John Mckew's Biography

John Mckew, Chief, National Institutes Of Health

Dr. McKew is the Acting Scientific Director of the Division of Preclinical Innovation at the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) within the NIH. His responsibilities include developing the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Disease (TRND) program and the Bridging Interventional Development Gaps program (BrIDGs; former NIH-RAID program). Both of these programs focus on novel public/private partnerships to advance collaborative drug discovery projects through pre-clinical development into early clinical development. These collaborative projects are advanced using a combination of internal scientific resources as well as government contracts. Prior to joining the NIH, Dr. McKew held a Director level position at Wyeth Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he spent a total of 17 years. One role at Wyeth he held comprised leading a hit-to lead chemistry group supporting cardiovascular, musculoskeletal and metabolic disease therapeutic areas. Prior to that Dr. McKew spent 10 years working in the inflammation therapeutic area resulting in multiple compounds entering clinical evaluation. His research interests include rare and neglected disease research, medicinal chemistry, synthetic methodology, and tool compounds to probe biology. These interests have resulted in >35 publications, 10 Granted US Patents and >60 invited presentations. Dr. McKew also enjoys sharing his passion for science with others. This has prompted him to become course director and lecturer in GMS PM 881 “Drug Discovery and Development” a graduate level course in the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics which resulted in his appointment as an Adjunct Associate Professor Boston University School of Medicine. He has also taken an active role in the Northeastern Section of the American Chemical Society and has served as the Chair-Elect, Chair and the Immediate Past Chair.
Dr. McKew graduated from State University of New York at Stony Brook with B.S. degrees in Chemistry and Biochemistry. He completed his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry at University of California, Davis and held post-doctoral research positions at the University of Geneva and Firmenich, SA.