Ajay Chawla, M.D., Ph.D.

VP, Biology

Ajay joined Cytokinetics in June 2023 as Vice President, Translational Sciences. 

Ajay joins us after spending four years at Merck as VP, Discovery Biology and Head of Cardiometabolic Disease Research as well as the site lead for their South San Francisco facility. Prior to joining Merck, Ajay had a long and productive academic research career starting at Stanford and transitioning to the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) where he became a Professor of Physiology and Medicine in the Cardiovascular Research Institute (CVRI).   

Ajay is a physician-scientist trained in adult endocrinology and with extensive research expertise in metabolism. He received his B.Sc. from Johns Hopkins University in biomedical engineering, and his M.D. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his fellowship in endocrinology in the laboratory of Dr. Mitch Lazar at the University of San Diego and his postdoctoral studies in the laboratory of Dr. Ronald Evans at the Salk Institute. Ajay has received numerous awards, including the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, AHA Innovative Science Award, NIDDK Young Investigator Award, Rita Allen Scholar, and Culpepper Medical Sciences Scholar. He is a member of American Society of Clinical Investigation and Association of American Physicians. 

Ajay enjoys traveling (36 countries so far) with his family, as well as hiking, cooking, gardening, reading, and restoring furniture. He is an avid road cyclist and enjoys climbing the hills around the peninsula.