Dr. Sofia joined Arbutus in 2015 and serves as the Company’s Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Sofia has over 30 years of research and development experience with several biotech and pharmaceutical companies, including Pharmasset, Inc. where he was responsible for the discovery of sofosbuvir, an approved drug which cures hepatitis C virus infection (HCV) and which ultimately resulted in the acquisition of Pharmasset by Gilead for $11 billion. Dr. Sofia has won numerous awards for his work in the field of antiviral therapy including the Lasker-Debakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his outstanding discovery, contribution, and achievement in the field of medicine, the prestigious Cameron Prize for Therapeutics from the University of Edinburg in recognition for his discovery of sofosbuvir and the Economist’s 2015 Innovation Award in the Bioscience category for developing a rapid cure for HCV. Prior to joining Arbutus, Dr. Sofia was one of OnCore’s co-founders and served as its Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research and Development. He previously held the positions of Senior Vice-President, Chemistry at Gilead Sciences, Inc., Senior Vice-President, Chemistry at Pharmasset, Inc., Group Director, New Leads Chemistry at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and Vice President of Research at Transcell Technologies where he established and directed the research programs. Dr. Sofia received his B.A. degree from Cornell University, his Ph.D. degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and was an NIH postdoctoral fellow at Columbia University.

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