With over 15 years of experience driving Target-to-Clinic drug discovery projects, I have built and led high-performance discovery teams, establishing the cross-functional collaboration necessary to advance discovery pipelines through IND. My journey has taken me from startups to major pharmaceutical players, where I've fostered a culture of trust, respect, and results.At Fate Therapeutics, I served as Vice President of Preclinical Pharmacology & Toxicology. In this role, I oversaw all in vivo studies essential for advancing Fate’s pipeline of iPSC-derived, genome-edited cellular therapies. A highlight was coordinating research efforts between Fate and Janssen Pharmaceutical, delivering two clinical development candidates. I managed both in-house and outsourced studies, delivering over 200 in vivo studies annually to support six concurrent discovery and late preclinical development programs.Before Fate, I was Executive Director and Head of Biology & Pharmacology at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute. There, I set the vision and drove the execution of biology and pharmacology operations, advancing high-risk, high-reward drug discovery projects. Leading a team of 25 with a multimillion-dollar budget, I expanded therapeutic area capabilities and secured $5 million in new funding to support over ten new research projects. Cultivating a relationship with an international chemical vendor, I established a new revenue stream and enhanced SBP's reputation for collaboration.My tenure at Sanford Burnham began as Director and Site Head of Drug Discovery, where I led over 30 FTEs in advancing a deep portfolio of drug discovery initiatives. Balancing resources between bi-coastal sites, I positioned operations toward long-term sustainability and instilled an “innovation first” mindset. This resulted in a first-in-class pipeline based on ownership, empowerment, and accountability. Securing a multiyear partnership with a global pharma company to innovate novel heart failure treatments was a key accomplishment.My academic background includes a Ph.D. in Pharmacology and an M.S. in Clinical Investigation from Vanderbilt University, as well as a B.S. in Cellular and Molecular Biology from Tulane University. Throughout my career, I have partnered with and fostered a culture of trust, respect, and results among team members at all levels, consistently driving drug discovery projects to successful outcomes and advancing the pharmaceutical industry.
Listed skills include Drug Discovery, Pharmacology, Assay Development, High Throughput Screening, and 17 others.