Dr. Slusher is an Associate Professor of Neurology and the Chief Scientific Officer for the Brain Science Institute NeuroTranslational Program at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.  She leads a 20-member veteran drug-discovery team consisting of medicinal chemists, assay developers, pharmacologists, toxicologists, and pharmacokinetic/drug metabolism experts. The team is engaged in identifying novel drug targets arising from JHU faculty’s research and translating them into new drug therapies for neurological disorders.

Prior to joining Hopkins in September 2009, she spent 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including 10 years as a Senior Vice President of Research and Translational Development.  Dr. Slusher’s extensive experience in drug discovery spans through Phase I/IIa clinical development, participation in multiple FDA meetings and both IND and NDA regulatory filings.  She is an inventor of sixty-two issued patents and has published over 100 scientific articles, reviews and book chapters. She has been an invited speaker at 35 national and international scientific meetings and has served on the Board or as a scientific consultant of multiple biotechnology companies.

Dr. Slusher received her undergraduate degree from Dickinson College where she graduated valedictorian, majoring in Chemistry with a double minor in Physics and Sociology. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences from John Hopkins School of Medicine while simultaneously earning her MBA from Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business.

Dr. Slusher has strong ties in Maryland, growing up in Bel Air and continuing to live in the area with her husband and three children.  She and her family are committed to community service, traveling to Kenya, Africa to volunteer for “Caring for Kids of Kenya”, coaching youth travel-lacrosse and founding a women’s lacrosse club.  She was recently awarded the United Way Big Brother/Big Sister Volunteer-of-the-Year Award for her work with inner-city children and was awarded a volunteer honor from Habitat for Humanity.