Julia Hotek, Ph.D. is an Associate Principal Scientist in Nonclinical Drug Safety at Merck & Co. Julia currently leads an investigative laboratory that helps identify and develop effective, safe therapeutics to advance into clinical trials, with a focus on cardiovascular risk. Julia also leads innovative data science projects to develop new tools for data analysis and exploration throughout drug development. Prior to joining Merck in 2020, Julia was a postdoctoral research fellow in Bioengineering and Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania. At Penn, she researched neuromodulation therapies to treat neuropathic cervical neck pain. Julia earned her Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering with a focus in Neuroengineering at the University of Minnesota, where she completed a thesis on computational modeling of the biomechanics and neuroscience of mechanotransduction. She has a Bachelors of Science in Bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania. Julia is a proud graduate of Catholic schools, having graduated from St. John Chrysostom in 2004 and Cardinal O’Hara High School in 2008. Julia lives in Devon, PA with her husband Kiefer, and daughter Samantha. Julia is an avid marathon runner and has completed 12 marathons so far.