Neil Sankar, MD, MPH
Dr. Sankar received his MD degree from the University of West Indies, practiced internal medicine in the United Kingdom and holds a postgraduate degree in public health from Queensland University of Technology in Australia. Between 2009 and 2013, Dr. Sankar held the position of Clinical Scientist at Genentech and between 2013 and 2014 he was Clinical Medical Director at Pharmacyclics, an AbbVie, Inc. company. Currently, Dr. Sankar is President and Chief Medical Officer of SwanBio, LLC, a business development consultancy that facilitates the translation of scientific discoveries into cancer therapeutics. Dr. Sankar has over 16 years of experience in health care management, life sciences clinical development, pipeline strategy, clinical safety, and pharmacovigilance. He has extensive experience in the application of US Food and Drug Administration regulations and the Good Clinical Practice guidelines set forth by the International Council on Harmonization of Technical Requirements for Registration of Pharmaceuticals for Human Use. Dr. Sankar is an expert in clinical trial design, clinical safety narration and clinical study reporting. He has acted as clinical lead in numerous phase I, II and III evaluations. He is expert in providing global clinical development and regulatory strategies for therapeutic drugs and was instrumental in filing the New Drug Applications for the antibody-drug conjugate Kadcyla and the B cell receptor signaling kinase inhibitor Ibrutinib. Dr. Sankar has extensive experience in designing and deploying data capture tools that evaluate the efficacy and safety of clinical trials. He also has extensive experience as a member of drug safety committees and advisory boards. Dr. Sankar is an active member of the American Society of Clinical Oncology, the American Society of Hematology, the European Hematology Association, Develop Innovate Advance, the Society of Clinical Research Associates, Enterprising Pharmaceutical Professionals from the Indian Sub-Continent, Connective Tissue Oncology Society, and TiE Silicon Valley. With Develop Innovate Advance, Dr. Sankar serves on the committees of Clinical Trial Design, Safety and Pharmacovigilance and Clinical Development Strategy.