Scaling drug discovery with Rich Friesner: What’s next at Schrödinger
Date & Time - May 6th, 2026
Location - Schrödinger Cambridge Office
We are pleased to invite you to a special scientific session with Richard Friesner, one of the leading scientists in computational chemistry who has been at the forefront of applying physics-based modeling and, more recently, AI-driven approaches to drug discovery.
Dr. Friesner is the William P. Schweitzer Professor of Chemistry at Columbia University, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and has led groundbreaking work in molecular simulation and predictive modeling for decades. As a co-founder of Schrödinger, he continues to shape the scientific direction of the platform and its impact on modern drug discovery.
In this session, Dr. Friesner will share recent scientific advances and provide a forward-looking perspective on the integration of physics-based methods and AI in drug discovery. The discussion will highlight key innovations across Schrödinger’s platform, including predictive toxicology (with new kinase panel models and lead optimization capabilities), emerging applications of BRAID in cryoEM structure refinement, and retrosynthesis.
This will be an opportunity for scientific leaders to engage directly in a focused dialogue on how these innovations are being applied to accelerate discovery and improve decision-making across the R&D pipeline.
8:30 AM – 9:00 AM Arrival, Registration, and Breakfast
9:00 AM – 9:15 AM Opening and Vision
Speaker:
Richard A. Friesner, Co-founder, Board Member, and Scientific Advisory Chairman, Schrödinger
9:15 AM – 10:15 AM Predictive Toxicology and Structure Enablement
Speaker:
Richard A. Friesner, Co-founder, Board Member, and Scientific Advisory Chairman, Schrödinger
10:15 AM – 10:45 AM Predictive Toxicology Roundtable Discussion and Q&A
Speakers:
Richard A. Friesner, Co-founder, Board Member, and Scientific Advisory Chairman, Schrödinger
Edward Miller, Vice President of Protein Structure Modeling, Schrödinger
10:45 AM – 11:00 AM Coffee Break
11:00 AM – 11:45 AM Accelerating Drug Discovery Projects with RetroSynth and De novo Design
Speaker:
Sathesh Bhat, Vice President, Therapeutics Group, Schrödinger
11:45 AM – 1:00 PM Lunch and Networking
Our Speakers
Richard A. Friesner
Co-founder, Board Member, and Scientific Advisory Chairman, Schrödinger
Richard A. Friesner, Ph.D. has served as a member of our board of directors since August 1990, when he co-founded us. Dr. Friesner is currently the William P. Schweitzer professor of chemistry at Columbia University, the principal investigator of the Friesner Research Group, a research laboratory within the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University, and he has served as a professor of chemistry at Columbia University since September 1990. Dr. Friesner is a Fellow of the American Academy of Sciences and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. Dr. Friesner received a B.S. in Chemistry from the University of Chicago and a Ph.D. in Chemistry from the University of California, Berkeley. We believe that Dr. Friesner’s extensive experience in theoretical chemistry and his extensive knowledge of our company since inception, as well as his distinguished scientific record, qualifies him to serve on our board of directors.
Edward Miller
Vice President, Protein Structure Modeling, Schrödinger
Edward Miller, Vice President of Protein Structure Modeling, joined Schrödinger in 2014, and is responsible for advancing the domain of applicability of structure-based drug discovery into challenging targets and off-targets. Dr. Miller obtained his PhD from Columbia University, where he was awarded a DOE research fellowship. His thesis work with Professor Richard Friesner involved developing methods to accurately model loop conformations across a broad array of protein families. His recent work has been focused on methods development for induced fit docking and protein structure refinement.
Sathesh Bhat
Vice President, Therapeutics Group, Schrödinger
Sathesh Bhat, Ph.D., Vice President in the Life Sciences group, joined Schrödinger in 2011. He oversees the development and application of large-scale automation products — spanning de novo design, generative AI, and retrosynthesis — across internal and partnered drug discovery programs. Previously, Sathesh worked at both Merck and Eli Lilly leading computational efforts in several drug discovery programs. He obtained his Ph.D. from McGill University, which involved developing structure-based methods to predict binding free energies. Sathesh has co-authored multiple patents and publications and continues to publish on a wide variety of topics in computational chemistry.
Venue Location
Schrödinger, Cambridge Office
1 Main Street 11th floor, Cambridge, MA, USA