J. Alan Goggins, Ph.D., is an associate principal scientist in the pre-clinical development group (PCD) within Merck Research Labs—South San Francisco. In this role, Goggins supports Merck’s discovery pipeline by characterizing the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic drug properties of candidate compounds, with particular emphasis on immunogenicity risk assessments.

Prior to his role at PCD, Goggins completed a postdoctoral research fellowship in the Biologics and Vaccine Bioanalytics group at Merck, where his research project focused on developing assays to characterize the antigen-specific cellular immune response to mRNA vaccine platforms. During his postdoc tenure Goggins operated as President of the Merck Postdoc Association, facilitating career development and training opportunities for the postdoc community and served as New Jersey’s Young Science Ambassador for the American Society for Microbiology.

Goggins obtained his doctorate in biomedical sciences (2016) from the Microbiology & Immunology Department at the Tulane University School of Medicine and a bachelor's degree in environmental health from Western Carolina University (2010). In 2014, Goggins was awarded the ASM Robert D. Watkins Minority Research Fellowship to support his dissertation research. Goggins identifies as a Latinx, first-generation college graduate. Goggins is a passionate advocate for justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the microbial sciences and across the STEM enterprise.