Michelle Arkin, Ph.D.

Michelle Arkin is a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Executive Director of the Small Molecule Discovery Center, and Vice Dean of Research Technology and Entrepreneurship in the School of Pharmacy at University of California, San Francisco. Her chemical biology lab focuses on developing methods and molecules that target currently ‘undruggable’ proteins, including protein-protein interactions, molecular machines, and transcription factors. Active in drug discovery for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, Dr. Arkin’s research has been funded by the NIH and multiple disease foundations. Prior to UCSF, she was a scientist at Sunesis Pharmaceuticals, where she helped discover drug leads for inflammatory diseases and led nonclinical teams for clinical stage programs in oncology. She serves on the advisory boards for several pharmaceutical companies and scientific journals and is a co-founder of four therapeutics startups.