Having earned my PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, I have spent almost two decades exploring the application of drug delivery technologies with the aim of improving the lives of patients. I have split my professional career between start-up companies and well-established biopharma companies like AstraZeneca and Amgen.

At AstraZeneca I lead the drug delivery team in BioPharmaceuticals Development, R&D. My role involves leading a team of scientists to understand the needs of our evolving portfolio and developing drug delivery systems to address those challenges for our patients. Specifically, we explore technologies that target the delivery of medicines to the site of action and optimising their effective half-life.

I have generated 12 issued US patents and have also published a number of articles in high impact journals. For example, my graduate lab was among the first to generate and publish results of microneedle mediated drug delivery. This allowed me to be an early author in what has become a prolific area of transdermal research that has subsequently spawned thousands of publications, hundreds of patents, and multiple commercial programmes.

I regularly speak at leading conferences on industry trends, product development, and technology innovation.

PL

Drug delivery offers the opportunity to hit therapeutic targets that might otherwise be unreachable, and has the potential to optimise the experience of the patient. The direct connection to the patients’ experience drives me to discover new solutions and deliver patient-focused results.

Shawn Davis Head of Drug Delivery, BioPharmaceuticals Development, R&D

CURRENT ROLE

Head of Drug Delivery, BioPharmaceuticals Development, R&D

2014-2018

Developed Amgen’s device innovation strategy and structured their central innovation group for device, drug formulation, diagnostics, and digital health

2009-2014

Led the engineering efforts of a microfluidic blood collection system from napkin sketches through to regulatory approval

1998-2003

Played an early role in the development of microneedles for transdermal drug delivery

 Featured publications

Microneedle-based device for the one-step painless collection of capillary blood samples.

Blicharz TM, Gong P, Bunner BM et al. 2018. Nat Biomed Eng 2: 151-157.

Hollow Metal Microneedles for Insulin Delivery to Diabetic Rats.

Davis SP, Martanto W, Allen MG, and Prausnitz MR. 2004. IEEE Trans Biomed Eng 52(5): 909-915.

Insertion of microneedles into skin: measurement and prediction of insertion force and needle fracture force.

Davis SP, Landis BJ, Adams ZH et al. 2004 J Biomech 37: 1155-1163.

Transdermal Delivery of Insulin Using Microneedles in vivo.

Martanto W, Davis SP, Holiday NR et al. 2004. Pharm Res 21(6): 947-952.

Microfabricated needles for transdermal delivery of macromolecules and nanoparticles: fabrication methods and transport studies.

McAllister DV, Wang PM, Davis SP et al. 2003. Proc Nat Acad Sci (USA) 100: 13755-13760.