Deborah M. Rothman, PhD, has been a Director of Chemical Biology within Discovery Chemistry at Merck & Co since late 2016. In her role, she is responsible for developing and mentoring a team of synthetic chemists and chemical biologists as individual contributors and team leaders. She is further responsible for the Infectious Diseases and Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases programs within Chemical Biology, and has a passion for annotated small molecule sets as well as Diversity and Inclusion. Deborah has 15 years of industry experience, published as a lead and contributing author in multiple scientific journals, and holds two patents. She received her Bachelor degrees in Biochemistry and Biology from the University of Chicago and her Doctor of Philosophy in Chemistry from MIT under the guidance of Professor Barbara Imperiali.