Jay E. Wrobel, Ph.D., Vice President, Academic Relations

Dr. Wrobel has spent 40 years as a medicinal chemist in the pharmaceutical industry, 26 years at Wyeth (later Pfizer), with his last position as Senior Director of Medicinal Chemistry at the Collegeville, PA facility. At Wyeth he mentored and guided the efforts of 31 Ph.D./MS medicinal chemists and worked successfully with outside alliance partners. He was directly involved in bringing forward nine development track candidates (phase 0 and beyond) in a variety of therapeutic areas. At FCTDI, Jay is specifically responsible for developing new collaborative research relationships, obtaining funding for early-stage opportunities in drug discovery and development, and guiding and directing the medicinal chemistry aspects of funded projects. At FCTDI, Jay has been PI or Key Personnel on 17 SBIR/STTR funded grants. He has co-authored 79 scientific publications and is an inventor on 84 issued US patents. Contact: [email protected].

Jeffrey C. Pelletier, Ph.D., Director of Chemistry

With over 35 years of experience Dr. Pelletier has had leadership positions at large pharmaceutical companies (Wyeth-Pfizer, Rhone Poulenc Rorer), start-up companies (Symphony Pharmaceuticals, Fox Chase Therapeutics Discovery, Neurokine Therapeutics, LLC) and academics (Northwestern University). In each environment he has discovered/co-discovered, and moved into development, novel small molecules for the treatment of various disorders such as prostate cancer, epilepsy, melanoma, and neurodegeneration. This includes a recent invention, Troriluzole (previously FC-4157 and BHV-4157), a glutamate modulator that is in Phase II/III clinical trials for the treatment of spinocerebellar ataxia and obsessive compulsive disorder. Dr. Pelletier has led large medicinal chemistry teams as well as chemical development teams to transition multiple inventions to development phase. Dr. Pelletier leads the chemistry department at FCTDI.  Contact: [email protected].

Dr. Katie B. Freeman, Director of Biology

Dr. Freeman has spent over 25 years in the drug discovery industry with experience in antimicrobials, cardiovascular and neurobiology.  She has a PhD in Microbiology from the University of Virginia and, following a postdoc at Columbia University, began her career at GlaxoSmithKline in the model organism drug discovery group. Moving to biotech she joined PolyMedix where she helped to develop non-peptidic mimics of host defense proteins for infectious disease and cardiovascular disorders. Dr. Freeman has been at Fox Chase Therapeutics Discovery Inc for ten years and has helped to grow the company’s biological expertise in compound discovery and development.  She has helped to identify and develop a novel antifungal and develop multiple in vitro assays on varied platforms to support SAR and compound mechanism of action studies.  She is author on more than 25 papers and is an inventor on 7 US patents.  Contact: [email protected]

Matthew Todd, Ph.D.

Matthew Todd received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Michigan State University, under the direction of Dr. Robert Hausinger. He then trained with Dr. George Lorimer (protein folding) and Dr. Ernesto Freire (Calorimetry and Biophysics) before joining 3-Dimensional Pharmaceuticals, where he developed ThermoFluor technology and led HTS efforts. Dr. Todd joined Johnson & Johnson on their purchase of 3DP, where he was Director of Lead Discovery for over 10 years, championing label-free technologies in early drug discovery. He has founded BioPhysical-Solutions, Inc., a startup biotech company offering label-free biophysical testing services where his capabilities and expertise overlaps client needs.

Melissa Egbertson, Ph.D.

Melissa Egbertson received her Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from Yale University under the direction of Sam Danishefsky. Her 25-year career in Medicinal Chemistry at the Merck West Point site included a variety of therapeutic areas, including Cardiology, Infectious Diseases, and Neuroscience. She is one of four inventors of the drug Aggrastat® (tirofiban), a fibrinogen receptor antagonist currently used worldwide in the treatment of acute coronary syndrome and was a key contributor in the team that created Isentress®, the first-in-class HIV-integrase inhibitor. As a Director in Exploratory Chemistry, she led several teams that prepared neuroscience projects for Lead Optimization. Currently retired from Merck, she works as a chemistry consultant to an exploratory program at Rockefeller University and is an adjunct professor in the Drexel School of Medicine Pharmacology Department.

Nicholas A. Meanwell, Ph.D. 

After completing a post-doctoral fellowship with Professor Carl R. Johnson at Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, he joined Bristol-Myers Squibb where he has led drug discovery programs in the cardiovascular, neurosciences and virology therapeutic areas, work that has resulted in the advancement of over 30 clinical candidates for the prevention of thrombosis, the treatment of stroke and therapy for viral infections, including human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). Significant compounds advanced into therapy include daclatasvir (Daklinza™), a pioneering molecule that established NS5A inhibition as a clinically relevant target, and the HCV NS3 protease inhibitor asunaprevir (Sunvepra™), which incorporates the cyclopropyl acylsulfonamide moiety that has been widely adopted.

Richard W. Scott, Ph.D., Former Vice President, Research

Dr. Scott has a strong background in preclinical research and drug development. He led a research team at PolyMedix, Inc. for over 10 years investigating small molecule mimics of host defense proteins (HDP mimics) as anti-infective and immune modulatory agents.  In his current position as Vice President of Research at Fox Chase Therapeutic Discovery, Inc., he has led research programs in several therapeutic indications involving anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal targets. During his 38-year career in the pharmaceutical industry, he has leadership experience in many areas of research and drug development including target identification, lead identification and optimization, mechanism of action, in vitro safety, animal efficacy and safety, ADME, pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics, GLP toxicology and intellectual property protection. Furthermore, has served as the PI or co-PI on numerous (19) NIH grants and Department of Defense grants and contracts.  Contact: [email protected].

Scott Rawls, Professor, Temple University

Dr. Rawls has 28 years of demonstrated accomplishment as a pharmacologist and neuroscientist in academic science, including over two decades at Temple University in Philadelphia. Dr. Rawls has led pharmacological research efforts in diseases of the central nervous system including pain and drug addiction. In particular, he has investigated roles for glutamate and neuroimmune systems in adverse effects of opioids and psychostimulants. Dr. Rawls has published approximately 140 peer-reviewed articles on these and related topics. Highlights of Dr. Rawls’ research include preclinical characterization of the β-lactamase  inhibitor clavulanic acid as a glutamate transporter subtype 1 (GLT-1) enhancer that reduces cocaine intake and reinforcing efficacy. This preclinical work has resulted in clavulanic acid being currently tested in a NIH-funded clinical trial for cocaine use disorder. Dr. Rawls’ group was also one of the first to characterize effects of designer drugs called novel psychoactive substances (NPS), with a particular emphasis on ‘bath salt’ synthetic cathinones such as mephedrone and MDPV (methylenedioxypyrovalerone). More recent work has been directed toward preclinical characterization of (1) chemokine receptor antagonists (CRAs) as biphasic opioid function modulators (BOFMs) that both enhance opioid analgesia and reduce adverse opioid effects and (2) troriluzole (TRLZ), a dual glutamate release inhibitor/transport activator and prodrug of FDA-approved riluzole, for psychostimulant and opioid addiction. Dr. Rawls is also active in science educational outreach and teaching. He started a NIH-funded program called Science Education Against Drug Abuse Partnership (SEADAP), which includes a curriculum for elementary, middle and high school students that uses flatworms called planarians to teach the science of drug addiction. Dr. Rawls has also won numerous teaching awards (e.g., Mary DeLeo Prize, American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy, Golden Apple, Dawn Marks Award).