Background
Barbara Slusher is Professor of Neurology (primary), Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Medicine and Oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Director of Johns Hopkins Drug Discovery. Dr. Slusher has published over 250 scientific articles and reviews and is the inventor on over 100 patents and patent applications.
Before joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Slusher spent 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including several years at the level of Senior Vice President of Research and Translational Development. She has extensive experience in drug discovery through early clinical development and was involved in the successful development, launch and/or post marketing support of several FDA approved medicines. In 2009 she joined Johns Hopkins to lead the largest drug discovery program on campus with a veteran team of 25 medicinal chemists, assay developers, pharmacologists, toxicologists, and pharmacokinetics/drug metabolism experts. The team is engaged in identifying novel drug targets arising from the faculty’s research and translating them into new drug therapies for clinical development.
Since joining JHU, she has is co-founded four new companies including Cerecor, Dracen Pharmaceuticals, Adarga, and Lorem Therapeutics amassing over $150M in funding. Dr. Slusher also co-founded the first-ever International Consortium of Academic Drug Discovery with over 150 university-led translational centers and 1500 members. Dr. Slusher has served on multiple scientific advisory boards and steering committees including Janssen, Eisai, Inc., Bayer Healthcare, Bluefield Innovations, Neurofibromatosis Therapeutic Acceleration Program, American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, Longeviti Neurosolutions, and Ashvattha Therapeutics.
Dr. Slusher received her undergraduate degree from Dickinson College where she graduated valedictorian, majoring in Chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences from John Hopkins School of Medicine while simultaneously earning her Master's degree in Administrative Science from the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business (formerly School of Continuing Studies).
Barbara Slusher can be reached via email at [email protected]