Rebecca Alford

Rebecca Alford is Senior Scientist – Molecular Design & Simulation at The Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

Rebecca was formerly a postdoctoral research fellow at D. E. Shaw Research.

With an overall interest in developing tools to improve the drug discovery and testing pipeline, Rebecca focused her PhD research on computational tools to study membrane proteins. Membrane proteins control the transit of molecules and information across the lipid bilayer, and understanding their structures provides insights to keep cells healthy and defend against disease. Rebecca credits thesis advisors Jeff Gray and Karen Fleming with excellent mentorship while at Johns Hopkins University, where she also participated in several efforts to increase diversity in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM).

Rebecca holds a bachelor’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University.