Kamala Payne ’05

Kamala Payne Chapman is a native of Bedford, Virginia. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry from Mary Baldwin College in 2005 with double minors in Psychology and Secondary Education. She also has obtained post baccalaureate degrees in Pharmaceutical Chemistry from the University of Florida School of Pharmacy and in Tablet Technology from the University of Tennessee.

Kamala began her career as a Systems and Statistics Scientist at Pfizer Consumer Research and Development in Richmond, Virginia where she focused on drug stability and expiration dating of consumer drug products. After being noted as an innovative young scientist, Kamala obtained the role of Senior Associate Scientist in the Nutritional Product Design franchise. As a design scientist, Kamala focuses on global research and development of the iconic nutritional brands: Centrum, Caltrate, Emergen-C. Kamala believes in thinking outside of the box and pushing the status quo. As a result of successful collaborations with her marketing team, many of Kamala’s design products can be seen on shelves throughout the world. Kamala is also a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and has completed numerous projects focused on increasing speed to market and cutting waste. Kamala is an active member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated and was the 2007 Miss Virginia United States, 2nd Runner up. She is an accomplished pianist, flautist, and teaches tap, jazz, and pointe for the City Dance Theatre in Richmond, Virginia.