Dr Susan Goelz

Dr. Goelz received her undergraduate degree at UC Santa Cruz in Biology and Chemistry and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry from Yale University. Subsequently, she worked with Dr. Paul Greengard on the biochemical basis of synapse function and at Johns Hopkins in Bert Vogelstein’s lab on the molecular signature of colon cancer. In 1988, she joined the research department at Biogen and was a member of project teams that have moved drugs from development, into the clinic and finally to regulatory approval (Avonex, Tysabri, Tecfidera). In 2011, Susan joined Elan Pharmaceuticals as Vice President of Translational Science and in 2013 became an independent scientific advisor in the field of translational science with a focus on neurological diseases. In this capacity, she works with several companies, non-profits and universities on various projects including biomarkers for Parkinson’s disease and therapeutics and biomarkers for multiple sclerosis (MS). She currently serves as the scientific director for the Myelin Repair Foundation, is an adjunct faculty in neurology at Oregon Health & Sciences University and is working with Biogen on PML research.

Since about 2000, finding areas of collaboration between the biotech industry and academic groups has also been a major area of her focus. She has initiated and managed numerous collaborations in these areas. Dr. Goelz is an author on more than 60 publications, dozens of posters and lectures presented at international meetings and is named as an inventor on several patents.