Drug discovery strategy
Target assessment, hit identification, hit-to-lead, lead optimization, candidate selection, and preclinical strategy.
Full practiceMedSyn Consulting
Senior judgment for high-stakes small-molecule decisions.
Ph.D. synthetic organic chemist advising biotechnology, pharmaceutical, AI, and investment organizations from target assessment through preclinical development.
25+
Years in pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D
2
FDA-approved medicines — Nuzyra® and Seysara®
2019
ACS Heroes of Chemistry, Paratek team
25+
Patents, publications, and presentations
Practice
Engagements are scoped to a decision: whether a target is worth pursuing, whether a series can become a candidate, or whether a platform’s chemistry actually holds.
Two FDA-approved medicines. A career spent inside discovery programs — not adjacent to them.
Scientific advisory & due diligence
Technology assessment, AI drug-discovery platform evaluation, scientific diligence, R&D strategy, and CRO/vendor review.
Full practiceScientific advisory & R&D operations
Fractional leadership, laboratory strategy, technology implementation, external research management, and research infrastructure.
Full practiceMethod
How a mandate usually runs
A short diagnostic, a written point of view, then working sessions with the people who have to act. I do not add a layer of process. I add judgment where the chemistry, the data, and the next experiment have to agree.
- 25+ years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology R&D
- Major contributor to two FDA-approved medicines: Nuzyra® and Seysara®
- 2019 ACS Heroes of Chemistry Award, Paratek team
- $3.5M DoD-funded drug discovery program
Selected experience
A career inside the work
2020 — present
Drug Discovery Consultant — MedSyn Solutions
Independent advisory practice for biotechnology, pharmaceutical, AI, and discovery organizations: strategy, medicinal and computational chemistry, AI/LLM scientific evaluation, diligence, and pharmaceutical IP support.
2023 — 2025
Associate Director, Medicinal Chemistry — Nurix Therapeutics
Senior medicinal chemistry guidance for early targeted-protein-degradation programs in oncology and metabolic disease. Partnered with AI/ML, computational chemistry, and DNA-encoded library teams on feasibility, SAR, properties, novelty, and progression.
2020 — 2023
Associate Research Professor — Rutgers University
Translated emerging biological targets into actionable discovery strategies. Guided design, synthesis, SAR, computational work, and CRO activity across programs, and contributed to preliminary data and grant proposals.
2020 — 2021
Director, External Research — Frontier Scientific
Coordinated discovery projects and contract research. Advised on screening-library design, compound sourcing, and building-block selection for DNA-encoded libraries.
Selected writing
Papers that travel with the work
- Gilleran JA et al., including Grier MC. Structure–Activity Relationship of a Pyrrole Based Series of PfPKG Inhibitors as Anti-Malarials. J. Med. Chem. 2024, 67(5):3467–3503.
- Mottis A et al., including Grier MC. Tetracycline-induced mitohormesis mediates disease tolerance against influenza. J. Clin. Invest. 2022, 132(17):e151540.
- Bryan EJ, Sagong HY, Parhi AK, Grier MC, Roberge JY, LaVoie EJ, Pilch DS. TXH11106: A Third-Generation MreB Inhibitor with Enhanced Activity against a Broad Range of Gram-Negative Bacterial Pathogens. Antibiotics 2022, 11(5):693.
Engagements
If the question is expensive to get wrong, start there.
I take a limited number of concurrent mandates so the work stays close to the science.