Hila Barash

Hila Epstein-Barash, Ph.D. is Chief Research and Development Officer at Azura Ophthalmics. With more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry, Hila has served in numerous global R&D management positions. Most recently, she spent three years at Teva Pharmaceuticals Global R&D as Director of New Technologies Entities, leading the Israeli NTE R&D team developing 505b2 products from proof of concept to clinical stage, focusing on oral solid doses and nasal formulations. Prior to her time at Teva, Hila worked at a number of startup companies including Marval Pharma where she served as Director of R&D, leading the development of controlled release contrast agents and cancer treatments. Hila was part of Alnylam Pharmaceutical R&D team where she led the research team for nucleic acid formulation development and was a key contributor to the first approved siRNA Drug while at Alnylam. She also held positions at Entrega and Enlight Biosciences. Hila did her post-doctoral training at MIT and Harvard Medical School in the fields of drug development and controlled release of pain and cancer treatment drugs. Hila holds a Ph.D. in Pharmacy from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and is a pharmacist in training from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.