Ardelyx Leaders Mike Raab & Laura Williams on Building Biotech Around Patients
Synopsis:
While biotech is increasingly measured by clinical milestones and financial outcomes, Rahul Chaturvedi welcomes two leaders who argue that true success begins and ends with patients. In this deeply personal and inspiring conversation, Mike Raab, President & Chief Executive Officer of Ardelyx, and Laura Williams, Chief Patient Officer, share how empathy, resilience, and patient advocacy have shaped both their careers and the culture of the company they’ve built.
Mike reflects on an unconventional journey that spans pharmaceutical sales, rare disease leadership at Genzyme, venture capital at NEA, and ultimately leading Ardelyx through some of biotech’s most difficult challenges—including a Complete Response Letter, massive layoffs, and a historic FDA reversal that resulted in approval without additional clinical trials. Laura shares her path from rural Mississippi to becoming a physician, recounting the transformative patient experience during the HIV epidemic that inspired her move from academia into industry and ultimately into a pioneering Chief Patient Officer role.
Together, they explore what patient-centricity truly means beyond corporate slogans, how Ardelyx embedded patient advocacy into the C-suite, and why empathy must be a core competency for biotech leadership. The discussion also dives into clinical trial diversity, commercializing therapies for underserved populations, navigating regulatory adversity, responsible capital allocation, and the future of building enduring biotech companies. It is a powerful reminder that when patients become the North Star, resilience, innovation, and impact naturally follow.
Biography:
Mike Raab
Mike has served as Ardelyx’s President and Chief Executive Officer since March 2009. Before Ardelyx, Mike was a partner at New Enterprise Associates (NEA), one of the world’s largest and most successful venture capital firms, where he specialized in healthcare investments focusing on the biotechnology and pharmaceutical sectors.
Prior to joining NEA in 2002, Mike spent 15 years in commercial and operating leadership roles in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. He was senior vice president, therapeutics and general manager of the renal division at Genzyme Corporation, a Sanofi company. In this position, Mike launched and oversaw the sales growth of sevelamer, the leading phosphate binder for the treatment of hyperphosphatemia, with over $1.0 billion in worldwide sales in 2013. Mike was also instrumental in the worldwide launch of Genzyme’s therapies for Gaucher disease, Ceredase and Cerezyme. Mike also spent two years with Genzyme’s diagnostic products and services division. Prior to Genzyme, Mike held business development and sales and marketing positions at Repligen and Bristol-Myers.
Mike earned a Bachelor of Arts from DePauw University.
Laura Williams, MD, MPH
Laura has served as Ardelyx’s Chief Patient Officer since 2025, having joined the company in November 2020 as Senior Vice President, Global Therapeutic Strategies and Patient Advocacy. Laura was later promoted to Chief Medical Officer in 2021.
Laura is a life science enterprise leader with extensive experience as a pharmaceutical drug developer, healthcare policy advisor, patient advocate, and portfolio strategist. She is an accomplished, results-oriented, physician scientist and board member who is committed to discovering, developing, and commercializing innovative therapies that address unmet medical need. With nearly 30 years of pharmaceutical experience, across all clinical development phases and multiple therapeutic areas, in both large pharma and smaller biotech, Laura has a proven track-record in drug development, as indicated by her leadership and major contributions toward eight drug approvals.
Prior to Ardelyx, Laura served as senior vice president and head of clinical development and biostatistics at AMAG Pharmaceuticals, where she was responsible for four investigational-staged assets and two on- market compounds. Prior to AMAG, she served as vice president of clinical development at Myovant Sciences, where she was responsible for an investigational infertility compound and co-led business development activities to expand the women’s health pipeline. Previously, in her 18-year career at Abbott/AbbVie, she held roles of increasing responsibility, leading multiple global clinical development programs and managing the general medicine therapeutic area.
Laura earned her Bachelor of Science degree from Mississippi State University, a Doctor of Medicine degree from University of Iowa, and a Master of Public Health degree in epidemiology from University of Washington, where she also completed a clinical fellowship in infectious diseases. She completed her Internal Medicine residency at University of Michigan, where she also served as Chief Resident and Junior Faculty.