Debra (Deb) Luffer-Atlas, PhD, is a native of Montreal, Canada, and received a bachelor's degree with honors in chemistry from McGill University. She received her PhD in chemistry from Indiana University (IU) followed by a two-year postdoc at the University of Arizona.
She started her industry career at Merck in 1992. She joined Lilly Research Laboratories in 1997 and in 2020 she was promoted to Distinguished Research Fellow, the company’s most senior technical level. She belongs to the ADME/Toxicology/PKPD organization and serves as Novel Target Leader for an Alzheimer’s Disease discovery/development program in collaboration with an alliance partner in Switzerland.
Luffer-Atlas is author or co-author of more than 40 peer-reviewed scientific publications and is considered to be a thought leader in the area of drug metabolite safety testing and drug-induced liver injury. She spoke on Capitol Hill in 2007 as part of a PhRMA panel about drug discovery entitled “The Making of Medicines: A Look into the Pharmaceutical R&D Process.”
She is a recipient of the 2014 Lilly Research Laboratories President’s Award for her dedication to female mentorship and career development as well as the 2007 Lilly Quality Pinnacle Award for her visionary ADME screening team leadership. She is an active member of the Women’s Initiative for Leading at Lilly and she is an outspoken advocate for talented employees at Lilly.
Luffer-Atlas is a proud wife of more than 30 years to an IU professor (Pierre Atlas) and she is the mother of two amazing humans—Moriah (27) and Ari (23). She also sits on the nonprofit Boards of the American Pianist Association and the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council.