UB pharmacy alum to present Chu lecture

A UB pharmacy alumnus who has worked for several pharmaceutical powerhouse companies will deliver the 2017 David Chu Lecture on March 7.

Lisa Benincosa, PhD ’93, will speak on “Evolution of Translational PK/PD: A Pharma Perspective.” She is vice president and global head of drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics and bioanalytical research and development for Roche Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development in Basel, Switzerland. She also serves as deputy head of pharmaceutical sciences.

In 1992, Benincosa joined the clinical pharmacokinetic department at SmithKline Beecham Pharmaceuticals, later taking on additional global responsibility for preclinical and clinical pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics (PK/PD) focusing on infectious disease, respiratory and metabolic diseases.

She joined Pfizer in 2001, directing clinical PK/PD, and became executive director and Groton/New London Clinical Pharmacology site head in 2003. She joined Roche in 2009.  

During her career, Benincosa has contributed to preclinical and clinical regulatory filings across therapeutic areas, and has presented at national scientific meetings. She has received numerous awards, including the Pfizer People Leader Award in 2007, a Tribute to Women and Industry Award in 2012 and a Leadership Excellence Award from Roche Pharma Research and Early Development in 2016. Benincosa earned a BS in pharmacy in 1987 from the West Virginia University School of Pharmacy, which named her to its inaugural Hall of Fame.

A member of the UB School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences Dean’s Advisory Council, Benincosa also serves on the leadership council for the Center for Pharmacometrics and Systems Pharmacology, University of Florida College of Pharmacy, and is a longtime member of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the American Society for Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics.  

David C. K. Chu and his wife, Jane Chu, established the David Chu Lectureship at UB in 2011.

David Chu is a distinguished research professor emeritus of pharmaceutical and biomedical sciences at the College of Pharmacy, University of Georgia. He earned a PhD in medicinal chemistry from UB in 1975 under the mentorship of Thomas Bardos.

He has published more than 300 drug discovery-related scientific papers and has been awarded more than 50 U.S. patents. Several of his invented compounds are undergoing clinical trials in the therapeutic areas of cancer, hepatitis B virus, HIV and shingles. An elected member of the American Association for Advancement of Science, Chu received a MERIT Award from the National Institutes of Health in 2001, and the UGA Inventor of the Year Award in 2002.