Co-founder, Professor, The Scripps Research Institute

Jeffery W. Kelly is the Lita Annenberg Hazen Professor of Chemistry at The Scripps Research Institute. Dr. Kelly is a leading expert on protein homeostasis and misfolding diseases. Among many of his contributions is translating a genetic observation into a mechanistic understanding of transthyretin amyloid disease. This facilitated his discovery of the first regulatory-agency-approved drug (tafamidis vyndaqel; marketed by Pfizer) that slows the progression of familial amyloid polyneuropathy (a neurodegenerative disease) as well as familial and sporadic TTR cardiomyopathy (a disease leading to heart failure).
 

Dr. Kelly has published over 375 scientific papers (ISI h-index > 100) in the general area of chemistry and chemical biology. He has placed 44 trainees in academia and over 70 trainees in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and cofounded three biotech companies. Kelly’s efforts have been recognized with numerous awards, most recently the 2022 Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences.

Dr. Kelly received his BS in chemistry from Fredonia University, his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1986), and performed postdoctoral research in bio-organic chemistry at The Rockefeller University.