Stephen Byrn, PhD
Director of R&D and Manufacturing Operations
Dr. Stephen Byrn, PhD is the Charles B. Jordan Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at Purdue University’s Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy. Dr. Byrn received his BA Chemistry from DePauw University, PhD in Organic and Physical Chemistry from University of Illinois, Urbana, and completed a post-doc at University of California, Los Angeles in Physical Chemistry. In 2009, he received the David Grant Research Achievement Award in Physical Pharmacy.
Dr. Byrn has written over 40 publications, manages a solid state chemistry drug and formulation lab, and teaches several times a year in Tanzania, Africa.
Their solid state research has implications for formulation design, the analysis of drugs, the stability of drugs, the control of drug manufacturing, and the development of methods of crystallization. By carrying out research on the solid state chemistry of drugs it is hoped that new approaches for drug analysis including X-ray PDF methods and solid state NMR methods will be developed. Finally, all of this information is used to develop new formulations that provide equivalent bioavailability of marketed drugs at reduced dose.
The "Sustainable Medicine in Africa" program was established by Dr. Byrn, Purdue University College of Pharmacy; Sr. Zita Ekeocha and Mr. John Chilunda, St. Luke Foundation /Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy (SLF/KSP); and Prof. Joseph Fortunak, Howard University.