Dr. Augelli-Szafran is highly regarded as an experienced drug hunter, medicinal chemist, and prolific inventor, whose innovative work has led to several groundbreaking patents, including novel synthetic compounds and treatments for various diseases, including deadly viruses, diabetes, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer.
Dr. Augelli-Szafran has extensive experience in the areas of: a) hit-to-lead optimization and development of pre-IND/IND candidates; b) conversion of novel, tractable compounds into clinically useful candidates with optimized biological and physical properties; and c) forming and operating successful collaborations with academic and commercial partners, such that urgency and timeliness of data is achieved.
With more than three decades of drug development and leadership experience in big pharma (Parke-Davis and Pfizer), academia (Harvard Medical School and Brigham & Women’s Hospital) and not-for-profit (Southern Research) organizations, she has managed over 40 different drug discovery programs covering more than 15 different therapeutic areas which has led to 26 US patents and 20 WO published international patents, all composition of matter, more than 75 publications, 150 presentations and 60 invited lectures.
Dr. Augelli-Szafran serves as PI/MPI on several NIH-funded grants and Foundation funding in NeuroHIV, Arsenicals/Inflammation, various Cancers, Antivirals, and Cystic Fibrosis. Several of these programs have advanced to animal efficacy studies, of which two candidates are now in Phase 1 clinical trials for cancer and diabetes, and an IND package is being prepared for a first-in-class therapeutic small molecule for the treatment of Chikungunya virus. Over the past twelve years, she has had ~ $70 million in support serving as PI, MPI, and Co-I.
Dr. Augelli-Szafran has been recognized for her mentoring skills, has been invited worldwide to present her research, has been a longstanding member of NIH review panels, and has received numerous awards that exemplify her broad range of scientific skills, including being elected recently as a Fellow into the National Academy of Inventors.
Dr. Augelli-Szafran received her B.A. in Biology from the University of Pennsylvania and her M.S. and Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from New York University.
She joined the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics as a professor at the Heersink School of Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.