Dr. Zaveri is the Founder, President and Chief Scientific Officer of Astraea Therapeutics, a preclinical-stage company founded in 2009, whose mission is medication development for under-served diseases of the central nervous system (such as substance abuse and addiction, chronic pain and Parkinson’s disease). A PhD medicinal chemist by training, Dr. Zaveri is a recognized expert in the field of G-protein coupled receptor-targeted- and ion channel-targeted drug discovery for CNS medications. Dr. Zaveri has been a leader in the discovery and rational design of nociceptin opioid receptor ligands as well as novel compounds targeted to the alpha3beta4 nicotinic ion channel receptors. Pioneering discoveries from her laboratory have contributed to understanding the pharmacology of novel targets for drug addiction and pain treatment, and are being advanced into medication development.