Improver

George Okafo, Ph.D., BSc., ARCS, FRSC

Innovation Program Director at Boehringer Ingelheim

Stevenage, England

Hello, my name is George Okafo. I have >30 years experience in Pharma R&D as an innovator, seeker, due diligence expert and senior drug discovery scientist. My broad scientific expertise includes CNS brain cancers, neurosciences (AD, PD, ALS, HS), cell-to-cell biology (eg tunneling nanotubes) and biology translation (in-vitro/in-vivo), drug discovery/target validation, applied bioanalytical chemistry, applied machine learning, and collaborative initiatives.

MY BACKGROUND, TRACK RECORD & EXPERIENCE
A global, Research and Development (R&D) scientific leader with extensive experience, innovating, discovering, incubating, and delivering scientific solutions. I have spearheaded many pharma projects from discovery to delivery and serving as a subject matter expert (SME) in cell biology (TNTs), applied analytical bioanalytical chemistry, and as a experienced due diligence scientist with global connections.

Key career achievements include:
1) Delivered >50 global due diligence opportunities across multiple therapeutic areas (neurosciences, GI, cancer, infectious diseases) and platform technologies converting 10 external opportunities into strategic deals.
2) Built multi-disciplinary global drug discovery/enabling platforms teams.
3) Published 60 peer-reviewed papers (Nature, JACS), 6 book/chapters, 2 patents covering biology/chemistry.
4) Successfully negotiated >£5M in funding for global incubation/proof-of-concept (PoC) studies.
5) Inspired/executed four global scientific conferences (TNT biology, oligonucleotide chemistry, accelerating drug discovery) focused on stimulating the external scientific eco-system and fostering greater collaboration/partnerships.
6) Delivered drug projects to key regulatory milestones (IND, IMPD, NDA, MAA).
7) Established a global network of academics, clinician-scientists and technology partners in chemistry, biology and machine learning/data analytics and achieved 20 scientific collaborations/partnerships.
8) Served as pharma expert on the UK Bioindustry Association/Science and Innovation Advisory Committee and the Society for Chemical Industry. Co-authored white paper with the intent of influencing UK Funding Bodies to invest in future biomedical technologies.

Thank you for reading my profile.

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Experience:

• Director/Owner (George Okafo Pharma Consulting Ltd)
• Brain Cancer Drug Discovery Program Leader (Insilico Medicine)
• Chair of SCI Membership Committee (Society of Chemical Industry)
• Innovation Program Director (Boehringer Ingelheim)
• Subject Matter Scientific Reviewer (Tunneling Nanotubes) (Nature Scientific Reports Journal)

Skills:

• Online Communications
• GMP
• Stakeholder Communication
• Contractor Negotiations
• Collaborative initiatives with Academic Institutions and Industrial and Technology Companies
• New Business Development
• R&D
• Science
• mentoring
• Research and Development (R&D)
• Drug Discovery and Development
• Coaching
• Analytical Techniques
• Technology Transfer
• Due Diligence
• Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS)
• Staff Development
• IND
• Networking
• Organic Chemistry
• Drug Development
• High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC)
• Strategic Alliances, Business Partnerships
• Research and Development (R
• Life Sciences
• Lifesciences
• Pharmaceutical Industry
• Chromatography
• cell biology research
• Strategic Policy Development
• Pharmaceuticals
• Strategic Biomedical Project Management
• LC-MS
• due diligence
• Cross Functional Team Building
• NMR
• HPLC
• drug R&D
• Mass Spectrometry
• Cross-functional Team Leadership
• Product Development
• Applied Bioanalytical Chemistry
• cGMP
• Global Due Diligence Scientist
• Chemistry
• Marketing Authorization and New Drug Applications (MAA and NDA)
• Drug Discovery
• Validation
• Agile Methodology
• Cell Biology SME