Kelly Bales obtained her Ph.D. in Neuroscience from Indiana University and is currently SVP and Head of the Rare Disease and Neurology Research Units at Biogen in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Prior to joining Biogen, Kelly led multidisciplinary drug discovery groups, with increasing responsibilities, in both biopharma and biotechnology companies including Eli Lilly & Company, Pfizer, F. Hoffmann-La Roche, and Voyager Therapeutics. With more than 20 years of research and leadership experience, Kelly has helped to advance multiple efforts from target/pathway identification through to “first in human” studies that included development of innovative translational biomarker strategies. Kelly has published more than 120 peer-reviewed articles, numerous book chapters and several invited reviews and holds patents related to novel therapies for CNS disorders