Name Menelas Pangalos | ||
 | ||
Menelas Nicolas Pangalos (born 1967) is a British-born Neuroscientist of Greek descent. He is best known for his work on the discovery and development of novel drugs to treat Alzheimer's disease, and was recently listed as an “R&D Difference-Maker” by R&D Directions magazine, for his efforts in the field of Alzheimer’s drug discovery. He is the author of over 100 publications in scientific journals.
Contents
Early life and Education
Menelas (known to friends as Mene) was born in Ealing, London in a family of Greek diaspora which settled in England. Both his parents descended from island of Chios and his mother (née Psarros) was born there. His extended family on both parents sides still live in Chios and he spend childhood summers there. Therefore is fluent in Greek.
He commenced his scientific career with an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry from the Imperial College of Science and Technology, London and a subsequent Ph.D. in Neurochemistry from the UCL Institute of Neurology, London. His post-doctoral training was conducted under the tutelage of Prof. N. K. Robakis at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York.
AstraZeneca
Menelas Pangalos was appointed head of the Innovative Medicines (iMed) unit of AstraZeneca on May 1, 2010.
Wyeth
Menelas Pangalos was the Vice President of Neuroscience Research at Wyeth, a leading pharmaceutical company. He held this role from 2003 to 2008. He was responsible for overseeing the transition of more than 20 novel drug candidates into clinical development for a number of neurological and psychiatric diseases including Alzheimer’s disease, Stroke, Schizophrenia, and Pain. He previously served as Group Director and Head of Neurodegenerative Research at GlaxoSmithKline in Harlow, United Kingdom, and has held positions with SmithKline Beecham, Janssen Pharmaceutica and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Academic Career
Menelas Pangalos is an Adjunct Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania and a Visiting Professor at King's College London. He is on the editorial boards of Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, Neuropharmacology and The Scientific World and on scientific advisory boards for the Wolfson Centre for Age-Related Diseases (King’s College London University) and Rider University. He has previously served on the BBSRC Molecular and Cell Biology council and is a member of the American Society for Neuroscience, British Pharmacological Society and an Associate of the Royal College of Science. Dr. Pangalos has edited the book “Understanding G protein-coupled receptors in the CNS”, as well as a number of journal issues focused on drug discovery in the CNS.
Personal Life
Pangalos married Kelly Charles, a fellow neuroscientist, in 2003 at Hertfordshire, England.