Team

Meet Dr. Veena Thomas

Founder & Lead Consultant, DrugAbility LLC
Ph.D., Pharmaceutical Sciences & Pharmacogenomics, UCSF - Dr. Brian Shoichet’s lab
Postdoctoral Fellow, Computational Pharmacology, Stanford University - Dr. Vijay Pande’s lab
B.S., Biology, MIT - Dr. Vernon Ingram’s lab

Former Director of Therapeutic Strategy at Redesign Science

Dr. Veena Thomas is a rare blend of computational pharmacologist, drug target strategist, scientific communicator, and pitch specialist. With a background spanning both experimental and computational pharmacology, she specializes in helping AI-driven drug discovery companies strategically design their therapeutic portfolios, predict toxicity, and avoid costly R&D failures.

Her academic lineage includes working in the world-renowned labs of Dr. Brian Shoichet (UCSF), Dr. Vijay Pande (Stanford), and Dr. Vernon Ingram (MIT)—bringing cutting-edge insight into structure-based drug design, protein dynamics, cryptic site binding, and drug resistance.

Scientific Training & Leadership Experience

  • Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences & Pharmacogenomics (UCSF, Shoichet Lab)
    Studied protein thermodynamics, antibiotic resistance, and drug-target interactions from a structural biology and enzymology perspective.

  • Postdoctoral Fellow in Computational Pharmacology (Stanford, Pande Lab)
    Developed a hybrid ligand- and structure-based protocol for drug discovery and repurposing; uncovered the mechanism of a fatal drug side effect.

  • Director of Therapeutic Strategy at Redesign Science
    Built and led the company’s internal pipeline strategy and evaluation framework, aligning molecular dynamics-based structure prediction with therapeutic relevance.

Multidisciplinary Scientific Background

  • Former x-ray crystallographer, structural biologist, biophysicist, atomistic & mechanistic pharmacologist

  • Former FBI Forensic Science intern with top-secret clearance at Quantico

  • Award-winning educator and communicator, named UCSF’s Teaching Assistant of the Year

  • NIH NRSA postdoc fellow and NSF Graduate Research Fellow

  • Veteran improv comedian and MIT newspaper columnist with a knack for storytelling and scientific clarity

  • Pandemic-era founder of Pivot In Place Consulting and Leg Up Strategic Consulting to support small business strategy and growth during COVID

Public Advocacy & Media Appearances

After receiving the wrong COVID vaccine dose due to a clinic error, Dr. Thomas became a vocal advocate for drug safety and clinical protocol reform. Her NBC Bay Area segment went viral with over 700,000 views in 3 days, and her advocacy helped drive institutional change in vaccine delivery systems.

Key Strengths

• Translating complex science into clear strategic action
• Seeing target risk years before most companies do
• Mixing MIT-level systems thinking with deep technical detail
• Bringing charisma, warmth, and conviction into every room she enters

https://www.linkedin.com/in/veena-thomas-15579425/