Kristian Strømgaard obtained an MSc degree in Chemical Research from University College London and continued as a Ph.D. student in medicinal chemistry, part-time at H. Lundbeck. He did a postdoc at Columbia University (New York), and shortly after, he was appointed H. Lundbeck Professor at the age of 36 to establish research in Chemical Biology. He won the ‘Teacher of the Year’ award from the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Science (Univ. Cph.) 2009. In 2012, he co-founded Avilex Pharma and has been in charge of bringing the lead compound, AVLX-144, through successful Phase 1 clinical trials. In 2014, he was appointed Director of the Center for Biopharmaceuticals, where he headed a research center on peptide and protein engineering. Recently, he was a visiting professor at Harvard Medical School (Boston) to explore medical research and innovation. In 2021, he was awarded the University of Copenhagen Innovation Award and appointed Novo Nordisk Foundation Distinguished Innovator.