Dr. Velu joined the Chemistry department of the University of Alabama at Birmingham as an Assistant Professor in August of 2004, got tenured and promoted to Associate Professor Rank in 2010 and obtained his Full Professorship in 2020. He is currently the Co-Director of Cancer Biology Undergraduate Program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He holds co-appointments as an Associate Scientist at the UAB O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and the UAB Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences. His teaching responsibilities include both undergraduate and graduate level courses in the department. His research interests are in the areas of organic/medicinal chemistry, drug discovery and development, anti-cancer and anti-infective agents, structure based drug design, in-silico virtual screening, structure activity relationship studies, lead optimization and synthesis of marine natural product analogs.