Piper Trelstad, Ph.D. is head of chemistry, manufacturing and controls at the Gates Medical Research Institute. Piper leads a team responsible for the development of robust, innovative and cost-effective manufacturing processes to ensure clinical supply availability for the institute’s drug and vaccine candidates. The Gates Medical Research Institute is agnostic to modality as it develops biomedical interventions for diseases that disproportionately impact low and middle income countries. As a result, Piper’s CMC team works on a wide variety of vaccines, biologics and small molecule products.
Piper has 25 years of experience in product development, manufacturing and supply chain management, contributing strategic and technical support for a variety of products at differing stages of development. Prior to joining the Institute, Piper served as vice president of technical development for Takeda’s Vaccine Business Unit, where she provided essential shared services and overall leadership for the cross-functional teams responsible for process, formulation and analytical development of vaccine products. Before joining Takeda, Piper worked at Merck, where she held a number of leadership roles within the Merck Manufacturing Division.
Piper holds a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. She has an undergraduate degree from Yale University in English Literature and another from the University of Maryland at College Park in Chemical Engineering.