George has 20 years of experience in drug discovery, translational research and clinical drug development. Prior to the 2018 acquisition by Astellas, George was Vice President of Translational Medicine at Mitobrige, Inc., and earlier was Senior Director of Translational Medicine at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. George led translational research for multiple programs that target the ubiquitin-proteasome system, including several first-in-class molecules that are now approved or in clinical development. The research spanned both model systems and clinical trials, including mechanism of action and patient selection. While at Takeda and earlier within Millennium Pharmaceuticals, George contributed to clinical research and targeted development of the proteasome inhibitors bortezomib (VELCADE) and ixazomib (NINLARO). In this role he led the clinical pharmacogenomics research to define mechanisms of sensitivity and resistance to proteasome inhibition in different cancers and also collaborated with academic centers, pharmaceutical partners and patient advocacy leaders to initiate a broad personalized medicine initiative in myeloma. Prior to Millennium Pharmaceuticals, George led personalized medicine strategies at the start-up Millennium Predictive Medicine. George received his BS degree in Biology from Fordham University and his Ph.D. in Cellular Biology from SUNY Stony Brook. After thesis research at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the MIT Center for Cancer Research.