Ronald T. Wester, Ph.D., Head of Chemistry

 

Ronald T. Wester, Ph.D., Head of Chemistry

Ron Wester is the Head of Chemistry at Nimbus Therapeutics and has more than 25 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. Prior to joining Nimbus, Dr. Wester was a medicinal chemistry principal investigator at Pfizer, where he discovered or co-discovered numerous clinical and preclinical candidates including Phase III CETP inhibitor torcetrapib (HDL-cholesterol elevation), Phase II NHE-1 inhibitor zoniporide (cardioprotection) and Phase II renin inhibitor terlakiren (blood pressure reduction). As Executive Director of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Diseases Medicinal Chemistry, Dr. Wester led more than 100 chemists, and was responsible for establishing and advancing a diverse portfolio of projects across six therapeutic areas (atherosclerosis, cardiovascular, diabetes, obesity, osteoporosis and frailty). He chaired the CETP Early Clinical Management Team, overcoming numerous development challenges while advancing torcetrapib through preclinical and Phase I studies. As Vice President of Exploratory Medicinal Sciences, Dr. Wester led up to 325 scientists and technology experts in providing Pfizer drug discovery projects with integrated technology support, including new lead identification, computational sciences, analytical chemistry, reagent provision, biomarker & functional genomics, and exploratory safety. During his tenure at Pfizer, Dr. Wester complemented his scientific and leadership accomplishments with extensive experience across development, in-/out-licensing, legal, finance, human resources and public policy.
He earned his Ph.D. in synthetic organic chemistry from Yale University with Professor Fred Ziegler. Dr. Wester authored or co-authored 26 scientific publications and presentations, and is an inventor on 15 issued U.S. patents.