Noted scientist Dr. Gopala Krishna has been promoted to
the position of Vice President, Preclinical Research &
Development and Competitive Intelligence at Supernus Pharmaceuticals
in Rockville, MD.
Dr. Krishna continues to save the
company saving significant money by choosing top notch collaborators
around the globe who work for competitive prices. He is also known
for his effort in efficiently resolving scientific issues at highest
levels for company projects so they can progress towards Food and
Drug Administration approval.
He hails from a small village in
Southern India, Kaiwara in Karnataka. He came to the United States in
1981 to pursue a doctorate degree in the field of Genetics at West
Virginia University.
Throughout his career, he has earned
recognition for his scientific excellence and noteworthy
contributions to the society. They include the distinguished
alumni award by the College of Agriculture at West Virginia
University in 2004; the Association of Scientists of Indian Origin –
Society of Toxicology leadership award in 2009; and more recently in
2014, he was the winner of the distinction as the Fellow of the
Academy of Distinguished Alumni of West Virginia University as a
visionary.
When his doctoral mentor, Dr. Joginder
Nath, asked Krishna about this very important promotion, he replied,
“It is because of the values I learned at the various educational
institutions that I have studied at in my life; it is the drive to
add on new skill-sets at various phases in life so that I can
be more valuable; it is the effort towards proactively taking
advantage of the opportunities available to me along the way; it is
doing what it takes to make a difference and most importantly seeing
the best in othersâ€.
He believes in the phrase “with the
right attitude one can reach the highest altitude possibleâ€. Dr. Krishna strongly believes that,
while giving his best to the institutions he has worked for, he must
also give back to his home country, India. This include sharing his
knowledgebase in the area of drug discovery and development through
conducting workshops, giving presentations at the national and
international meetings, and simply mentoring the youngsters and
inspiring. He hopes this effort will point Indian scientists to
accelerate the transition from copy cat manufacture of generic
medicines to real innovative novel prescription medicines so higher
value is created by employing the advanced technologies.
Also, as the President of the
Association of Scientists of Indian Origin, which is a sub group of
Society of Toxicology in the US, he was responsible for establishing
endowment funds which provided international travel awards for young
Indian students and scientists so that they could present their
research at scientific meetings and network with global scientists in
the US. Since its inception, numerous youngsters have benefited from
the international travel awards.
A brief biography on Dr. Krishna
includes:
Dr. Krishna received BS (1978) and MS
(Genetics, 1980) from the University of Agricultural Sciences,
Bangalore and PhD (1984, Genetics & Developmental Biology) from
the West Virginia University. He was a National Academy of
Sciences/National Research Council fellow at the National Institute
of Occupational Safety and Health (WV) and Oak Ridge National
Laboratories (TN) from 1984-1986 studying molecular mechanisms of
drug-induced toxicity.
In 1986, Dr. Krishna joined Pfizer and
worked for 15 years where his research continued in drug discovery,
development and regulatory toxicology and pathology resulting in
marketed drugs such as: Lipitor, Neurontin, Lyrica, Rezulin and
Nipent.
In the last 15 years, he has led
preclinical safety and R&D projects in multiple therapeutic areas
at Abbott Labs (marketed drugs: Humira for arthritis, Kaletra for
AIDS), MGI Pharma and Enzon Pharma with a focus in oncology and has
been with Supernus Pharmaceuticals (for over 8 years) and currently
promoted to the position: Vice President and Head of Preclinical R&D
and Competitive Intelligence with a focus in neuroscience (Oxtellar
XR, Trokendi XR for epilepsy) and several pipeline candidate drugs in
psychiatry. He is an expert in regulatory Pharmacology/Toxicology
issue resolution and has successfully dealt clinical holds
particularly related to genotoxic impurities. He received an MBA in
1992 majoring in International Business, served as Adjunct Professor
of Toxicology in the School of Public Health at the University of
Michigan and as guest lecturer at multiple US institutions. He has
been an expert reviewer of grants for NIH and NIEHS. Has published
~70 research articles, 80 abstracts, and 8 book chapters and has been
on the editorial boards and Guest Editor of Mutation Research and
Toxicology Mechanisms and Methods.
He has served as the President of
Society of Toxicology - ASIO Special interest group, continues to
serve as an advisor and conducted multiple invited
workshops/symposia. He is a Diplomate of the American Board of
Toxicology, an elected Fellow of the US Academy of Toxicological
Sciences and is a recipient of multiple awards for his contributions,
most recent being the winner of 2014 Distinguished Alumnus award of
West Virginia University as a visionary.
http://alumni.wvu.edu/awards/academy/gopala-krishna
