Join scientists involved in preclinical development at Merck for a session where you will learn how a variety of disciplines are involved in bringing pharmaceuticals from discovery, through development, and to the clinic. You’ll hear from Merck scientists about their career paths and how you might leverage your training for exciting positions in pharmaceutical development. The session will include a Q&A session with Merck scientists, and you’ll learn how to stay up to date about openings in Preclinical Development. Broadly, this session will be of interest to trainees in a variety of fields of biological sciences, chemistry, and/or data science who would like to learn more about careers in the pharmaceutical industry.

Hosted by Merck in collaboration with Cornell, Rutgers, Brown, and the University of Chicago.

Registration

Register for this online event by joining the Merck community. The meeting will be used on Microsoft’s Teams platform, so be sure to download access beforehand. It is optional to upload your resume.

About the panelists

Rupesh P. Amin, PhD,is an Executive Director in Nonclinical Drug Safety at Merck. He has 23 years of experience from both small and large pharmaceutical companies across various aspects of toxicology, investigative toxicology, nonclinical drug discovery and development across multiple therapeutic areas and modalities. Rup has successfully supported the advancement of Cardiometabolic, Anti-inflammatory, Oncology and RNA therapeutic drugs. In his current role as Head of Program Development, Dr. Amin provides nonclinical drug safety scientific, operational, and strategic oversight for Merck’s development programs across all therapeutic areas and modalities. His team supports programs entering Phase 1 through registration and post-marketing, ensuring nonclinical drug safety aspects support the clinical program. Additionally, Dr. Amin’s team provides oversight of Occupational Toxicology aspects of Merck’s portfolio. This involves critically assessing the potential hazardous effects of chemicals and drugs to guide the implementation of measures to protect employee health and safety. Before joining industry in 2002, Dr. Amin completed a Ph.D. in Toxicology at the Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology at Rutgers University/Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. He further pursued a post-doctoral fellowship applying toxicogenomic approaches to elucidate molecular mechanisms in drug-induced renal toxicity and studied cell cycle defects at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Rup enjoys travelling, hiking and exploring diverse cuisines with his wife and 3 kids. 

Melissa Dsouza, PhD, is a Director in Digital Operations and Innovation within Nonclinical Drug Safety at Merck Research Labs. She specializes in applying data science and machine learning to drug safety assessment. She earned her Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Auckland in New Zealand in 2015, where she also completed her B.Tech in Biotechnology with First-Class Honors.

With over 10 years of experience spanning academia and the microbiome industry, Melissa brings her expertise in bioinformatics, microbial ecology, and statistical modeling to her role at Merck. Before joining Merck in 2021, she held leadership positions at microbiome therapeutics companies, including Vedanta Biosciences and Commense Inc., where she developed novel analytical methods for microbial drug characterization and led clinical bioinformatics efforts supporting Phase 1/2 trials for live biotherapeutic products. At Merck, she provides technical leadership for data science initiatives, builds predictive models using diverse datasets, and collaborates across research teams to develop AI solutions for drug safety assessment. She is passionate about leveraging historical datasets and advanced analytics to generate meaningful insights that advance drug development.

Kara Pearson, PhD’00 Chemistry, is the Director of Analytical & Biochemical Toxicology in the Investigative Toxicology group within Nonclinical Drug Safety at Merck where she manages a group of analytical chemists, biochemists and cell biologists who perform investigative studies to understand mechanisms of toxicity and support development of alternative models for safety testing. During her 24 years in Nonclinical Drug Safety, Kara has worked at the bench, lead interdepartmental investigations into mechanisms of toxicity, and served as a departmental representative to program Discovery and Development Teams. The challenges of drug development are always evolving, so interdisciplinary collaboration is key to our success and one of the most rewarding aspects of the job. Ensuring the safety of our new therapeutics is another.  Kara completed her PhD in bioorganic chemistry at Cornell University in 2000 and followed that with postdoctoral research in the NIH’s National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute Lab of Biophysical Chemistry before joining the Merck team.

Kristen A. Roosa, PhD’15 Biological and Biomedical Sciences is an Associate Principal Scientist in the Developmental and Reproductive Toxicology group, part of the Nonclinical Drug Safety division, at Merck. She conducts animal studies to assess potential risks of new pharmaceuticals to human fertility, embryo-fetal and postnatal development and serves as a subject matter expert for teams developing strategies for nonclinical safety assessment programs. She completed her PhD in the Biological and Biomedical Sciences program at Cornell in 2015, started her career in academia at a primarily undergraduate institution, and then made the move to industry in 2021.

Ketal Shah, BA, is an Associate Principal Scientist at Merck with over two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and CRO sectors. She specializes in biochemistry, molecular biology, and immuno-analytical techniques, with a strong track record of leading outsourcing collaborations and advancing complex research programs. Throughout her career, Ketal has held scientific roles at Roche, Elusys Therapeutics, Ortho Clinical Diagnostics, and Tandem Labs before joining Merck in 2014. She is recognized for her critical thinking, problem-solving skills, and ability to build effective cross-functional partnerships in fast-paced environments. Ketal holds a B.A. in Biochemistry from Rutgers University.

Event Date, Time and Location

Online: Thursday, September 25, 2025 , 12:00 PM – 1:30 PM (EDT)

The event is a follow-up to a successful Cornell University campus visit in 2023, broadening it this year to include additional university collaborators and partners.