AbbVie has appointed Roopal Thakkar, M.D. 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 also responsible for the six major R&D centers of excellence located across the United States, Germany and Japan.

“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.”

Thomas J. Hudson, M.D., who currently serves as AbbVie’s senior vice president, chief scientific officer, global research, will retire from AbbVie. 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.

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.