OfficersChairman of the Board of DirectorsPhil Dawson, Ph.D. President of the FoundationAdam Mezo, Ph.D. Dr. Adam Mezo is currently Sr. Director, Discovery Chemistry at the Ferring Research Institute in San Diego, part of the global research organization at Ferring Pharmaceuticals. Since 2017, he has led teams of chemists and drug hunters aimed at the discovery and development of next-generation peptide and small molecule therapeutics across a range of therapeutic areas including reproductive and women’s health, gastroenterology and immunology. Prior to this role, Dr. Mezo was Sr. Research Advisor and Group Leader at Eli Lilly for 5 years leading teams of peptide chemists that delivered several clinical candidate molecules for the treatment of diabetes. He started his career in at Syntonix Pharmaceuticals / Biogen Idec, working at the interface of peptide, protein and small molecule chemistry, generating semi-synthetic peptide-Fc fusion proteins, peptide antagonists and small molecules. Dr. Mezo held a variety of roles, mincluding Director, Molecular Discovery, where he led a diverse team of chemists, biochemists and molecular biologists in search of novel therapeutics in the fields of hemophilia and immunology. Dr. Mezo has over 50 published manuscripts and conference presentations, along with 20 issued US patents. He received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Queen’s University (Canada), PhD from the University of British Columbia in organic chemistry, and performed postdoctoral work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the field of bioorganic chemistry. SecretaryNick Cox, Ph.D. Dr. Cox is the Associate Director of Discovery Chemistry at the Novo Nordisk Research Center in Seattle, WA. He is leading the chemistry department to drive peptide, protein, and other therapeutic discovery efforts targeting chronic conditions including rare endocrine and blood disorders, obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Prior to joining Novo Nordisk, he completed his training as a Postdoctoral Scholar in Stanford’s ChEM-H institute (2014-2016) under the mentorship of Prof. Chaitan Khosla and Dr. Mark Smith, serving as chemistry lead on numerous projects in early-stage drug discovery. Dr. Cox received his Ph.D. in Chemistry from TreasurerAdrienne Day, Ph.D. |
![]() Peptide Therapeutic Foundation |
![]() Click here to learn more about The Peptide Therapeutics Foundation or our Annual Peptide Therapeutics Symposium. |