Dr. Kalpana Merchant has deep expertise in the neurobiology of chronic neurodegenerative and psychiatric disorders. She has nearly 25 years of experience in drug discovery and development with a special emphasis on translational strategies. She retired in March 2014 from Eli Lilly where she was the chief scientific officer for tailored therapeutics-neuroscience, accountable for strategies to deliver personalized therapies and associated biomarkers for the neuroscience portfolio.

Since 2014, Dr. Merchant has engaged with non-profit foundations and start-up pharmaceutical companies as an advisor. In 2018, she joined Vincere Biosciences as the chief scientific officer to help develop small molecules to slow the progression of Parkinson's disease.

Dr. Merchant received her PhD in neuropharmacology from the University of Utah in 1989. Following a postdoctoral fellowship at University of Washington, she remained at the institute as assistant professor of psychiatry. She joined Eli Lilly in 2003 after contributing to neuroscience drug discovery research at Pharmacia Corp. for ~10 years.