AAPS Announces 2015 Fellows

The American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) has named eight individuals as 2015 AAPS Fellows. AAPS Fellows designation honors sustained remarkable scholarly and research contributions to the pharmaceutical sciences such as original articles, scientific presentations at AAPS Annual Meeting and Expositions, and/or patents. The 2015 Fellows are:

Jörg Breitkreutz, PhD, Heinrich-Heine-University, Germany
Breitkreutz is a professor for pharmaceutical technology and biopharmacy and the director of the Institute of Pharmaceutics and Biopharmaceutics at the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf, Germany. He is the president of the International Association of Pharmaceutical Technology (APV) located in Germany. His research focuses on the development of patient-centered medicinal products and medical devices for children and the elderly.

Rosalinde Masereeuw, PhD, Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Netherlands
Masereeuw is a full professor of Experimental Pharmacology at the Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences in the Netherlands. Research performed by her group is designed to find novel therapeutic strategies to improve kidney function in renal disorders. Her group has developed unique human renal cell lines with a high predictive value for renal drug excretion and metabolism. These cell lines are used in the development of a bioartificial kidney and a kidney-on-a-chip device suitable for toxicity testing of potential nephrotoxic compounds.

Samir Mitragotri, PhD, University of California, Santa Barbara
Biopharmaceutical drugs such as insulin, vaccines and growth hormones are delivered by injections, which have several limitations including pain, needle-phobia, and misuse. Mitragotri has developed technologies to deliver these drugs without using needles through the skin and allow delivery of drugs to treat various diseases including diabetes, cancer, and infections.

Steven P. Schwendeman, PhD, University of Michigan
Schwendeman is the Ara G. Paul Professor and chair of pharmaceutical sciences and professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Michigan. His work has demonstrated that biodegradable poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PGLA), which allows drugs to slowly release in the body over a course of weeks and/or months, can prevent damage of lage and sensitive protein drug molecules. His research also describes the complex physical chemistry occurring in PLGA and how to place proteins inside the PLGA without using protein-damaging oil-based solvents. He is the first scientist to show how tiny holes in PLGA spontaneously close and how this healing then affects the release of drugsfrom the dosage form right after administration to patients.

Gopi Shankar, PhD, MBA, Johnson & Johnson
Shankar is a senior director at Janssen BioTherapeutics (a division of Johnson & Johnson), where he heads the Bioanalytical Sciences & Immunogenicity Department. Shankar has published in the areas of basic immunological research and technical, strategic and regulatory best practices. He is a prominent member of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS) and has led or contributed to several high-impact scientific advances in immunogenicity, including six industry whitepapers and a chapter in the United States Pharmacopeia. His research, consensus-building efforts and best-practice publications, both independently and through AAPS, have transformed the thinking and tactical processes related to immunogenicity around the globe.

Sven Stegemann, PhD, Capsugel and Graz University of Technology
Stegemann is director, pharmaceutical business development at Capsugel, and professor of patient-centric drug design and manufacturing at the Graz University of Technology, Austria. Stegemann has worked as an advisor to major pharmaceutical companies on ways to improve the design, development, and manufacture of pharmaceutical products so they better address the individual needs of patients. In his academic role, he focuses his research on the rational development of patient-centric drug products and their associated manufacturing technologies, as well as the education and training of students and young scientists. Stegemann is the founder and chair of the AAPS Focus Group on Patient-Centric Drug Development, Product Design, and Manufacturing as well as the founder and President of the Geriatric Medicine Society.

Julie A. Stone, PhD, Merck Research Laboratories
Over a 20-year career, Stone’s research has focused on the use of computer modeling and simulation to enhance decision making in drug discovery and development, a scientific field known as pharmacometrics. Models integrate diverse data from laboratory testing to clinical trials results with biologic knowledge to aid interpretation of results and through model-based simulations to predict response beyond the specific tested conditions. These approaches provide valuable insights to inform the right biologic target, molecule, dose, treatment paradigm and patient population to optimize benefit and reduce risk from a therapeutic intervention under research evaluation. Stone has applied these approaches in a variety of disease areas including HIV, HCV, oncology, diabetes, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, and through these efforts has contributed to the development and approval of 11 Merck medicines.

Allen C. Templeton, PhD, Merck and Company
Templeton’s research is focused on finding ways to deliver medicine to patients in effective, high quality, cost-effective and convenient ways. Many diseases require specialized and advanced drug delivery approaches in order for the drug to reach the target site of the disease within the body. These novel dosage forms require advanced technology and research in order to ensure that they work as intended, have appropriate shelf-life and quality, and can be manufactured in reproducible and cost-effective ways. Templeton and his group are pioneers seeking to extend the boundaries of drug delivery research in order to bring new, life-saving medicines to patients in diverse fields such as oncology, infectious diseases, and neurosciences.

Source: American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists