Jay Parrish is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Pretzel Therapeutics. He is also a Venture Partner at ARCH Venture Partners and co-founder of ROME Therapeutics. Jay most recently co-founded and served as the Chief Business Officer of Vir Biotechnology, where he helped lead the company as its first employee through its IPO and first drug approval.

Jay is an accomplished scientist who began his career at Gilead Sciences, Inc. in the Medicinal Chemistry group, where his research focused on the discovery of small molecule antivirals. He was a co-inventor of ledipasvir (Harvoni®) and remdesivir (Veklury®). After nearly a decade in research, he joined Gilead’s Corporate Development team, ultimately leading infectious disease business development for the company. Jay has authored over 25 peer-reviewed scientific publications and holds over 30 issued patents and applications.

Jay received his B.S. in chemistry from Emory University, a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from the University of South Florida and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley Haas School of Business.