Emil Kakkis | Chief Executive Officer
Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical

Dr. Kakkis is best known for his work developing novel treatments for rare diseases and working on policy issues affecting rare and ultra-rare disease treatment.  He is Chief Executive Officer, President and a Director of Ultragenyx. He founded Ultragenyx in 2010 to create a company that is uniquely built around a deep and meaningful engagement with patients and their caregivers to fully understand their needs. This includes designing a novel development model that fundamentally changed the established paradigms in clinical protocols, endpoints and analyses, as well as challenging traditional beliefs around commercialization and access to therapies for patients with rare and ultra-rare genetic diseases. Dr. Kakkis has received numerous awards including the Life Science Leadership Pantheon award from California Life Sciences, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National MPS Society, the Roscoe O. Brady Award for innovation from the WORLDSymposium and BIO’s Henri Termeer Visionary Leadership award for his transformative work in rare diseases.