James Empfield M’86, a graduate alumnus of Bucknell University, was recently named senior vice president, drug discovery at Xenon Pharmaceuticals. In this role, he will be responsible for leading drug discovery chemistry, manufacturing and other preclinical activities in Xenon’s discovery and development area.
Empfield has a master’s degree in chemistry from Bucknell. His bachelor’s and doctorate degrees are also in chemistry from Lebanon Valley College and University of Pennsylvania, respectively. He comes to Xenon from Vertex Pharmaceuticals, where he served as vice president, drug discovery & chemistry. Prior to that, he held a variety of positions as AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals from 1990-2011.