[1][2] Edward Roberts pursued his undergraduate studies in biochemistry with a minor in music at the University of Sussex, Brighton, England,[citation needed] earning a Bachelor of Science with Honors degree in 1979.
He continued his academic journey with a Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry at the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England, under Richard J Stoodley, completing his doctoral studies in 1982.
[4][5][6] Roberts held the position of senior vice president and Head of Chemistry at F. Hoffmann-La Roche in Basel, Switzerland.
[citation needed] Roberts was the President and Chief Science Officer at Kémia, a drug development company located in San Diego, California.
In 2005, he was appointed as a professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Molecular Medicine at Scripps Research in La Jolla, California.