Dennis Zaller, Ph.D.

Dr. Zaller has more than 30 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. He is currently serving as the Chief Scientific Officer at ROME Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing new therapies to treat debilitating diseases by leveraging insights into the biology of repeat elements. Prior to ROME, Dr. Zaller spent five years as Executive Director of Integrative Sciences at Celgene (later Bristol Myers Squibb). In this role, he provided scientific leadership across a large portfolio of external collaborations in immunology, fibrosis, oncology, and immuno-oncology. During his time at Celgene, Dr. Zaller participated in more than 20 Joint Steering Committees and Joint Research Committees that brought six novel molecules to the clinic. Prior to Celgene, Dr. Zaller spent 25 years at Merck Research Laboratories in a series of roles with increasing responsibility leading large drug discovery teams at Merck’s New Jersey and Boston sites. While at Merck, Dr. Zaller helped to advance 28 molecules into the clinic, resulting in eight marketed drugs. Before joining industry, Dr. Zaller conducted academic research at the California Institute of Technology. Dr. Zaller has a B.S. from the State University of New York at Albany, and an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Columbia University. He is an author of more than 60 manuscripts in leading journals covering a variety of scientific discoveries and is an inventor on nine patents.