Robert A. Copeland, Ph.D. is President of Research and Chief Scientific Officer at Epizyme, Inc. He joined Epizyme in September 2008, from GlaxoSmithKline, where he was Vice President of Cancer Biology, Oncology Center of Excellence in Drug Discovery. Dr. Copeland has also served on a number of advisory boards, committees and editorial boards in industry, academia, professional societies and professional journals, including: Adjunct Professor and Fellow of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine; American Chemical Society Committee for Professional Training; Governance Council of the American Society for Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; Editorial Board of the Journal of Biological Chemistry; and Editorial Board of Molecular Cancer Therapeutics. Before joining GSK he held scientific staff positions at Merck Research Laboratories, DuPont-Merck and Bristol-Myers Squibb and a faculty position at the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine. Dr. Copeland received his B.S. in chemistry from Seton Hall University, his doctorate in chemistry from Princeton University and did postdoctoral studies as the Chaim Weizmann Fellow at the California Institute of Technology. His research interest is in elucidating the determinants of drug recognition by their biological targets, and the use of this information in the discovery and design of new medicines. A common theme throughout his research has been the role of protein dynamics in drug-target interactions. In 2005-2006 Dr. Copeland formulated the concept of drug-target residence time, a novel, alternative approach to drug optimization that has been widely adopted throughout the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries. He has contributed to drug discovery and development efforts across a wide range of therapeutic areas leading to 17 drug candidates entering human clinical trials. These include the cancer drugs Tafinlar (Dabrafenib), Foretinib, Afuresertib and Mekinist (Trametinib) and the antibiotic Altabax (Retapamulin). Dr. Copeland has contributed more than 190 publications to the scientific literature, holds 10 issued U. S. patents and has authored 5 books in the areas of protein science and enzymology. His most recent book, Evaluation of Enzyme Inhibitors in Drug Discovery: A Guide for Medicinal Chemists and Pharmacologists, 2nd Edition (Wiley, Hoboken, NJ), published in March 2013.