Frederick G. Hayden, MD
Kara Carter, PhD
Rick Keenan, PhD
Thomas Shenk, PhD
Frederick G. Hayden, MD
Dr. Frederick G. Hayden, MD, FACP serves as a Stuart S. Richardson Professor of Clinical Virology and Professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Virginia, School of Medicine. Dr. Hayden also serves as an Associate Director for Clinical Microbiology Laboratory (Virology) at the University of Virginia Health Sciences Center and Associate Director, Respiratory Disease Study Unit, The Center for the Prevention of Disease and Injury at the University of Virginia. He serves as Member of Scientific Advisory Board of IRX Therapeutics, Inc. Dr. Hayden served as Member of Senior Advisory Board of NexBio, Inc. and served as its Member of Advisory Board. He was a member of the Executive Committee for the NIAID - University of Alabama Collaborative Antiviral Study Group and the Board of Directors for the International Society for Antiviral Research. He has served as the editor for Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy. He has also served on editorial boards for Antiviral Research, Antiviral Therapy, and the Journal of Antimicrobial Chemotherapy. He is an internationally recognized expert on respiratory viral infections and a leading clinical investigator on influenza antiviral agents. He focuses his research activities on the pathogenesis of respiratory viral infections and the application of antiviral agents for their prevention and treatment. The scope of his studies has ranged from antiviral mechanisms of action to clinical trials involving experimentally induced and naturally occurring infections. Dr. Hayden received the James H. Nakano Citation in 1996 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is a board-certified in internal medicine and infectious diseases. Dr. Hayden holds a BA from Stanford University and an MD from Stanford University School of Medicine.
Kara Carter, PhD
Dr. Kara Carter has 28 years of experience in virology research including the discovery and development of antiviral agents. Following undergraduate research at Stanford University in collaboration with Chiron to develop an HSV2 specific diagnostic, she received her PhD in virology at University of Chicago in the laboratory of Dr. Bernard Roizman identifying novel genes of HSV1 and elucidating the mechanisms of their protein products. She then went on to do her post-doctoral studies at Harvard University and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in the laboratory of Dr. Elliott Kieff focusing on EBV induced transcriptional changes of infected B cells and their effect on transformation. After her post-doctoral studies, Dr. Carter moved to PRAECIS Pharmaceuticals where she led drug discovery programs in RSV, influenza, HSV and HCV focused on cellular targets. In 2004, she moved to Genzyme Corporation where she led drug discovery programs in virology, immunology and oncology in addition to supporting the Transplant Business Unit in the evaluation and acquisition of antiviral products to complement their portfolio. Currently, she is Head of Antiviral Research at Sanofi. In addition to serving as a reviewer for various journals, Dr. Carter is a member of the International Society for Antiviral Research where she has served as a member of the Women in Science Committee.Mike Bray, M.D., MPH
Mike Bray, MD MPH is the editor-in-chief of the journal Antiviral Research. His career in medicine began with two years as an Army medic in Viet Nam, after which he completed premedical studies at the University of Oregon and attended Dartmouth Medical School, graduating in 1977. He then trained in pathology and worked for several years as a forensic pathogist in Washington, DC. After obtaining a Master of Public Health degree from Johns Hopkins, he began research at NIH, in a section of Robert Chanock’s laboratory attempting to develop vaccines against dengue virus. In 1995, he transferred to the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Detrick, and spent 8 years working in the BSL-4 containment laboratory, principally evaluating antivirals and vaccines against Ebola virus, and was also part of the USAMRIID team that tested antivirals against variola virus in the maximum containment lab at the CDC in Atlanta.
In 2002 he returned to NIH as a medical officer in the Division of Clinical Research, NIAID, in a position that allowed time for writing, publication of review articles, organization of workshops and teaching. He is author or co-author of some 140 research papers, review articles and book chapters in various aspects of antiviral drug development. He began lecturing in the Masters Program in Biodefense at Georgetown Medical School in 2004, where he is now an adjunct professor. He became editor for review articles for Antiviral Research in 2008 and editor-in-chief in 2012. Since retiring from NIH in 2016, he continues with teaching, writing and his editorial position.
Rick Keenan, PhD
Dr. Keenan is an experienced drug discovery scientist with a demonstrated track record of achievement able to contribute both strategically and tactically at senior level. He is a consultant for biotech, venture capital, philanthropic disease foundations, academia and pharmaceutical companies, both in the US and India/China. He provides management of research collaborations; oversight of virtual lead optimization teams, and clients include BioMotiv, Cardioxyl, Trevena, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, Genzyme, Epizyme, Shire, Bioadvance, NYU and Ascent Biomedical Ventures. He has over thirty years of experience in medicinal chemistry research, contributing directly to the discovery of numerous clinical development compounds from a variety of therapeutic areas, including two marketed drugs: the Angiotensin Receptor blocker Teveten and the TPO receptor agonist Promacta. He has business development acumen with first hand exposure to successful research teams in biotech and is a founding member of the Center of Excellence for External Drug Discovery (CEEDD) at GlaxoSmithKline. He spearheaded novel data-sharing initiatives; open source drug discovery. His specialties are: consulting, virtual drug discovery, antibacterials, philanthropic disease foundations, open innovation, infectious diseases, oncology, open source drug discovery, due diligence, kinases, structure-based drug design, IP, leadership, management, lead optimization, personnel, recruiting, research, scientific, strategic, and outsourcing R&D.
Thomas Shenk, PhD
Dr. Shenk is the James A. Elkins Professor of Life Sciences in the Department of Molecular Biology at Princeton University. He is a virologist, who has investigated gene functions and pathogenesis of adenovirus, a DNA tumor virus, and, more recently, human cytomegalovirus, a member of the herpes family of viruses. Cytomegalovirus is the leading known infectious cause of birth defects, it is responsible for significant morbidity in people who become immunosuppressed, and there is suggestive evidence that it contributes to certain cancers and immune senescence. His laboratory’s current areas of focus include the use of genetic and proteomic approaches for the dissection of cytomegalovirus gene functions and the cellular response to infection, as well as the development and analysis of models for study of viral latency. Professor Shenk is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and he is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. Institute of Medicine. He is a past president of the American Society for Virology and the American Society for Microbiology, and he served on the board of directors of Merck & Company for 11 years. He currently serves as a member of the boards of directors of the Fox Chase Cancer Center, The Hepatitis B Foundation and Origen Therapeutics.