I am a results-oriented drug discovery scientist and leader with more than 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. My technical expertise lies in medicinal chemistry, focusing on drug targets involved in gene transcription/regulation and associated downstream signaling pathways for the treatment of autoimmune, endocrine, and cancer diseases. I have extensive experience in external collaborations, outsourcing, due diligence, portfolio management, long-term strategic planning, resource allocation, budget oversight, mentoring, and scientific staff management and development.
I joined Eli Lilly and Company in 1997 as a medicinal chemist, where I developed strategies using modern medicinal chemistry principles, robust data analysis, and scientific insights to guide the identification of clinical candidates for advancement to IND-enabling studies. I established and oversaw a successful Lead Generation platform, leading Lilly’s global strategy to establish a broad network of CRO business relationships in Asia. Upon returning to the U.S., I served as senior director of endocrine chemistry and subsequently as CSO of Immunology Chemistry, leading a staff of more than 80 Lilly chemists and more than 100 insourced AMRI chemists across multiple global research sites.
As vice president of chemistry at P2K Dynamics, my role is to develop and implement the chemistry strategies and plans for our drug discovery programs that are aligned with the company’s mission to deliver orally bioavailable PIM2 modulators for clinical development. Additionally, as a senior research professor at the IU School of Medicine, I bring my pharma background and expertise to help translate IU School of Medicine research into medicines through collaboration, education, and mentoring. I work with the Cancer Drug Discovery & Development Accelerator (CD3A) leadership to identify, initiate, and advance collaborations and interactions, providing a drug discovery perspective to sharpen research programs’ focus on overcoming barriers to clinical development.
Key Milestone Expertise in Drug Discovery & Development:
- Target Validation
- Hit Identification
- Lead Identification
- Lead Optimization
- Predevelopment (candidate selection)
