Tomi Sawyer

Tomi Sawyer

Boston, Massachusetts, United States
3K followers 500 connections

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About

Tomi is currently Chief Drug Hunter and President, Maestro Therapeutics, a consulting/advisory enterprise that is engaging academia, biotech and pharma to support peptide drug discovery. He retired from Merck Research Laboratories as Distinguished Scientist, Global Chemistry, where he provided leadership to the Peptide Drug Hunter Network and several peptide R&D programs as well as innovative core capabilities and knowledge engine. Tomi is an entrepreneurial drug hunter with four decades of industrial experience in both pharma and biotech. He is well known for his contributions to GPCR, kinase, protease and protein-protein interaction drug discovery. Tomi has two marketed drugs, including Scenesse® (a peptide superagonist of MCR1 for the treatment of the orphan skin disease known as erythropoietic protophyria and related indications) and Iclusig® (a small-molecule inhibitor of Bcr-Abl kinase for the treatment of resistant forms of chronic myelogenous leukemia). Other examples of his drug development campaigns include the peptidomimetic renin inhibitor Ditekiren, a natural product macrocycle mTOR antagonist Ridaforolimus and the first stapled peptide dual MDM2–MDMX antagonist ALRN-6924 to enter the clinic. Tomi is credited with >640 scientific publications, patents, and presentations and holds several Adjunct Professorships at the University of Massachusetts, the University of Massachusetts Medical School and Northeastern University Center for Drug Discovery. He is a Distinguished Alumni Scholar from his undergraduate alma mater, Minnesota State University at Moorhead, and served as a member of the MSUM Alumni Foundation Board of Directors. At his graduate alma mater, the University of Arizona, Tomi is a Distinguished Alumni Entrepreneur and has received a Professional Achievement Award from the Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry and the College of Science. In 2023, he will be launching a Peptide Drug Hunter Consortium and the Saint Albert the Great Institute for Science, Faith & Wisdom.

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Experience

  • Maestro Therapeutics Graphic

    Maestro Therapeutics

    Southborough, Massachusetts USA

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    Tucson, Arizona USA

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    Moorhead, Minnesota USA

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    Boston, Massachusetts USA

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    Amherst, Massachusetts USA

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    Tucson, Arizona USA

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    Boston

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    New Haven, Connecticut USA

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    Greater Boston Area, USA

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    Oxford, United Kingdom

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    Worcester, Massachusetts USA

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    Cambridge, Massachusetts USA

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    Cambridge, Massachusetts USA

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    Ann Arbor, Michigan USA

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    Kalamazoo, Michigan USA

Education

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Honors & Awards

  • University of Arizona Professional Achievement Award

    University of Arizona Alumni Association & College of Science

  • Minnesota State University–Moorhead Class of 2008 Commencement Address

    Minnesota State University–Moorhead

  • Minnesota State University–Moorhead Distinguished Alumni Award

    Minnesota State University–Moorhead Alumni Foundation

  • Greenbush Middle River High School Class of 2004 Commencement Address

    Greenbush Middle River High School

  • Milestone Award for Signal Transduction Drug Discovery Achievement

    ARIAD Pharmaceuticals

  • President’s Distinguished Scientist Honorary Lecture in Pharmaceutical Research

    Parke-Davis/Warner-Lambert Company (now Pfizer)

  • Kagan Drug Discovery Award for Lead Finding in Pharmaceutical Research

    The Upjohn Company (now Pfizer)

  • DuVigneaud Award for Outstanding Achievement in Peptide Research

    American Peptide Society

  • Minnesota State University–Moorhead Outstanding Young Alumni Award

    Minnesota State University–Moorhead Alumni Foundation

  • University of Arizona Marvel Chemistry Honorarium

    University of Arizona

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