Alan Palkowitz, PhD

Bio

Alan Palkowitz, PhD, is an industry veteran in the field of drug discovery and development. Dr. Palkowitz joined the faculty at Indiana University School of Medicine in late 2018, as a Senior Research Professor of Medicine in the Division of Clinical Pharmacology.

Before coming to IU School of Medicine, Dr. Palkowitz was most recently the Vice President of Discovery Chemistry Research and Technologies at Eli Lilly and Company, where he worked for 28 years. In his role as Vice President, Dr. Palkowitz was responsible for the global small molecule strategy and delivery of clinical candidates in disease areas including cancer, diabetes, immunology, pain and neurodegenerative disorders. He oversaw a large, multi-research site global enterprise that included medicinal chemistry, computational and biophysical/structural sciences, molecular and cellular pharmacology, and analytical technologies, synthetic technologies and automation sciences.

Dr. Palkowitz is a leader on the Indiana University Precision Health Initiative—a key contributor to the initiative’s chemical biology and biotherapeutics scientific pillar, which seeks to better understand the cellular processes behind abnormal gene and protein activity to improve scientists’ ability to identify drug targets and develop precision therapeutics.

For Palkowitz, the shift to academia was driven by a desire to explore translational science in a unique setting that brings clinical learning and basic disease science together in unprecedented ways. Dr. Palkowitz hopes to contribute the knowledge of biomedical science and experience in industry he has amassed over the course of his career to help IU School of Medicine researchers to rapidly advance new treatment options for patients in need.