John Riley

John Riley is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacy & Therapeutics at the University of Pittsburgh.  Professor Riley teaches in the Master of Pharmacy Business Administration (MPBA) Program and is a faculty advisor for each of the Pharmacy Business Administration Area of Concentration, Pitt Pharmacy Investment Portfolio, and Student Association of Specialty Pharmacy organizations. 

John’s professional and teaching focus areas include life science innovation and commercialization, emerging technologies, entrepreneurship, and the business of medicines.  John co-founded Confluence Therapeutics (formerly Vivid Sciences LLC), which is pioneering a novel oligonucleotide-based therapeutics platform aimed to modulate the function of RNA binding proteins and harness RNA biology to reverse intractable human disease.

He previously served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Pitt’s Innovation Institute, where he advised multiple life science researchers in assessing the commercial potential of promising academic innovations.  John has two decades of executive leadership roles at leading global medical and information technology companies.  He has also participated as a founder, executive and board member in regional startup companies.