AbbVie today announced that Roopal Thakkar, M.D. who currently serves as senior vice president, chief medical officer, global therapeutics has been appointed to the position of executive vice president, research & development and chief scientific officer.

In this position, Dr. Thakkar will lead the company's global R&D organization of more than 14,000 team members across all phases of discovery and development, including therapeutics and aesthetics.

"Dr. Thakkar is a physician by training with a deep commitment to innovation and patient care," said Rob Michael, chief executive officer, AbbVie. "He has an excellent track record in building new capabilities, forging strategic partnerships and advancing our clinical programs to bring medicines and solutions to patients as quickly as possible. As AbbVie's chief scientific officer, Dr. Thakkar will continue to build momentum across discovery and all stages of development to fully realize the potential of our diverse pipeline. He has the right vision, skills and experience to lead our R&D organization."

"I am excited to assume these new responsibilities for the R&D organization at AbbVie," said Roopal Thakkar, M.D, executive vice president, research & development and chief scientific officer, AbbVie. "Our pipeline of more than 90 drug and device programs presents a significant opportunity to ensure AbbVie's growth well into the next decade. I am confident that our outstanding R&D team will continue to deliver critical innovation and it's my privilege to lead this organization as we take on the most challenging health issues for patients."

Thomas J. Hudson, M.D., who currently serves as AbbVie's senior vice president, chief scientific officer, global research, will retire from AbbVie. Dr. Hudson joined AbbVie in 2016 overseeing oncology discovery and early development before assuming the role of vice president, discovery research. He was appointed to the role of chief scientific officer in 2019. Over the past eight years, Dr. Hudson helped shape AbbVie's approach to early-stage science, built precision medicine capabilities, guided many scientific partnerships and developed data strategies to accelerate drug discovery and development.

Dr. Roopal Thakkar joined Abbott/AbbVie in 2003 as part of the Physician Development Program. Since then, he has held several positions in clinical development, including group project director, immunology, as well as vice president, global regulatory affairs where he was responsible for driving industry-leading regulatory submissions to health authorities around the world.

In 2019, Dr. Thakkar assumed the role of vice president, global regulatory affairs and R&D quality assurance and in 2022 he was appointed to the role of senior vice president, development and regulatory affairs and chief medical officer.

In 2023, Dr. Thakkar was appointed senior vice president, chief medical officer, global therapeutics. In this role, he led the organization through many strategic acquisitions and propelled and delivered clinical development programs across immunology, oncology, neuroscience, eye care and specialty.

Prior to joining AbbVie, he completed training in internal medicine and was a clinical fellow at the University of Alabama, Birmingham, and at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Dr. Thakkar received his bachelor's degree in cellular and molecular biology from the University of Michigan and his M.D. from the Wayne State University School of Medicine.