Dr. Gabriel Schäfer obtained his Dr. Sc. in organic chemistry at ETH Zurich from Prof. Jeffrey W. Bode and then performed postdoctoral studies with Prof. F. Dean Toste at UC Berkeley. In 2015, he started his industrial career as Scientist in the Process Research group at Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (now Idorsia Pharmaceuticals Ltd.). He was later promoted to the Group Leader position of Idorsia's Chemistry Process R&D group. In this function, he and his team have successfully developed new scalable routes and delivered first kg-amounts for a wide range of (pre)clinical candidates and developed vastly improved 2nd Generation routes for several commercial drugs. In 2024, he started as a Project Manager R&D at Dottikon Exclusive Synthesis AG, a Swiss manufacturer of high-quality intermediates and APIs.

Dr. Schäfer is very passionate about spreading the art and science of Process Chemistry through publications and presentations. By now, he has published over 30 publications and patents and serves as a member of the Editorial Board of “Helvetica Chimica Acta” and the Advisory Board of “Synthesis”. He received the "Organic Letters Outstanding Publication of the Year Lectureship Award" in 2025.