Irit Rappley, PhD

Irit Rappley is Vice President of Neuroscience and Translational Research at Recursion Pharmaceuticals, where she leads drug discovery efforts in the neuroscience space and is working to reimagine the drug discovery process through the application of machine learning and automation. Dr. Rappley began her industry career in the Protein Homeostasis group at Celgene, working on teams that identified and developed small molecule drug candidates for leukemia, lymphoma, and other blood cancers. Several of those candidates are in clinical trials today. She helped to initiate and build the Neuroscience group at Celgene, serving in positions of increasing responsibility and leading external collaborations that generated multiple investigational new drug applications. After the acquisition of Celgene by Bristol Myers Squibb, Dr. Rappley transitioned into the role of Scientific Director of Discovery and Translational Research, Neuroscience, where she led the biomarkers teams for all neuroscience programs entering the clinic. She earned her PhD in Neurobiology at Harvard and completed her postdoctoral training at Scripps Research, with a focus on the biochemistry and biophysics of protein homeostasis, misfolding, and aggregation.