Troy E. Wilson, Ph.D., J.D. - 2026 Recipient
President, Chief Executive Officer, and Chairman, Kura Oncology
The 2026 Duane Roth Achievement Award will presented at the 22nd Annual Industry/Academia Precision Oncology & RadMed Symposium on June 11, 2026.
Dr. Troy Wilson is a biotech entrepreneur and leader who brings more than 25 years of experience in founding and scaling innovative companies that advance groundbreaking therapies and deliver transformative value to patients.
Dr. Wilson currently serves as President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Kura Oncology (NASDAQ: KURA), a company he co-founded in 2014. Under his leadership, Kura pioneered development of menin inhibitors for treatmet of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), culminating in the FDA's full approval of KOMZIFTI™ (ziftomenib) – the first and only once-daily, oral menin inhibitor for adults with relapsed or refractory NPM1-mutated AML. Dr. Wilson and his team at Kura have also pioneered clinical development of farnesyl transferase inhibitors as combination therapies to address innate and adaptive resistance to targeted therapies such as KRAS inhibitors, PI3Ka inhibitors and VEGFR inhibitors. In addition, Kura is advancing menin inhibitors for treatment of solid tumors, diabetes and cardiometabolic indications.
Dr. Wilson also co-founded Avidity Biosciences (NASDAQ: RNA), a pioneer a new class of oligonucleotide therapeutics, and he served as President and CEO from 2012 until 2019 and Chairman of the Board from inception through its acquisition by Novartis AG for $12 billion, the largest acquisition of a pre-commercial company in the biotech industry.
Previously, Dr. Wilson co-founded Araxes Pharma LLC and Wellspring Biosciences in 2012 and served as President and CEO. Along with co-founders Kevan Shokat, Yi Liu and Pingda Ren, Dr. Wilson pioneered the discovery and development of mutant-selective inhibitors of the KRASG12C oncoprotein, paving the way for discovery and development of an new class of targeted cancer therapies.
Dr. Wilson also co-founded Intellikine in 2007, guiding it as President, CEO, and Chairman of the Board to develop PI3K/mTOR inhibitors until its acquisition by Takeda Pharmaceuticals in 2011. He also co-founded Ambrx (NASDAQ: AMAM), a pioneer in protein medicinal chemistry using non-natural amino acids, which was acquired by Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicines in 2024. Dr. Wilson began his career in the biopharmaceutical industry in roles of increasing responsibility at the Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation (GNF).
In addition, Dr. Wilson currently serves as Chairman of the Board for Cartography Biosciences and Montara Therapeutics, and as a member of the board of Atrium Therapeutics, Puma Biotechnology, and Cipher Genetics. He has received a number of awards including EY Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2025 Pacific Southwest Award winner, and the 2021 PharmaVOICE 100 Award. He received a J.D. from New York University School of Law and a Ph.D. in bioorganic chemistry as well as a B.A. in biophysics from the University of California, Berkeley.