Founder of Arbutus Biopharma, Inc., Michael J. Sofia currently is Chief Scientific Officer of Arbutus Biopharma Corp.

He is also Professor at Baruch S. Blumberg Institute.

He previously occupied the position of Vice President-Research at Intercardia Research Labs, Senior Vice President-Chemistry at Gilead Sciences, Inc. and Senior Vice President-Chemistry at Pharmasset, Inc. (a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, Inc.), Vice President-Research at Transcell Technology, Inc., Chief Scientific Officer & Head-Research at Arbutus Biopharma, Inc. and Group Director-New Leads Chemistry at Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Research Labs LLC.

He received an undergraduate degree from Cornell University and a doctorate from the University of Illinois At Urbana–Champaign.