George Painter, Ph.D.

President and CEO
The Emory Institute for Drug Development
Emory University, Atlanta GA

Education

George Painter has twenty-four years of experience in the discovery and development of pharmaceutical agents, and most recently held the position of Executive Vice President, Research and Development, at Triangle Pharmaceuticals where he was a member of the founding management team. In addition to his management experience at Triangle Pharmaceuticals, Dr. Painter held positions at Burroughs Wellcome Co. beginning in 1983 including Director of Chemistry and Director of Virology. Subsequently, he served as Director of Research Process and International Deputy Therapeutic Head for Antiviral Research at Glaxo Wellcome Inc.

Brief Background

Dr. Painter is a co-inventor of over forty-five patents, six of which have led to approved commercially available drugs or combinations of drugs for the treatment of HIV and hepatitis B. He has led international teams, which generated data for nine investigational new drug applications and three new drug applications. Dr. Painter earned a B.S. in chemistry, an M.S. in physical organic chemistry and a Ph.D. in synthetic chemistry from Emory University.

George Painter sitting inside a classroom

Michael G. Natchus, Ph.D. MBA

Principal Scientist
Director of Operations
The Emory Institute for Drug Development
Emory University, Atlanta GA

Education

Dr. Natchus earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in organic chemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1992 with Prof. Tomas Hudlicky and later completed his postdoctoral research at Stanford University of under the supervision of Prof. Paul Wender. He later completed his MBA in 2010 at The Goizuetta Business School at Emory University.

Brief Background

Dr Natchus has over 30 years of experience in drug discovery and development both within the pharmaceutical industry and academia. He has held positions of increasing responsibility in both drug discovery and development (Procter and Gamble Pharmaceuticals, Project Leader; Somatocor Phrmaceuticals, Director of Chemistry; Metastatix, VP of Research and Development). He is currently the Dir. of Operations at the Emory Institute for Drug Development (EIDD), where he oversees drug discovery and development operations as well as fiscal oversight of the R&D programs. While at EIDD, he has been responsible for the submission, operational management and execution of 5 government contracts worth >$40M combined as well as numerous grants worth over $60M combined. This includes the Antiviral Countermeasures Development Center (AC/DC), which is one of nine Antiviral Drug Discovery (AViDD) Centers around the country being funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) with a mission to identify countermeasures against viruses that have future pandemic potential. Most recently he was the operational manager for the discovery and preclinical development of Molnupiravir, a broadly acting and orally available treatment for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infections and received Emergency use Authorization in December, 2022.

In his spare time, he has been an active, multi-instrumental musician, arranger and sound engineer for most of his life. He is currently the musical director for The T Tones, a regional jazz ensemble he founded with his wife, Jennifer in 2015 and released their first full-length CD in 2022 (thettones.com). He also a long-time little league baseball coach for both of his sons.

Dr. Natchus sitting in a classroom before a white board

Alexander (Sasha) Kolykhalov, Ph.D.

Director of Biology and DMPK
The Emory Institute for Drug Development
Emory University, Atlanta GA

Education

Sasha earned his MS degree in Biochemistry from Novosibirsk State University and Ph.D. in Molecular Virology from the Institute of Molecular Biology, Novosibirsk, Russia.

Brief Background

Sasha has had a productive research and drug development carrier in the field of virology. As part of his academic achievements, he was one of the first who discovered and characterized the genome of alphavirus VEEV and the complete genome of the Hepatitis C flavivirus, and who achieved first reverse genetics recovery of these viruses. His HCV-related work has been awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Medicine (awarded to Charlie Rice, the head of the Lab at the time). In his industrial positions at Eli Lilly, Benitec and Inhibitex he was responsible for the establishment and performance of anti-HCV drug screening and development platforms. He has led and participated in a few successful project teams devoted to the development of antiviral agents. Inhibitex’ anti-HCV lead compound INX-189 was purchased by Bristol Myers Squibb in 2012 for $2.5 Billion. Currently Sasha is the Director of Biology and DMPK at EIDD. Sasha was responsible for generation of data package on preclinical pharmacology and toxicology for EIDD-2801 (molnupiravir) that was used for IND submission to FDA. Molnupiravir has been approved for emergency use to treat COVID-19 in outpatient conditions. Another drug candidate, EIDD-2173 (ATI-2173), currently in Phase 2 clinical trials, was characterized at EIDD and has been out-licensed to a pharma company. Sasha is an inventor on more than 20 issued patents, and he is an author of over 50 peer-reviewed publications.

Sasha Kolyhakov sitting in a laboratory with machines around him

Dana Schneider, Ph.D.

Director, Research Projects

Education

Following a BS in biology at the University of Georgia, Dr. Schneider earned a Ph.D. in microbiology also at the University of Georgia under the direction of Dr. Joy Doran Peterson, where she studied biocatalysts for the conversion of lignocellulose to ethanol and other products. Then Dr. Schneider completed a postdoctoral fellowship in biochemistry under the direction of Dr. Loren D. Williams at the Georgia Institute of Technology, where she investigated ribosomal RNA-protein interactions. Dr. Schneider also earned an MBA at Georgia State University.

Brief Background

Dr. Schneider was a faculty member at Gwinnett Technical College for three years, during which she developed curriculum for several courses in the Bioscience Technology Program. Afterwards, she transitioned to a Class II medical device company for five years, during which she held managing roles in Assay Development, Clinical Affairs, and Translational Research. Then Dr. Schneider joined an antiviral drug development company, where she supported a preclinical IND-enabling program. Finally, she joined the EIDD to support project management of antiviral discovery and preclinical programs. In her leisure time, Dr. Schneider enjoys sporting events, traveling, and playing tennis.

No photo available

Michelle Townsend, M.S.

Senior, Research Administrative Coordinator

Education

Michelle earned a B.S. in chemistry from William & Mary in 2019 and an M.S. in chemistry from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill in 2022 while studying site-selective C–H functionalization.

Brief Background

Michelle’s love for scientific research was sparked over two summers during her undergraduate career while working in the Naval Research Enterprise Internship Program for the DoD in Bethesda, MD. There, she aided research on the treatment of ballast water and wastewater with the goal of protecting local marine life from pollutants and invasive species. After this, she began research in total synthesis at William & Mary followed by C–H functionalization research at UNC to facilitate the synthesis of bioactive compounds with potential pharmaceutical applications. After completing her M.S., Michelle joined EIDD in 2023 as an administrator to facilitate research from outside the lab with her exceptional organization skills. In her free time, she enjoys knitting, video games, learning about linguistics, and cats.

No photo available

Marcus Rodriguez

Technical Project Manager

Education

Marcus earned a B.A. in Studio Art from Georgia State University.

Brief Background

Marcus began his career in the IT industry during his undergraduate years at Georgia State and has been fortunate to have had a wide range of positions and experiences in multiple industries to become what can best be described as a Generalist in technology. With a passion for problem solving, Marcus is eager to take on new challenges and apply novel solutions to existing problems. Aside from spending time with his family, Marcus enjoys volunteering for the Boys Scouts of America and the NorthPoint family of churches as well as trying to make his home smarter and more efficient through technology.