Presently, Robert Friesen is Chief Scientific Officer of Pharming Group NV and Chief Scientific Officer of Kiadis Pharma NV.

In the past Dr. Friesen was Head-Preclinical & Early Clinical Development at MorphoSys AG, Senior Vice President for ProQR Therapeutics NV, Global Head-Biologics Research at Janssen Biotherapeutics, Chief Scientific Officer at Ablynx 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.