Dr. William Lai is a licensed pharmacist by professional and academic training. He has extensive global headquarters and field-based experiences in top Fortune 500 companies in the (bio)pharmaceutical and medical device industries ranging from big pharma to start-up firms. He is currently Regional Director, Global Medical Affairs at Xeris Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that, he served in various roles of increasing responsibility for Merck, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, Baxter, and Becton-Dickinson. He's also served as a consultant for Amgen, Genetech, Takeda, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals. Throughout his career, he has pre-launch and post launch experience on ~20 blockbuster and joint-venture brands in 14 distinct therapeutic areas with Global Sales ranging from $100 million to $4.5 Billion. His specialty disease state and therapeutic area experience include: Oncology, Rheumatology, Cardiology, Gastroenterology, Endocrinology, Neuroscience, Pain, Infectious Disease, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Gynecologic Surgery, and Neurosurgery.

Prior to joining the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries, Dr. Lai’s professional work experiences include practicing clinical pharmacy at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP), a consistently-ranked Top 10 hospital as per US News and World Report, and serving on the pharmacy faculty at the Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University, the State University of New Jersey.

Dr. William Lai earned his Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy, the first school of pharmacy in the Western hemisphere, and subsequently completed a post-doctoral fellowship at Rutgers University. He then pursued an Executive Masters in Business Administration degree with a concentration in marketing. Dr. Lai has been awarded lifetime memberships in the highest honor societies in both pharmacy (Rho Chi) and business (Beta Gamma Sigma).

Dr. Lai is also strongly committed to professional organizations, lifelong education, and leadership development skills. He previously served as a Chapter President within the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP), held national-level positions within ASHP, and served on the Advisory Council of North American for the Drug Information Association (DIA), a non-profit biopharmaceuticals organization. Will frequently participates as faculty and speaker for professional development meetings organized by the DIA. He also serves as a mentor for graduates students at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Pharmacy and the Western University of Health Sciences School of Pharmacy.

Additionally, he serves as Chairman, Board of Directors for the Southern California region of the National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP), a non-profit organization dedicated to the development of Asian American leaders, and is their immediate past National President protempore.