Dr. Vyas has 31 years tenure in oncology drug discovery research at Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (\"BMS\"), a NYSE-listed pharmaceutical company, most recently as a Group Director and Distinguished Research Fellow. In 1980, he joined BMS in the Antitumor Chemistry department and was involved in National Cancer Institute/National Institute of Health funded collaborative research efforts on discovery of novelv natural product based cytotoxics to treat human neoplasms (tumors).
In 1984, he was promoted to Research Fellow and in subsequent years he held positions as an Associate Director, Director and Group Director, which culminated in 1999 in his last promotion at BMS as a Distinguished Research Fellow (Executive Level) in Oncology Discovery Chemistry at the Wallingford, Connecticut site. Dr. Vyas is considered one of the pioneers of the BMS oncology medicinal chemistry discovery efforts based on natural products derived cytotoxics. During this period he was also involved in BMS's pioneering research on antibody drug conjugate (\"ADC\") technology to target cytotoxics selectively to tumors. This technology in recent years has yielded valuable new biologics for treating a variety of cancers.
In the last 15 years of his oncology research career at BMS, he was involved in discovery and development of personalized medicine research involving small molecule molecular targeted oncology therapeutics (e.g. kinase inhibitors). During his tenure at BMS in oncology drug discovery, he has participated in the discovery and development of 12 small molecules and one biologic (ADC) as clinical development candidates with one US Food and Drug Administration approved NDA.
He has authored/co-authored over 110 publications and written numerous book chapters and review articles. He is also an inventor/co-inventor on more than 40 patents. He has been a plenary and invited speaker at conferences and at academic institutions in the US and abroad. In 1994 he was a co-organizer of American Chemical Society (ACS) Medicinal Chemistry Symposium on \"Advances in Medicinal Chemistry of Taxol and Taxoids\" at the 207th ACS National Meeting in San Diego, California. He is an elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Sciences and Engineering (\"CASE\") and is also on the editorial board of Medicinal Research Reviews. He has participated in National Institute of Health and CASE study sections to review small business industry research proposals and biomedical research proposals for funding in Connecticut, respectively.
Dr. Vyas retired from BMS in 2011 and has subsequetly formed a research and development consulting company, Dinesh Vyas, LLC. Currently, he is consulting for two India-based pharmaceutical companies.
Dr. Vyas received a B.Sc. with honors degree in Chemistry/Geology from University College Nairobi (Kenya), University of East Africa in 1967 and a Ph.D. degree in Organic Chemistry from Queens University, Kingston, Canada in 1972.