Author: [AUTHOR] Published on 3/1/2020 12:00:00 AM

Prathap N. Nagaraja Shastri, PhD, Associate Scientific Director, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Spring House, PA

Dr. Nagaraja Shastri believes that a fascinating aspect of being part of a professional organization like ASCPT is that it provides opportunities to learn, share, and collaborate, which are essential elements for scientific advancements. This allows scientists to make an impact toward improved healthcare for patients. Dr. Nagaraja Shastri has enjoyed being a long‐standing and active member of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists (AAPS), where he has served in accomplished leadership roles within the Scientific Programming Committee and the Awards and eLearning Committees. He believes that ASCPT offers a dynamic venue to engage with a vast membership focused in the areas of translational science and clinical pharmacology with which he very much looks forward to being connected.

Stakeholder education and engagement is key within the clinical pharmacology and translational science fields. Dr. Nagaraja Shastri sees a lot of importance in specifically deriving results and decisions based on QSP approaches. He views ASCPT as a platform for stakeholders to share and learn. As a new member to ASCPT, he looks forward to facilitating and benefiting from this platform.

New modalities within the immune‐oncology space, such as bispecific T‐cell engagers and CAR‐Ts, have transformed cancer care. The pace in which these modalities are growing are astronomical and have immediate needs to be addressed when it comes to the preclinical‐to‐clinical transition. This is an area in which Dr. Nagaraja Shastri is heavily involved. He focuses in this area in his current role at Janssen Research and Development, LLC, and it is something that excites him day in and day out.