Essence Jackson is a Project Manager for READDI grants at Eshelman Innovation in the UNC Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She manages Project 5 (Alphaviruses) and Core C (Enzymology) in the READDI AViDD Center and is also responsible for managing the READDI COVID-19 Relief portfolio, which is funded by the state of North Carolina and focuses on developing new antiviral therapies for COVID-19. Essence holds both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from North Carolina Central University. As part of her role, Essence works closely with her team to ensure full project support. This involves monitoring project progress, identifying potential risks and issues, and developing effective solutions.
Team Category: Admin Team
Taylor Shoun is a project manager for READDI grants at Eshelman Innovation in the UNC Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She is the project management steward for Projects 1-4 (Coronaviruses, Filoviruses, and Flaviviruses), along with the Medicinal Chemistry and Discovery Cores in READDI-AC. Taylor received her Bachelor’s in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh and her Master’s of Business and Science with a concentration in Drug Discovery and Development from Rutgers Unviersity. She has experience in both contract research pharmaceutical organizations and pharmaceutical manufacturing before joining READDI-AC. As a project manager for READDI-AC, Taylor is responsible for the organization of timelines for projects within the program as well as inter-program correspondence between the various focuses.
Peter J. Brown is a medicinal chemist by training with extensive experience in cross-functional project management. As a Project Manager for READDI-AC, Peter manages the interface between the screening and medicinal chemistry cores (B and D) and serves as the data steward for Core B. Peter received his Ph.D. in Organic Chemistry from the University of Sheffield and performed postdoctoral research at Indiana University with Philip Magnus culminating in the total synthesis of (-)-Pleiomutine, a bis-indole alkaloid. Prior to joining the SGC in 2009, Peter spent nineteen years at GlaxoSmithKline in various roles, most recently Section Head, Medicinal Chemistry, and was focused on the early Hit-ID phase of Drug Discovery and finding tool compounds for the Nuclear Receptor family of proteins. Peter’s research interests include using HTS, target-focused arrays, DNA Encoded Libraries, and fragment-based methods to discover probes for novel targets.
Ava Vargason is the Research Program Manager for READDI grants at Eshelman Innovation in the UNC Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She leads the project management team for the READDI AViDD Center. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the Eshelman School of Pharmacy at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where her research focused on engineered drug delivery systems for biologics and therapeutic bacteria.
Serving as READDI-AC Program Manager, Ms. Baric is responsible for all administrative matters related to the program. Ms. Baric is a Project Development Manager at Eshelman Innovation in the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Eshelman School of Pharmacy. She began her career in academia at the University of Southern California, Medical School in the departments of Microbiology and Neurology. There she gained experience in pre and post award administration and coordinated complex center grants. In 2007, Ms. Baric began working at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her responsibilities include coordination, preparation, and management of several large center grants. She has worked closely with UNC Investigators from various disciplines across campus. Her position is responsible for oversight of pre-award process and provides direction and guidance to pre-award staff for proposal development and processing. She assists the Director of Research Administration/Finance in post-award management, specifically working with large program projects that include multiple subcontracts, milestones, invoicing, and renewals. In addition, Ms. Baric possesses the knowledge of proposal and budget development for large program projects (P01, P30, U01, U19, U54, T32) as well as NRSA training grants, proposal assembly and agency/sponsored guidelines and compliance. She is also responsible for the administration of the virology predoctoral training grant as such interfaces with trainees, coordinates annual scientific symposium for the virology community with invited outside speakers.