Image Bank: Spokesperson Portraits and Bios

Jon C. Mirsalis, Ph.D., D.A.B.T.

Managing Director, Biosciences Division

Expertise: Pharmaceutical Development, Toxicology, Infectious Disease Therapies

Jon C. Mirsalis, Ph.D., D.A.B.T., is responsible for managing drug development and biomedical research activities for SRI's Biosciences Division, the largest contractor of preclinical toxicology studies to the National Institutes of Health. Research under his direction includes preclinical research for potential new drugs and therapeutic vaccines for HIV- and AIDS-related infections, avian flu, West Nile virus, hepatitis and biodefense pathogens.

With a broad background in drug development, Mirsalis has helped develop more than 50 therapeutics that have entered clinical trials. He has published extensively in the areas of genetic toxicology, mechanisms of carcinogenesis, development of therapeutics for cancer and infectious disease, and the use of transgenic animals. He is the author of more than 125 publications, book chapters and abstracts and is an adjunct faculty member at the University of California, Santa Cruz. He serves on the Advisory Board for the Critical Path Institute and is a member of the Board of Scientific Councilors for the National Toxicology Program.

Before joining SRI, Mirsalis was a postdoctoral fellow at the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology, where he developed the in vivo/in vitro hepatocyte DNA repair assay that is now widely used to identify potential carcinogens. Mirsalis received his B.S. in zoology/molecular biology from Kent State University, his M.S. in genetics from North Carolina State University, and Ph.Ds in toxicology and genetics from North Carolina State University. He has been certified by the American Board of Toxicology since 1983.

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