Sarah Grimwood, Ph.D.

I am responsible for supporting the design of strategies and initiatives to maintain and grow a high-performing research unit. I Lead a team of Operations staff at both Cambridge, MA and Morrisville, NC, and a group of Research Project Leaders, this includes enabling portfolio delivery and expansion, providing senior-level operations support to the RDRU CSO and the RDRU LT, Compliance/Regulatory, RDRU Portfolio Management, Communication, Partnership with WRDM Strategy and Compliance Groups and effective Leadership and Influence across RDRU and WRDM.

My background includes 27 years of Neuroscience drug discovery experience from Merck and Pfizer. I obtained my PhD in Pharmacology from the University of Hertfordshire, UK, and have I published > 60 peer-reviewed articles. I have led multi-disciplinary laboratories and numerous cross-functional teams, including portfolio project teams from Exploratory to Phase 1 stages. From 2010-2016 I served on a National Institute of Health Drug Discovery for Aging, Neuropsychiatric and Neurologic Disorders, Small Business Review Panel.

I have a passion for mentoring and developing colleagues and I lead the Pfizer Kendall Square Women's Leadership Network. In 2015 I was recognized as a Healthcare Businesswomen’s Association (HBA) Rising Star, for leadership and significant scientific and business impact across Pfizer, and in 2018 I was presented with a Leadership Award from Women in the Enterprise of Science & Technology (WEST).

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

1. Grimwood, S. and Hartig, P. (2009) Target Site Occupancy: Emerging Generalizations from Clinical and Preclinical Studies. Pharmacology and Therapeutics 122, 281-301.
   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19306894
2. Finnema, S.J., Scheinin, M., Shahid, M., Lehto, J., Borroni, E., Bang-Andersen, B., Sallinen, J., Shahid, M., Wong, E., Farde, L., Halldin C., and Grimwood, S. (2015) Application of cross-species PET imaging to assess neurotransmitter release in brain. Psychopharmacology 232(21-22),
   4129–4157. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Grimwood+S
3. Davoren, J.E., Garnsey, M., Pettersen, B., Brodney, M.A., Edgerton, J.R., Fortin, J.P., Grimwood, S., Harris, A.R., Jenkinson, S., Kenakin, T., Lazzaro, J.T., Lee, C.W., Lotarski, S.M., Nottebaum, L., O'Neil, S.V., Popiolek, M., Ramsey, S., Steyn, S.J., Thorn, C.A., Zhang, L., Webb, D. (2017) Design and Synthesis of γ- and δ-Lactam M1 Positive Allosteric Modulators (PAMs): Convulsion and Cholinergic Toxicity of an M1-Selective PAM with Weak Agonist Activity. J Med Chem. 60(15): 6649-6663.
   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2859863
4. Wager, T.T., Galatsis, P., Chandrasekaran, R.Y., Butler, T.W., Li, J., Zhang, L., Mente, S., Subramanyam, C., Liu, S., Doran, A.C., Chang, C., Fisher, K., Grimwood, S., Hedde, J.R., Marconi, M., Schildknegt, K. (2017) Identification and Profiling of a Selective and Brain Penetrant Radioligand for in Vivo Target Occupancy Measurement of Casein Kinase 1 (CK1) Inhibitors. ACS Chem Neurosci. 8(9): 1995-2004. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=10.1021%2Facschemneuro.7b00155

EDUCATION

University of Hertfordshire, UK: Pharmacology, PhD, 1996
Hatfield Polytechnic, UK: Applied Biology, B.S., 1987