Manoj Desai, PhD

Dr. Desai is one of the world’s leading medicinal chemists. He retired in 2020 as senior vice president and head of medicinal chemistry at Gilead Sciences after an illustrious 35+ year career that included Chiron and Pfizer.

His research efforts at Gilead led to the discovery of cobicistat, a component in four approved anti-HIV drugs, Stribild^®, Genvoya^®, Prezcobix^® and Evotaz^®.  Dr. Desai is an inventor of ledipasvir, which is a component of Harvoni^®, the first approved cure for Hepatitis C. He has co-authored more than 60 publications in peer reviewed journals. Dr. Desai is editor-in-chief for Medicinal Chemistry Reviews. In acknowledgement of Dr. Desai’s contributions to the field, the American Chemical Society inducted him to its medicinal chemistry “Hall of Fame” in 2017.