Our leadership

Scientific Collaboration Director

Kendra Hightower, PhD

Kendra Hightower serves as the alliance manager for Pinnacle Hill and brings more than 25 years of industry experience across the landscape of basic research, drug discovery, development, and manufacturing, and technology enablement to the role.

Prior to joining UNC-Chapel Hill’s Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research, Kendra was SVP of R&D at Xilis, Inc. and had previously held scientific and business leadership roles at GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Ribometrix, and Enveda. Kendra has extensive drug discovery experience and has built and managed R&D organizations and broad drug discovery portfolios to support robust pipelines of novel therapeutics at multiple companies. She has led multidisciplinary drug discovery projects from inception to decisional milestones across diverse therapeutic indications including oncology, fibrosis, infectious disease, metabolic, immunology and inflammation, neurodegeneration, and pruritus. Throughout her career, Kendra has contributed to innovative technology platforms, numerous assets from hit identification through candidate selection, and two marketed drugs, the HIV integrase inhibitor dolutegravir for HIV infection and the BRAF inhibitor dabrafenib for cancer indications.

Kendra received her BS in Biochemistry from the University of Maryland, College Park and a PhD in Biology from Johns Hopkins University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Duke University.

Joint Steering Committee

  • Blossom Damania

    Blossom Damania is vice dean for research at the UNC School of Medicine and the Boshamer Distinguished Professor of microbiology and immunology. She is also a member and co-director of the Virology and Global Oncology programs in the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at UNC-Chapel Hill.

    Dr. Damania's research focuses on oncogenic human viruses, host-pathogen interactions and virus-associated cancers. She has received several honors for her work, including being named a V Foundation for Cancer Research Scholar, an AACR Gertrude B. Elion Research Scholar, a Burroughs Welcome Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease, an American Heart Established Investigator, and a Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Scholar. She was named a Kavli fellow of the National Academy of Science and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology. She served as a member for the Report on Carcinogens Monograph by the National Toxicology Program. Dr. Damania currently serves as senior editor for several academic journals and is also the chair of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) Board of Scientific Advisors on HIV/AIDS Malignancies.

  • John Bamforth, PhD

    John Bamforth is the director of the Eshelman Institute for Innovation at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy. The Eshelman Institute for Innovation was established in 2014 with a $100 million gift from Dr. Fred Eshelman. The Institute aims to accelerate the creation and development of ideas leading to discoveries of new medicines and technologies, and transformative changes in pharmacy/pharmaceutical sciences education and health care. Bamforth will vigorously pursue the mission and goals of the Institute, while developing new strategies to put the Institute on a path to sustained growth.

    Bamforth comes to the School after almost 30 years with Eli Lilly and Company. In his most recent role at Lilly, he served as the vice president and chief marketing officer for a broad portfolio including products for cardiovascular, immunological, pain and neuro-degenerative disorders. Bamforth completed his Bachelor of Pharmacy at the University of Bath in Bath, England; and earned his PhD at Aston University in Birmingham, England.

  • William Slattery

    William Slattery is a Partner on the Therapeutics team and joined the Firm in 2000. Prior to Deerfield, Mr. Slattery was a senior healthcare analyst for 10 years at Amerindo Investment Advisors, where he oversaw biotechnology investments. He has held various positions in research including those at National Medical Enterprises, Johnson & Johnson, and HMSS. Mr. Slattery is the Chairman of Gilda’s Club New York City, a non-profit organization supporting cancer patients and their families. He holds an undergraduate degree in Biology and Chemistry from State University of New York at Albany and completed coursework in Immunology at the Graduate School-New Brunswick, Rutgers University.