Suzanne Opalka, PhD

Suzie received her B.S. in geoscience, chemistry and environmental studies from Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 2006. She went on to receive her PhD in chemistry from Cornell University for her work on the “Development of Catalytic Systems in Batch and Flow Using Dual Organocatalysts and Solid Packed-Bed Reactors”. Suzie joined the chemical process development group at Biogen in 2013 where she is responsible for developing commercial processes to produce leading Biogen compounds. She has developed and demonstrated batch processes at multi-ton quantities and continuous process at kilogram quantities. She has utilized a variety of continuous reactors configurations for controlling reaction selectivity, increasing efficiency and enhancing safety. She is an active member of industry consortia such as the International Consortium for Innovation & Quality in Pharmaceutical Development (IQ) working group focused on flow chemistry as well as a representative to the CERCAS (Center for Rational Catalyst Synthesis) consortium. In her spare time, she likes gardening, yoga, and biking.