Ann Eakin appointed to the Joint Oversight Committee, replacing Michael Kurilla

(BOSTON: December 14, 2017) – Ann E. Eakin, Ph.D., Senior Scientific Officer in the Office of Biodefense, Research Resources & Translational Research in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), has been appointed to CARB-X’s Joint Oversight Committee (JOC), the 10-member governing board of CARB-X, effective December 14, 2017.

Dr. Eakin replaces Michael Kurilla, M.D., who has served on the JOC since CARB-X was established. Dr. Kurilla is stepping down to assume the role of Clinical Innovation Director for the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), a component of the NIH. Dr. Kurilla’s experience and expertise on the JOC have been instrumental in the success of CARB-X since it was launched in July 2016. We thank him for his exceptional service and wish him the best of luck in his new role.

In her position at NIH, Dr. Eakin is focused on leveraging resources and product development expertise at NIAID to help external scientists advance their basic scientific discoveries into clinical development as novel therapeutics for infectious diseases. Prior to joining the NIH, Dr. Eakin was a Principal Scientist at AstraZeneca where she worked for more than 12 years on the discovery and development of novel small molecule antibacterial therapeutics. Dr. Eakin earned her Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of California at San Francisco and served as an Assistant Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Dr. Eakin’s unique skills and experience in pre-clinical development will be invaluable to CARB-X as we strengthen and refine the scientific support provided to the companies we fund,” said Kevin Outterson, Executive Director of CARB-X.