SC9: CNS Translational Strategies
Tuesday, September 25, 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Room: Dalton 

Outline:

A greater understanding of CNS related disease biology and the emergence of new, improved targets and technologies has bought renewed interest in neuroscience. This short course describes the critical stages needed to translate a CNS target into an effective CNS therapy by addressing the critical challenges in biomarkers design and validation, modelling, imaging and methods to bridge the preclinical/clinical translation gap.

Instructor Biographies:

Changning Wang, PhD, Assistant Professor, Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School

Dr. Changning Wang has a broad background in molecular imaging, chemistry, pharmaceutical sciences and neuroscience. He received his master degree in medicinal chemistry from Peking University and doctoral degree in molecular imaging from Case Western Reserve University. Currently, he holds an instructor position at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School. His research interests focus on developing and using novel non-invasive imaging tools for neuroimaging and CNS drug development.

Viswanath Devanarayan, PhD, Executive Director and Global Head of Statistics & Data Sciences, Charles River Laboratories, Adjunt Professor, University of Illinois, Chicago

Dr. Viswanath Devanarayan is currently the Executive Director and Global Head of Statistics & Data Sciences at Charles River Laboratories. He has over 21 years of combined pharmaceutical research experience from Eli Lilly, Merck, and AbbVie. His statistical & data-analytic contributions span a wide range of applications across drug discovery and development, such as target identification, high-throughput-screening, genomics, proteomics, bioanalytical methods, immunogenicity, precision medicine, and exploratory clinical research. He has filed 10 patent applications, given over 100 invited talks at scientific meetings, and co-authored over 55 publications that includes several white-papers with regulatory, academic and industry scientists. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), and is also serving as an Adjunct Professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago.