The University of Virginia has tapped an executive at AstraZeneca, one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies, to head its future Manning Institute of Biotechnology.
The $350 million, 350,000-square-foot facility is now under construction at the Fontaine Research Park just west of Charlottesville and is expected to be occupied by late 2026.
Mark Esser, vice president of microbial sciences at AstraZeneca, brings more than 20 years of experience developing medical treatments to his new role as the Manning Institute’s inaugural chief scientific officer.
“He brings both great scientific expertise and decades of experience in developing new treatments and medical breakthroughs,” UVa President Jim Ryan said of Esser in a statement. “He is a bridge-builder who knows how to work collaboratively, how to work efficiently and how to get things done. He will be the lynchpin in realizing the potential of the Manning Institute to shape the future of medicine.”
As its leader, Esser will be tasked with overseeing the Manning Institute’s work developing cutting-edge medicine, fast-tracking the development of new treatments and cures, and transforming how health care is delivered in Virginia and beyond. The institute is expected to hire hundreds of scientists and attract even more to the Charlottesville area for complementary work.
UVa has explicitly likened the institute to the wildly successful Research Triangle in neighboring North Carolina. While the Manning Institute will be an arm of UVa, the Research Triangle brings together the biotechnology work of three colleges: the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, North Carolina State University and Duke University.
UVa’s institute is named for Paul Manning, CEO of health care research investment firm PBM Capital, a member of UVa’s governing Board of Visitors and the founder of Gordonsville-based PBM Products, at one time the largest manufacturer of baby formula in the world. Manning and his wife Diane contributed a historic $100 million donation to the establishment of the institute in January 2023.
Paul Manning applauded Esser’s hiring.
“Mark Esser is the complete package — a smart, savvy and experienced leader with broad knowledge and a proven track record of success,” Manning said in a statement. “I am confident he will make the Manning Institute a game-changing force in medicine, to the benefit of patients across Virginia and beyond.”
Esser has spent roughly 15 years at AstraZeneca, a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical firm and the manufacturer of such drugs as Farxiga, to treat Type 2 diabetes, and Tagrisso, a lung cancer treatment. AstraZeneca also developed a COVID-19 vaccine during the pandemic.
Most recently at AstraZeneca, Esser has worked in drug discovery as well as clinical and vaccine programs, overseeing a 100-strong workforce and a budget exceeding $30 million annual budget.
As far as his personal scientific work, Esser has published more than 130 peer-reviewed papers and holds several patents. He has been a part of research teams responsible for the development of Evusheld, one of the medications used to prevent and treat COVID-19, in addition to Beyfortus, an antibody used to inoculate infants against a respiratory virus.
Before going on to work on postdoctoral research fellowships at Merck Research Laboratories and the National Institutes of Health’s AIDS vaccine program, Esser himself was a UVa student. He received his Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the UVa School of Medicine in 1998.
It is this impressive resume and his ability to work as a global product development lead that caught the eye of UVa’s administration, which hopes Esser will “foster an ‘ecosystem of innovation’” at the Manning Institute.
“Our goals for the Manning Institute are to accelerate how quickly we can get new treatments to patients and to ensure that no Virginian has to leave the state for even the most complex care. Dr. Esser has the vision and experience to deliver on both of those,” Dr. Mitch Rosner, the university’s interim executive vice president for health affairs, said in a statement.
Source: www.dailyprogress.com