Rob Garbaccio

Merck, USA

Dr Rob Garbaccio received his B.A. in chemistry from Boston University, his Ph.D. from The Scripps Research Institute and was a National Institutes of Health (NIH) postdoctoral fellow at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. Rob joined Merck Discovery Chemistry, West Point, in 2001 where he contributed to and led small molecule programs that spanned oncology, neuroscience and infectious disease. Subsequently, Rob took a leap into a leading polymer- and antibody-mediated delivery of siRNA programs. Rob also served as chemistry lead for the Merck-Ambrx collaboration for the development of antibody drug conjugates beyond oncology as well as the Merck-Peptidream collaboration for the application of macrocyclic peptides to challenging targets. Since 2016, Rob has taken positions of increasing scope helping Merck Research Labs (MRL) to become modality-enabled with a focus on cyclic peptides. In late October 2020, Rob was named Vice President, Head of Discovery Chemistry and has the privilege of working with an incredible team.