions on Health related matters at the yearly World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Dr Stoffels studied Medicine at the University of Diepenbeek and the University of Antwerp in Belgium and Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium.

His application for the Academy's Board of Governors membership is an expression of his solid belief in the strength of scientific open innovation enhanced by a multitude of global collaborations.