Presently, Robert Friesen occupies the position of Chief Scientific Officer at Pharming Group NV.

In the past he occupied the position of Head-Preclinical & Early Clinical Development at MorphoSys AG, Senior Vice President of ProQR Therapeutics NV, Global Head-Biologics Research at Janssen Biotherapeutics, Chief Scientific Officer for Ablynx NV, Chief Scientific Officer for Kiadis Pharma NV and Vice President-Biologics Research at Janssen Research & Development LLC.

He received a doctorate from The University of Texas at Austin and a graduate degree from the University of Utrecht.