Dr. Cosford has more than 15 years experience leading drug discovery projects in the pharmaceutical industry and not-for-profit sector. At Sibia Neurosciences and Merck he directed multidisciplinary research teams focused on hit-to-lead optimization and was responsible for moving several compounds to the clinic. Examples include taking a nicotinic agonist (Altinicline) from research through to Phase II clinical for Parkinson’s disease; moving mGluR5 NAMs from HTS through in vivo proof-of-concept to IND (clinical ongoing); and optimization of an Akt allosteric inhibitor clinical candidate. Dr. Cosford was project manager for the Burnham Center for Chemical Genomics (2005-2008) with responsibility for center operations and infrastructure. He is intimately familiar with coordinating research and achieving goals for multifaceted projects. His research has resulted in more than 50 peer reviewed publications and more than 50 issued patents and applications pending. In 2006, he received the FRAXA Foundation Award for Outstanding Contributions to Fragile X Research.