Michael Pollastri is the senior vice provost and academic lead of the Roux Institute at Northeastern University, where he leads and oversees the academic and research portfolio. Pollastri joined the Northeastern faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology in 2009, was appointed department chair in 2015, rose to the rank of full professor in 2017, and was appointed interim dean of the College of Science in March 2019.

Prior to joining Northeastern, Pollastri spent ten years at Pfizer in hit-to-lead and lead optimization medicinal chemistry. In 2007, he accepted a research faculty position at Boston University’s Department of Chemistry, where he led the establishment of the Center for Molecular Discovery, a collaborative university resource that encompassed a combination of high-throughput screening and medicinal chemistry optimization capabilities.

Pollastri’s research is focused on the discovery of new therapeutics for neglected tropical diseases. He earned his master’s degree from Duke University and his doctorate from a graduate program he developed through a partnership between Pfizer and the Brown University Department of Chemistry.