Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center names new chair

The Kennedy Pharmacy Innovation Center (KPIC) announced that James Lindsay Cobbs has been named chair for the center.

In his role, Cobbs will focus on creating a regulatory affairs program for students in the College of Pharmacy, including classroom, cocurricular, experiential, and post-graduate opportunities, as well as supporting Nephron Pharmaceuticals in regulatory affairs.

“My priorities will hone in on developing experiential training opportunities that will enable our students to build skills for both traditional and nontraditional pharmacy roles, developing key partnerships that can support training for our students and to identify ways that will make the College of Pharmacy stand light years apart from other colleges across the country,” says Cobbs.

Cobbs brings a wide array of career experiences to KPIC, ranging from clinical pharmacy to global policy development in the pharmaceutical industry. After graduating from the UofSC College of Pharmacy in 1992, he launched his career as a staff pharmacist at Johns Hopkins Medical Center. After four years, he entered public service as a regulatory affairs professional at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) where he served as regulatory project manager, special assistant and lead project manager in the Office of Compliance and later as associate director for regulatory affairs (ADRA) in the Office of Translational Sciences.

Cobbs then transitioned to the corporate sector at Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a division of Johnson & Johnson as a policy lead in the Americas, Global Regulatory and Policy Intelligence Department. Cobbs later became the head of US Policy, Global Regulatory Policy and Intelligence for UCB (Union Chimique Belge translated as Union Chemical of Belgium), a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium.

Cobbs says his various roles have led him to this next challenge. “My experience as a pharmacist at a major teaching institution, working as a public health servant, co-leading drug review teams for novel drug products, and regulatory policy and intelligence in the pharmaceutical industry have prepared me for this unique role,” he says.

Patti Fabel, Pharm.D. and executive director of KPIC is looking forward to joining efforts with Cobbs. “Our faculty, staff, and students can learn a great deal from him due to his background, experience and skill set,” Fabel says. “He will broaden the scope of what KPIC can offer our students and alumni by developing a regulatory affairs program. I’m excited to see the impact he has on the center and college.”

Dean Stephen J. Cutler says Cobbs is an exceedingly accomplished expert in pharmaceutical regulatory affairs. “His addition to our faculty will bring added depth and breadth to our educational program as we launch our college’s latest initiative, the Regulatory Affairs Academic Program,” Cutler adds. “This academic program will offer regulatory education to our pharmacy students, provide postgraduate education for residents and fellows, and give another educational track to our graduate program. Our partnership with Nephron Pharmaceuticals will afford us a working laboratory for the development of future pharmacists and scientists serving in regulatory affairs. We are thrilled that Lindsay Cobbs will shepherd this initiative for the College of Pharmacy.”

Cobbs will begin his role on July 1, 2020.