Russell Esterline

Russell Esterline, PhD is currently a VP Global Medicines Leader at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals leading the advancement of late stage metabolic products towards registration and approval and beyond. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Juniata College and his PhD in Toxicology from Rutgers University/UMDNJ Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology. He completed his Post-Doctoral training at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Both pre- and post-graduate research focused on the...See more

Russell Esterline, PhD is currently a VP Global Medicines Leader at AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals leading the advancement of late stage metabolic products towards registration and approval and beyond. He received his B.S. in Chemistry from Juniata College and his PhD in Toxicology from Rutgers University/UMDNJ Joint Graduate Program in Toxicology. He completed his Post-Doctoral training at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health. Both pre- and post-graduate research focused on the impact of toxicants on mitochondrial function. At AstraZeneca, Russell led the development of CRESTOR (rosuvastatin) through its LCM delivery stage (METEOR, CORONA, AURORA, JUPITER, SATURN clinical trials) and more recently led the development of FARXIGA (dapagliflozin) through global approval and launch. As the FARXIGA lead, Russell became interested in understanding the underlying mechanism(s) behind the unique SGLT2i-driven benefit in patients with type 2 diabetes and has published a novel theory describing the metabolic underpinning of this benefit. If correct, this theory may have implications beyond the proven benefits on the heart and kidney into the CNS, a possibility which is currently being pursued through collaborations with leading scientists in the field. See less