|
Frank D. Yocca, Ph.D., is currently Vice President and Head of CNS and Pain Drug Discovery for AstraZeneca at the Wilmington Delaware facility. His research focus is on new treatments for Psychiatric Diseases.
Frank received his Ph.D. in Pharmacology from St. John’s University in New York City. His work focused on the effect of antidepressants on circadian rhythms. Subsequently he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Mt. Sinai Department of Pharmacology.
Prior to joining AstraZeneca, Frank was Executive Director at the Bristol Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute. Frank originally joined the Bristol Myers Company in 1984 as a Postdoctoral Fellow in CNS Research. Utilizing techniques he learned from his academic Postdoctoral position, Frank helped to elucidate the mechanism of action of the anxiolytic drug Buspar. He then joined Bristol Myers as an employee and made significant advances in understanding the physiological role of the 5-HT1A receptor and it’s role in psychiatric disease states. During the 21 years Frank spent with Bristol-Myers and then Bristol Myers Squibb, he supported a number of psychiatric discovery programs, helping to discover and develop the antidepressant Serzone. Throughout his tenure, Frank continued to work in the field of serotonin and advanced a number of agents to clinical trials including several antimigraine agents (avitriptan) as well as antipsychotics and anxiolytics.
In the latter stages of his career at BMS, Frank also became involved in externalization and development. He contributed to the in-licensing and development of the novel antipsychotic agent Abilify. Additionally, Frank was part of the externalization team that in-licensed to BMS the recently approved antidepressant agent Emsam, the first antidepressant to be administered through a patch. In development, Frank was Early Development Project Leader for CRF antagonists and was also involved in Phase IV clinical studies with Abilify.
Frank is a member of numerous Scientific Societies, including SFN and ACNP.
|