Maria Pia Catalani

Maria Pia Catalani is Senior Vice President of Integrated Drug Discovery & Chemical Libraries at Axxam. She joined Axxam in November 2019 as Head of the Discovery Chemistry Group, and in 2022 became Head of the Hit Tailoring Solution Group. In 2023, she was appointed Director of the Lead Discovery Department, a role she held until December 2025.

Prior to Axxam, Maria Pia built her expertise at Evotec and Aptuit (Verona, Italy), leading as Chemistry Leader multiple hit-to-lead (H2L) and lead optimization (LO) programs across key therapeutic areas including CNS, GI, and inflammation.

Her career began in 2005 as a Medicinal Chemist in the PsyCEDD at GlaxoSmithKline Medicines Research Centre in Verona, where she honed her skills in medicinal chemistry, driving projects from hit identification to candidate selection in the CNS area.

Holding a Master’s degree in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Pisa and a PhD in Chemical Sciences from the University of Florence, Maria Pia is a co-author of numerous publications and co-inventor on several patents.