Ken Dretchen

Kenneth Dretchen, Ph.D. is currently the Chief Science Officer and Vice President for Mesa Science Associates. The company provides consulting services to academic institutions and the pharmaceutical industry in providing expertise in all aspects of the drug approval process. He previously served as a Professor (40 years) and Chairman (16 years) of the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Georgetown University Medical Center prior to his retirement in 2016. He currently hold the title of Professor Emeritus and continues to teach at the Medical School. Previously at Georgetown University, Dr. Dretchen had direct responsibility for the Animal Care and Use Committee, the Institutional Review Board, Radiation Safety and all research involving biohazards. He has also served as the Dean of Research for the Medical Center and the Senior Associate Vice President for Regulatory Affairs having oversight of all the pre-clinical and clinical research activities. Over the last twenty years he has investigated the toxicity of the major chemical and biological threat agents and served as the liaison for the university to the federal government for all of the regulatory aspects associated with the entire research portfolio.

During the first three years of its existence, Dr. Dretchen served as a subject matter expert and was a 24/7 on call advisor to the Department of Homeland Security for biologic and chemical threat agents. From 2007 – 2010 he served as a member of the National Biodefense Science Board reporting directly to the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This board provided advice to the secretary on issues such as emerging and infectious diseases, chemical and biological threat agents, and H1N1 influenza.

Dr. Dretchen’s work also includes successful collaborations with industry including one of the largest defense contractors in the development of a rapid stand-alone detection system for biological threat agents based upon DNA analysis. This project resulted in the important development of specific nucleic acid probes for anthrax, plague and dengue fever. His accomplishments also include the characterization of the toxin, Ricin. He has published approximately 150 articles in peer reviewed high impact journals such as Science and Nature in areas related to neuropharmacology, neurotoxicology and pharmacokinetics.

Dr. Dretchen served as a consulting pharmacologist for King Pharmaceuticals on a study involving clinical trials to assess the pharmacokinetics and side effects of midazolam given intramuscularly via an auto-injector. Several years ago Dr. Dretchen was appointed to the Scientific Board of Ameritox Ltd. Ameritox Ltd. provides rapid urine drug monitoring. He was an investigator in a clinical trial sponsored by the company describing the identification of a new metabolite of aripiprazole (Abilify) in urine that was correlated with the oral administration of the parent drug. He currently serves as a Co-Investigator for the subcontract awarded by the University of California San Diego to Mesa Science Associates for their multi-center National Institutes of Health grant dealing with the development of antidotes against cyanide poisoning.