Elizabeth H.Z. Thompson, Ph.D., has served as ACADIA's Executive Vice President, Head of Research and Development since April 2024, leading the company's neuroscience and rare-disease R&D organization; in April 2026 she announced her intention to retire by the end of the year. Before joining ACADIA she was Executive Vice President, Research and Development (Rare Disease) at Amgen following its acquisition of Horizon Therapeutics, where she had served as Executive Vice President, Research and Development. Earlier she held clinical-development leadership roles at AbbVie (clinical lead for risankizumab/SKYRIZI), Raptor Pharmaceuticals, InterMune and Amgen. She earned a B.S. in chemistry from Harvey Mudd College and a Ph.D. in macromolecular and cellular structure and chemistry from The Scripps Research Institute.