Madeline M. Farley, PhD, Appointed Scientific Director of SLAS

Madeline M. Farley

The Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening (SLAS) has announced the appointment of Madeline M. Farley, PhD, as its new Scientific Director, effective January 19, 2026.

Dr. Farley joins SLAS from Genesis Drug Discovery & Development (GD3), where she most recently served as Chief Scientific Officer, Biochemistry & Bioanalytical Division, and as Managing Director of PharmOptima, a GD3 subsidiary. In these roles, she led scientific teams across three U.S. laboratory sites, established the organization’s Ocular Center of Excellence, and oversaw regulated and exploratory bioanalytical programs.

As Scientific Director, Dr. Farley will provide strategic leadership for SLAS’s scientific programs, guiding educational content for conferences, webinars and professional programming. She will also support the Society’s peer-reviewed journals, SLAS Discovery and SLAS Technology, and serve as a scientific liaison to ensure SLAS resources remain accurate, relevant and aligned with advances across the life sciences ecosystem.

Dr. Farley holds a PhD in Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience from the University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston. She completed postdoctoral fellowships in pathology at McGovern Medical School and in neurosurgery at Baylor College of Medicine. She began her industry career as a Senior Research Scientist in Biochemistry at PharmOptima, where she mentored junior scientists and designed and executed bioanalytical assays.

Sterling Martin is proud to have been a part of this search and congratulates SLAS and Dr. Madeline Farley on this exciting appointment.

About SLAS

SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening) is an international professional society of academic, industry and government life sciences researchers and developers and providers of laboratory automation technology. The SLAS mission is to bring together researchers in academia, industry and government to advance life sciences discovery and technology via education, knowledge exchange and global community building. SLAS Discovery: Advancing the Science of Drug Discovery, Editor-in-Chief Robert M. Campbell, Ph.D., Grove Biopharma, Inc., Chicago, IL (USA).

Sterling Martin

Sterling Martin (SM) is a leading specialty national search firm conducting chief executive-level searches for associations, nonprofits, and organizations across diverse specialties. SM has built an outstanding reputation by providing impeccable service to its clients and by placing exceptional talent. Based primarily in Washington, DC, SM has offices in New York, Chicago, and Orange County, CA.

Since founding the firm in 2006 with a mission to combine his search expertise with nonprofit board experience, David Martin now leads a highly experienced and diverse team, combining in-depth client analysis with the latest search technologies to create effective, personalized searches. Since the day he founded the firm, David has personally taken a leadership role with every search, for every client.

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