Christopher P. Austin, M.D.
Senior Advisor to the Director for Translational Research
National Human Genome Research Institute
National Institutes of Health
Bethesda, Maryland
www.genome.gov

Dr. Austin received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School in 1986 and did his residency in neurology and held a clinical fellowship at Massachusetts General Hospital, where he eventually became chief resident. From 1991 to 1996, he was a Research Fellow in Genetics at Harvard Medical School.

In his current position as Senior Advisor to the Director for Translational Research with the National Human Genome Research Institute, Dr. Austin explores dissemination to academic investigators of the high-throughput technologies used in the private sector for deriving small molecule probes of biological pathways. His goal is to expand relationships with pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and focus on translating the data produced through the Human Genome Project into new therapeutic strategies.

From 1996 until taking his position with NIH, Dr. Austin worked at Merck Research Laboratories, most recently as the Director of Genomic Neuroscience in the Department of Neuroscience. He played a key role in Merck's pharmacogenomics program and initiated a drug development team that identified two molecular targets now being tested for the treatment of schizophrenia. Dr. Austin left Merck Research Laboratories in November, 2002.