MMV’s Expert Scientific Advisory Committee (ESAC) helps to identify the best projects worthy of inclusion in the portfolio and continues to monitor progress through an annual review of all projects. This committee consists of experts from both industry and academia and covers the full range of expertise required to assess projects that are engaging in the extremely complex process of drug research and development.

ESAC Members

Dr Aileen Allsop Former Vice President for Science Policy, R&D, AstraZeneca, United Kingdom

Dr Thomas Baillie Dean Emeritus, School of Pharmacy University of Washington, Seattle, USA 

Dr Tesfaye Biftu Distinguished professor, National institute of pharmaceutical sciences, ASTU, Adama, Ethiopia

Dr Nick Cammack Former Senior Vice-President and Head, Medicines Development Campus for Diseases of the Developing World at GSK, Tres Cantos, Spain

Sir Simon Campbell Former SVP for WW Discovery, Pfizer, organic chemist, United Kingdom

Robert Clay Consultant/Managing Director, Highbury Regulatory Science Limited; and Board Member (President 2017) at TOPRA, United Kingdom

Dr Anne Cooper Programme Director, Sosei Heptares, United Kingdom

Prof Brian Cox Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of Sussex, School of Life Sciences, United Kingdom

Ms Delese Mimi Darko Chief Executive Officer, Food and Drugs Authority, Ghana

Dr Michael Dunne Chief Medical Officer, Iterum Therapeutics, USA

Dr Monica Hemben Eimunjeze Director Registration & Regulatory Affairs Directorate, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), Nigeria

Dr Rick M. Fairhurst Senior Safety Physician, R&D Oncology, AstraZeneca

Prof Daniel Goldberg Professor and Co-Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases Department of Medicine Washington University, USA

Dr Tim Hammond Independent Pharmaceutical Preclinical Safety Consultant at Preclinical Safety Consulting Ltd, United Kingdom

Dr Laurent Hennequin Research Director, Galderma R&D, La Tour de Peilz, Switzerland

Prof Dennis Kyle Director, Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases, University of Georgia, USA

Dr Marcus Lacerda Public Health Specialist, Fiocruz, Brazil 

Prof John Lambert Chief Medical Officer, Global Head Medical Affairs and Consulting, PAREXEL International – Early Phase, United Kingdom

Dr Mary Mader Research Fellow, Discovery Chemistry Research and Technologies, Eli Lilly and Company, USA  

Dr George K Mooney KGM Pharma Consulting LLC, USA

Dr John Pottage Chief Scientific and Medical Officer, ViiV Healthcare; and Co-Chairman MMV ESAC (Development), USA  

Dr Robert Riley Executive Vice President, Drug Discovery, Evotec, United Kingdom    

Dr Esperança Sevene, Senior Research Fellow, Manhiça Health Research Centre, Mozambique

Prof Dennis Shanks Director, Australian Defence Force Malaria and Infectious Disease Institute, Australia

Dr Peter Siegl, Siegl Pharma Consulting, United States

Dr Shailja Singh, Associate Professor, Special Centre for Molecular Medicine, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India

Dr Sodiomon Sirima Centre National de Recherche et de Formation sur le Paludisme (CNRFP), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Prof Dennis Smith Former Vice President, PGRD, Pfizer, Kent, United Kingdom

Dr Jane Stewart Reproductive Toxicology Associate, ApconiX, United Kingdom

Dr John R.J. Surtees Managing Partner, Berzelius Integrated Solutions, Belgium

Dr Melissa Tassinari, PhD DABT, Former Senior Clinical Advisor, Food and Drug Administration, USA

Dr Klaus Urbahns Head of Discovery and Development Technologies at Merck Group, Germany

Dr Elizabeth Vadas President, InSciTech Inc. Canada

Prof Stephen Ward Deputy Director, Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, United Kingdom

Dr Dyann Wirth Professor and Director, Havard Malaria Initiative, USA

Dr Michael Witty Drug Discovery Consultant and former Vice-President Pfizer R&D; Co-Chairman MMV ESAC (Discovery), United Kingdom

Dr Taiyin Yang EVP, Pharmaceutical Development and Manufacturing, Gilead, USA

Dr Takeshi Yura Vice President Medicinal Chemistry, Jubilant Biosys Ltd, India