Robert J. Schumacher, PhD

Robert J. Schumacher, Ph.D., is the Scientific Director for the Center for Translational Medicine, directing the Center’s laboratory and programs that facilitate the clinical application and commercialization of the University’s discovery-based technologies. Dr. Schumacher has a broad range of development expertise and more than 15 years of experience in academia and industry. He has designed and directed preclinical and clinical development programs in diverse therapeutic areas and his experience ranges from candidate evaluation and selection through the filing of marketing applications. He’s also created regulatory strategies to support development programs and worked directly with the FDA and other regulatory agencies.

Dr. Schumacher earned a B.S. in Chemistry (ACS) from St. Cloud State University and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Mayo Graduate School. After completing a post-doctoral fellowship at Yale University he spent 10 years in the pharmaceutical industry, initially with Purdue Pharma, where he led programs in various stages of development, including pre-IND, early clinical and late-clinical. He was Director of Clinical Sciences at KV Pharmaceuticals before joining the faculty of Mayo Clinic’s Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology where he also served as Scientific Director for Mayo Clinical Trial Services and Co-Director of the Clinical Trials Biomarker Research Laboratory. He joined the University of Minnesota’s Center for Translational Medicine in 2009.