Dr. Maria-Jesus Blanco

Maria-Jesus Blanco is a highly experienced and enthusiastic medicinal chemist focused on bringing meaningful medicines to patients. She is currently Head of Chemistry and Senior Director at Sage Therapeutics in Cambridge, MA. Previously, she was Director of Discovery Chemistry Research & Technologies at Eli Lilly. She has been working in drug discovery and development for >21 years. Maria was part of the team that discovered Reyvow (approved by the FDA in 2019 for the acute treatment of migraine). She has actively contributed to the delivery of 14 compounds to clinical studies. Maria obtained her Bachelor and Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from the University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She held postdoctoral positions at MIT with Prof. Masamune and at University of Strasbourg, France with Nobel Laureate Prof. Sauvage. Maria has >100 scientific publications, presentations, patent and patent applications. Maria is an engaged science advocate, mentor and champion for women in STEM. She is a member of the executive committee of ACS National Division of Medicinal Chemistry, being the 2021-22 Program Chair.