IPM Growth Leads to Expanded Scientific Unit

Karen Douville and Joseph Romano Join Science Team

Silver Spring, MD – Dr. Joseph Romano has been appointed the Executive Director for Research and Development (R&D) and Ms. Karen Douville has been appointed Director of Project Management at the not-for-profit International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM). Dr. Romano and Ms. Douville join a growing staff working to develop microbicides. Both will work directly with Chief Scientific Officer, Mark Mitchnick. Dr. Mitchnick previously held the position of Executive Director for Research and Development and now oversees all scientific endeavors conducted by IPM’s R&D, Clinical and Regulatory teams.

“We are really pleased to have Joe and Karen join our team. They bring a tremendous amount of experience to IPM having worked on microbicides much of their professional lives. As IPM grows and expands its activity, they will both play a critical role,” said IPM Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Mark Mitchnick.

As Executive Director for R&D, Dr. Romano is responsible for the research and development activities at IPM. Prior to joining the organization, Dr. Romano served as Vice President of Research at Biosyn, Inc., a private corporation devoted to the development of an anti-HIV/anti-STD microbicide pipeline. Dr. Romano’s research efforts there focused on HIV-specific, as well as broad spectrum anti-infectives and combination microbicides. Prior to focusing on microbicide research, he spent ten years in the HIV field at ABL, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of AKZO-Nobel, and three years at the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), where his research involved molecular characterization of tumor suppressor genes. Dr. Romano is a trained molecular biologist, and received M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in microbiology from Rutgers University, and a B.S. degree in biology from Lehigh University.

Ms. Douville, Director of Project Management, is responsible for coordinating the internal drug development efforts at IPM, as well as contributing to the overall microbicide development objectives of the organization. Ms. Douville directs project management for research and development, clinical trials, regulatory affairs and contract development. Prior to joining IPM, Ms. Douville served as Vice President of Product Development at Biosyn, Inc. and was responsible for the drug development efforts of the multiple compounds in their microbicide pipeline. She oversaw development of the lead candidate microbicide from post discovery through the initiation of Phase III trials in Africa and the U.S., and advanced a second compound from early preclinical into a series of international phase I safety studies. Ms. Douville also brings extensive experience managing NIH grants and contracts, non-governmental organization grant awards, as well as expertise in good manufacturing practices (GMP), good clinical practices (GCP), and Food & Drug Administration compliance. She has served on the board of the California Microbicide Initiative, and on a number of panels and working groups focusing on microbicides. Ms. Douville has a B.A.S. degree from the School of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania and a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

About IPM

IPM was established in 2002 to prevent HIV transmission by accelerating the development and accessibility of microbicides for use by women in developing countries. The organization's goal is to improve the efficiency of all efforts to deliver a safe and effective microbicide as soon as possible.