Volker Knappertz, M.D.

Executive Vice President, R&D and Chair, Scientific Advisory Board

A recognized leader in the drug development community, Dr. Volker Knappertz joined Aurinia in July 2022 and is the Executive Vice President, Research and Development. He leads the entirety of Aurinia’s R&D effort, including pre-clinical research and pharmacology, clinical development, patient safety, medical affairs, and regulatory affairs. Dr. Knappertz is an advocate for patient-centric drug development with a focus on rare diseases with high unmet medical needs.

Before Aurinia, Volker served as the Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Medical Officer at GW Pharmaceuticals; Vice President of Clinical Development for multiple sclerosis, immunology, oncology, and biosimilar products at Teva Pharmaceuticals; and various R&D positions at AstraZeneca and Bayer. He currently serves as an independent director on the Board of Sutura Therapeutics.

His work has been published in leading peer-reviewed journals, including Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, JAMA Neurology, Lancet Neurology, BMJ, and Neurology.

Volker received his magna cum laude doctorate and Medical Degree from Cologne University. He has served as an adjunct professor in Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania and Heinrich-Heine University in Dusseldorf. He was trained in Neurology at Yale University, fellowship-trained at Wake Forest University, and is a U.S. board-certified neurologist.