I’m Julien Willard, a physician-economist who advises biopharma C-suites on strategy, operations, capital, and cross-border deals.
For nearly 15 years, I have advised senior leadership in life sciences – at the World Bank, Oxfam, IBM Life Sciences, and Accenture Strategy. In every role, the work has been the same: helping biopharma executives make consequential decisions on capital allocation, M&A, restructuring, technology strategy, and market access.
My background is an unusual mix. I trained as a physician in Moscow, then in health economics at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine as a Melinda Gates Scholar, and I have advised at the level of national economic policy. Most of my work now is closer to the operating problems companies actually face: raising and allocating capital, structuring transactions and partnerships across borders, and building the operating discipline that turns funded strategy into working companies. Good science fails without good strategy. I work to close that gap. I live in San Diego.
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By the numbers
$125M+
In capital raised for healthcare and life sciences
$1B
Restructuring led end to end – P&L, workforce, and operating model
$130M
HIV vaccine program managed end to end across research, funding, and delivery partners
Transaction and PMI advisory
Select deals.
- Acquisition
- Separation and IPO
- Acquisition
Areas of work
Six sentences I hear from founders. Pick the one that sounds like yours.
- You have to raise capital, and the money is harder than last time.I build the round: how much, from whom, and the story that gets you there. Valuation work, the investor list, the deck, the data room, and the insider or structured options if the outside round does not come.
- You are talking to pharma and you have never done a licensing deal.I sit on your side of the table. Who to approach, what to send them, what the deal should be worth, which rights to keep, and whether partnering beats raising.
- You have a buyer or a partner at the door, or you are thinking about going public.A sale, a partnership at the company level, a reverse merger into a cash shell, or getting ready to go public. I run the preparation: who the counterparty should be, the diligence you will be put through, and the board and shareholder materials.
- You want to license an asset into or out of Europe or Asia-Pacific.In-licensing and out-licensing across Europe, Japan, Korea and China, plus the joint ventures and NewCo structures that sometimes work better than a straight license. I have done these deals from both sides, including the government money and the local approval paths that US teams miss.
- You will run out of money before the next readout.I rebuild the burn, cut the programs that will not move the value, and give the board a real choice between restructuring, bridging, and stopping. Then I help you defend whichever one you pick.
- You are a scientist-founder, and now you need help running the company.I run the company with you. The operating plan behind the science, who to hire and in what order, what to build in-house and what to buy, how to handle the board, and the decisions you did not train for. Some founders want this for a quarter. Some keep me for a year.
Experience
- 2018 –
Arcstone Strategy Group
Managing Member
- 2025 –
BioPalace
Fractional Head of Research and Investments
- 2022 – 25
IBM Consulting
Partner, Head of Corporate Strategy – Life Sciences
- 2019 – 22
Accenture Strategy
Director, Head of Corporate Strategy – North America Biotech
- 2016 – 17
The White House
Council of Economic Advisers, Economic Policy Adviser (12-month fellowship)
- 2015 – 18
World Bank
Senior Health Economist
- 2007 – 15
Oxfam GB
Health Economist, later Head of Health Economics
References
Julien helped to build our R&D roadmap and market analysis across teams on two continents, ready to be presented to our board. You do not need to manage him.
He possesses two critical traits: non-intuitive thinking and skill in high-pressure negotiations. He is a very confident and ruthless operator.
Dr. Willard is uncompromising in his strategic focus. He is rare, a physician who understands both the science and the boardroom.
Julien is a perfectionist. He is no yes-man; expect pushback, grounded in data and research.
One of the few advisors I have worked with who connects global supply chain, corporate strategy, and digital into a single point of view. He earns the room.
He is able to range in his thinking from high-level systems analysis and business planning to very specific implementation challenges.
I work with biopharma leadership ready to move – on transactions, on growth, on the hard operational decisions that separate companies that scale from those that stall. If you need a strategist and operator, I would welcome a conversation.