Dr. Scott Pegan, Associate Professor in Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Sciences, has been named the permanent director of UGA’s Center for Drug Discovery. According to Dean Kelly Smith, “Scott has been serving as the interim director of the center since 2017 and has done an outstanding job in promoting this entity as a resource, while engaging other UGA departments and programs across campus.”
The Center for Drug Discovery endeavors to be the premier portal at UGA for the development of therapeutics by supporting pre-clinical stage collaborations between members of the university community and extramural supporting entities.
A native of Livermore, California, Scott joined the College of Pharmacy in 2014. He earned his Ph.D. in Chemistry and Biochemistry from the University of California in San Diego. His current research focuses on the regulation of the human innate immune system, the discovery of new therapeutics for nerve and pesticide agent poisoning, and the discovery of new antibiotics for use against tuberculosis. He has published 43 peer-reviewed articles and holds six U.S. and international patented discoveries. He is a U.S. Army Operation Iraqi Freedom combat veteran, a U.S. Army Reserve Major and biochemist for the United States Medical Research Institute of Chemical Defense. Scott has partnered for a number of years with industry and federal agencies on research for drug discoveries and is a requested panelist and speaker at numerous forums on drug discovery, viruses and structural biology.
Through his role as University Council Executive Committee Chair from 2017-2018 and as Chair of the University System of Georgia Faculty Council from 2018-2019, Scott has developed a broad understanding of UGA schools, colleges and other units. Along with these other duties, Scott served for a year as Interim Director of the UGA Office of Experiential Learning.
“I am excited to be leading the CDD into its next phase of evolution,” Scott said. “It’s truly a center that can help leverage UGA’s internationally renowned experience in research in order to accelerate development of the cures of tomorrow.”
Scott and his wife, Kathryn, live in Oconee County with their children, Cliff and Charlotte. When he’s not working or parenting, he enjoys anything that gets him outdoors.
