Barbara Slusher
Barbara Slusher, Ph.D., MAS
Director, Johns Hopkins Drug Discovery Program
Barbara Slusher is Professor of Neurology (primary), Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Medicine and Oncology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and the Director of Johns Hopkins Drug Discovery (https://drugdiscovery.jhu.edu/). She is the Co-Director for the Johns Hopkins Center for the Advancement of HIV Neurotherapeutics (JH CAHN) and serves as the Vice Director for the Pedersen Brain Science Institute. Dr. Slusher has published over 280 scientific articles and is the inventor on over 100 patents and applications.
Before joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Slusher spent 18 years in the pharmaceutical industry, including several years at the level of Senior Vice President of Research and Translational Development. She has extensive experience in drug discovery through early clinical development and was involved in the successful development, launch and/or post marketing support of several FDA approved medicines including SeroquelTM, AloxiTM, DacogenTM, LucedraTM.
Since joining JHU, she has is a co-founded four new companies including Cerecor, Dracen Pharmaceuticals, Adarga, and Lorem Therapeutics amassing over $150M in funding. Dr. Slusher also co-founded the first-ever International Consortium of Academic Drug Discovery (www.addconsortium.org) with over 150 university-led translational centers and 2000 members. Dr. Slusher has served on multiple scientific advisory boards and steering committees including Janssen, Eisai, Inc., Bayer Healthcare-Wilmer JSC, Kennedy Krieger Institute, Bluefield Innovations, Neurofibromatosis Therapeutic Acceleration Program, American Society for Experimental NeuroTherapeutics, Longeviti Neurosolutions, and Ashvattha Therapeutics.
Dr. Slusher received her undergraduate degree from Dickinson College where she graduated valedictorian, majoring in Chemistry. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences from John Hopkins School of Medicine while simultaneously earning her Master’s degree in Administrative Science from the Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business (formerly School of Continuing Studies).