Keith James, Ph.D.

Dr. James is the President of Ferring Research Institute in San Diego, and the Senior Vice-President R&D. Dr. James has spent his career in pharmaceutical R&D, having worked 29 years for Pfizer both in Europe and the United States. Prior to joining Ferring he also held the post of Visiting Investigator at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. He has led research programs across many therapeutic areas, both delivering clinical candidates and in many cases leading these into early development. He was responsible for research leading to the discovery of Relpax® for migraine and Selzentry® for HIV, and was recognized for his contributions with the Industrial Lectureship award from the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2000. He graduated from Imperial College in London and received his Ph.D. in chemistry from the University of Cambridge. He spent two years as a NATO Research Fellow at Stanford University, California and Columbia University, New York before beginning his drug discovery career.