Payam Kelich Profile Pic

Payam Kelich

Postdoctoral Research Associate

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Work Experience

Research, scientific computing, and production engineering across academia and industry.

[2025 - Present] Cheminformatics and Machine Learning Consultant

Expert Systems, San Diego, CA, USA (Remote)

  • Built adme-db for ADMET data curation, analysis, and duplicate pruning.
  • Deployed MPNN models for ADME prediction workflows.
  • Developed cheminformatics data pipelines from ChEMBL, BindingDB, and KLIFS.

[2024 - Present] Postdoctoral Research Associate

University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

Supervisor: Dr. Emad Tajkhorshid

  • Created preliminary data reports to enhance team efficiency.
  • Maintained Linux infrastructure for molecular dynamics and ML projects.
  • Conducted molecular dynamics simulations on membrane proteins.
  • Customized VMD plugins for better visualization and analysis.

[2020 - 2023] Ph.D. Research Associate

University of Texas at El Paso, Texas

Supervisor: Dr. Lela Vukovic

  • Researched DNA-CNT conjugates and peptidomimetics.
  • Developed infrastructure for MD simulations and ML projects.
  • Collaborated on computational modeling of nanoscale systems.
  • Created preliminary data reports for future research proposals.

[2020 - 2023] Ph.D. Teaching Assistant

University of Texas at El Paso, Texas

  • Assisted in General Chemistry and Organic Chemistry labs.

[2016 - 2019] Python Programmer and DevOps Engineer

Fanava IDC, Tehran

  • Developed Python scripts for business processes.
  • Managed Linux servers for optimal performance and security.
  • Deployed and maintained Python applications on Linux servers.
  • Integrated ML models into production and managed their lifecycle.