I received my Ph.D. in experimental pathology from the University of Maryland and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. I joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine in the Department of Pathology and rose to the rank of associate professor with tenure, with major funding support from the American Cancer Society and the National Institutes of Health.
In 1991, I joined Eli Lilly and Company as a Research Scientist in Toxicology, where my nearly 28-year career included a variety of technical and administrative roles. From 2009 until my retirement at the end of 2018, I provided scientific oversight and administrative leadership for the Toxicology and Pathology organization, supporting the Lilly Research Laboratories (LRL) portfolio. My responsibilities included scientific oversight, strategic planning, resourcing, budget, compliance, vendor management, and review and approval of key documents and reports. I served on several LRL committees associated with portfolio management and patient safety.
I have been an active member of the Society of Toxicology for over 30 years, serving on numerous committees and presenting at annual and regional chapter meetings. I represented Lilly in the Preclinical Safety Leadership Group (DruSafe) within the International Consortium for Innovation and Quality in Pharmaceutical Development and served on the Coordinating Committee from 2013 to 2015. I was also a founding member of the BioCelerate/TransCelerate Toxicology Data Sharing Project, attempting the first sustainable cross-industry toxicology data sharing initiative using SEND data. Additionally, I served as the nonclinical safety representative for the Development Special Emphasis Panel supporting the NCI Experimental Therapeutics (NExT) Program.
Through my accumulated experiences, I have developed valuable insights into the challenges and opportunities associated with the application of nonclinical safety data in human risk management.
Key Milestone Expertise in Drug Discovery & Development:
- Lead Optimization
- Predevelopment (candidate selection)
- IND enabling
- Phase I-III trials
