I’m Abba Leffler, a Principal Scientist in the Drug Discovery group at Schrödinger, where I focus on designing and optimizing small-molecule therapeutics. My work sits at the intersection of chemistry, computation, and biology—using physics-based modeling alongside experimental data to help identify promising drug candidates.

I earned my A.B. in Chemistry with a Certificate in Applied Mathematics from Princeton University, which gave me a strong analytical foundation. Before graduate school, I worked at D. E. Shaw Research, where I was part of a team pushing the limits of high-performance molecular simulations. I later completed my Ph.D. in Neuroscience at NYU School of Medicine, where I studied how the brain processes information at the molecular and cellular levels.

Along the way, I’ve published in journals like Science, PNAS, JCIM, and The Journal of Neuroscience, and I’ve contributed to several patents. Today, I’m focused on early-stage drug discovery—integrating computational insights with biological complexity to develop meaningful therapies.