Linda Robertson ’80, PhD is currently an independent consultant providing strategic expertise in international biologic and small molecule drug development, including personalized medicine. She has more than 20 years management experience in pharmaceutical regulatory affairs in large global pharmaceutical, small biotechnology companies and startups. Her business career has been based on strong problem-solving skills derived from her initial scientific training and applied to key leadership roles in the entrepreneurial world of biotechnology.
Dr. Robertson embarked on consulting after serving as the Vice President of Regulatory Affairs at Ignyta, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on the development of molecularly targeted cancer therapies. Ignyta was acquired in December 2017 by Roche Pharmaceuticals, a world leader in personalized medicine. Prior to Ignyta, Dr. Robertson served as Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Intercept Pharmaceuticals where she led the approval of Ocaliva® for treatment of a rare, life-threatening liver disease. Prior to this, she was a key member of the leadership team at a series of biotechnology companies developing therapies to treat cancer, i.e., Vice President of Regulatory Affairs and Quality Assurance at Ambit Biosciences and a founder of Kanisa Pharmaceuticals. She also served as director, drug regulatory affairs at Biogen IDEC, Inc. and its predecessor company, IDEC Pharmaceuticals with responsibilities for a variety of products including Rituxan® for the treatment of Non-Hogkins Lymphoma. Dr. Robertson began her career in the industry at Roche Pharmaceuticals where she held various senior regulatory affairs positions at Palo Alto, California and Nutley, New Jersey and led the US approval of Tamiflu® for the treatment of Influenza.
Dr. Robertson received her PhD in neurobiology from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois studying the biological basis of circadian rhythms with Dr. Joseph Takashashi followed by additional post-doctoral training in molecular biology from the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in Nutley, New Jersey under the tutelage of Dr. Tom Curran. She received a BA in biology from Lewis & Clark College where she currently serves as a Trustee and also on the Advisory Board for the Center for Entrepreneurship.