Who We Are
Stephen Byrn, PhD
Dr. Stephen R. Byrn is Charles B. Jordan Professor of Medicinal Chemistry in the Department of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy, Purdue University. Dr. Byrn set in motion the development of the field of Solid State Chemistry of Drugs with his books, short courses, and papers on the subject the first of which were published in the mid-1970. He has educated over 50 Ph. D. students and postdoctoral fellows and taught a wide range of courses at Purdue.
Dr Byrn serves as the Chairperson on the board of KEHI.
Zita Ekeocha
Sr. Zita Ekeocha is a long time member of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, a leading Catholic Missionary organization with a home base in Dublin, Ireland. She holds a BS degree in Pharmacy from the University of Benin, Nigeria and an MS degree in Pharmacy from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. Sister Zita also holds an MS degree in Pastoral Studies from Loyola University, Chicago, IL. She has served in a range of important administrative positions in Africa including heading medicines procurement for all of the Catholic hospitals in Nigeria, a country with nearly the population of the US. In 2002, she assumed leadership of the Industrial Pharmacy Teaching Unit (IPTU), Kilimanjaro School of Pharmacy (KSP) in Moshi, Tanzania. This unit was responsible for providing hands on training in manufacturing and quality control aspects to both technician level pharmacists and graduate students in industrial pharmacy in Tanzania. She remained in this role until 2018. She has completed manufacturing internships at Glaxo Smith Kline facilities in the US and at Purdue University in Pharmaceutical Manufacturing.
Sr Zita was part of the team that received an FDA Honor Award in 2013 for administering and teaching the first course in sub Saharan Africa related to drug registration, in collaboration with FDA and industry scientists, and academia.
Sally Byrn
Sarah (Sally) R. Byrn is a seasoned entrepreneur and philantropist who co-founded SSCI, a company dedicated to providing high quality solid state chemical information, in 1991 with her husband, Stephen R. Byrn. She served as CEO, and under her leadership, the company grew from 1 to 100 employees, acquired a 45,000 sq ft building in the Purdue Research Park, and earned the Growth 100 Award each year from 1999 to 2003. SSCI also received Inc 500 Awards in 2001 and 2002 as one of the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in the United States. SSCI was acquired in 2006 by Aptuit, and Sally became the Vice President of Physical and Analytical Chemistry for Aptuit. She oversaw operations with 700 employees in Kansas City, 300 employees in Edinburgh Scotland, and SSCI. Sally’s driving passion which led to the success of her businesses was a focus on quality and employee satisfaction.
In 2010, she became CEO of Family Services, a non-profit organization in Lafayette. Sally served on the Board of Directors of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation and chaired the Entrepreneurship Committee which managed the 21 Fund. She also served on the Board of Directors for Family Services Inc., Wabash Center, and Greater Lafayette Commerce. She was awarded the iWoman Visionary Award in the Trailblazer category in Oct 2003, and The Salute to Women by the YWCA in 2011.
Mehran Yazdanian, PhD
Mehran Yazdanian is a scientist with over 30 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. His career has been focused on directing formulation and analytical development activities from early drug discovery support and preformulation to formulation development and manufacturing for clinical programs and to commercialization for both small molecules and biologicals.
Mehran has lived in Philadelphia since 2004 where he is active in helping his local community with the grave issue of food insecurity in students attending Philadelphia’s public schools and community college. He was a cofounder of Zia, a charitable organization that helped with food insecurity with students in Philadelphia public schools. In 2019, he established the “Yazdanian Fund” at the Community College of Philadelphia Foundation (CCPF) for the specific goal of helping CCP students with access to food and ultimately success in their pursuit of higher education. Please check the website www.yazdanian.org
Paddy Shivanand, PhD
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Paddy is a experienced pharmaceutical scientist with a passion for helping educate the next generation of pharmaceutical scientists specially in developing countries. Paddy was a Co-founder of JDP Pharma Consulting where she provided expertise in formulation development, process development, analytical sciences and CMC regulatory activities for numerous pharmaceutical companies. She has more than 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical product development including positions at ALZA Corporation and Johnson & Johnson.
Throughout her career, Paddy has worked on the development of more than 25 medicines, leading to successful regulatory submissions and product approvals. She currently serves as Adjunct Faculty at Purdue University in the Biotechnology Innovation and Regulatory Science program. Paddy earned a B. Pharm degree from the University of Mumbai and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Pharmaceutical Sciences, both from the University of Cincinnati.