John L. Pace, PhD is an experienced biotech/pharmaceutical industry scientist with more than 25 years experience spanning pathogenesis research, and antibiotic and vaccine R&D.  Dr. Pace has led efforts that resulted in the evaluation of 14 clinical candidates, and the approved antibiotic drugs AvyCaz, Altabax/Altargo, and Vibativ, the latter of which he is also co-inventor.  Dr. Pace is currently the Executive Director, ATCC Center for Translational Microbiology within ILSE, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor with the Biomanufacturing Research Institute and Technology Enterprise, North Carolina Central University, and Adjunct Professor with Kean University’s STEM program.

Prior to joining ILSE, Dr. Pace was VP, Development Microbiology for AntibioTx, a Denmark based company, and CSO for FleurirABX, LLC in Raleigh, NC.  Dr. Pace began his career in 1989 as a Postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Chemotherapy at Hoffmann-LaRoche, Inc., followed by a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine at State University of NY, Stony Brook.  Over the next 20 years, Dr. Pace held scientific leadership roles with various companies focused on areas of antibacterial clinical development, development of diagnostic devices (susceptibility testing), and central laboratory support for clinical trials.  These companies include Antex Biologics, Theravance, Lifenet, Protez Pharmaceuticals, StratoPharm, Novexel, and GlaxoSmithKline.

Dr. Pace has published 33 papers and journal articles and is cited on numerous patents in the field of antibacterial and vaccine research.  He received his B.S. in Biology from Salisbury University, and holds a M.S. and Ph.D in Food Science from University of Maryland, College Park.