Jennie Hunter-Cevera - F1000 Section Head (since 11 July 2001)
Department of Discovery and Analytical Sciences, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA
BIOGRAPHY
ACADEMIC POSITION:Executive vice president of Discovery and Analytical Sciences (DAS), Corporate Development and Government Relations.
EDUCATION:
Dr Hunter-Cevera received her PhD from Rutgers University in 1978 (Microbial Physiology and Biochemistry) a MS in Microbial Ecology in 1972 and a BS in Biology from West Virginia University in 1970.
CAREER:
She has 22 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, (ER Squibb and Sons, Cetus Corporation, GeoBiotics, Universal Foods, founder of The Biotic Network), five years with the Department of Energy as the Head of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Center for Environmental Biotechnology, and 10 years with academia as the president of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute. She has published many papers, chapters and served as senior editor of the Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology for 10 years.
While in Maryland, she served as a member of the Executive Committee for Governor Erhlich’s transition team, his Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, and was the Technology Representative for Governor Glendenning on the Southern Governor’s Association, and she served on the Technology Economic Development Corporation, TEDCO (Board of Directors for four years and was Chair for two years). Dr Hunter-Cevera also served on the Advisory Board for the Maryland Industrial Partnerships, the MDBio’s Board of Directors and the MDBio Foundation for 10 years and on the BioIT Coalition for 5 years. She holds a board of director’s seat for Entremed and has served on the Executive Committee for the past two years.
MEMBERSHIPS:
She is a member of several professional societies and has served as president of the Society for Industrial Microbiology, the International Marine Biotechnology Association, and the United States Federation of Culture Collections. Dr. Hunter has served on many national committees and commissions and currently is Chair of the National Research Council’s Committee on Large Scale Production of Biofuels from Algae.
AWARDS:
She is the recipient of several awards and honors including Maryland’s Top 50 Influential People (2007, 2009) and Maryland’s Top 100 Women ( 2003, 2006, 2009), American Society for Micriobiology’s Porter Award for distinguished research in microbial systematics and taxonomy, elected as a SIM Fellow, a member of the ASM Academy of Microbiology and a AAAS Fellow.
RESEARCH:
She holds 15 patents and specializes in areas of screen design for the discovery of natural compounds in the area of human therapeutics, biodefense, sustainable agriculture, bioremediation and biocatalysis for industrial processes in the food and cosmetic industries. Her current research interests are microbial enzymes for industrial processes, natural product discovery, and the role of microbiomes in sustainable agriculture.