Christopher Houchens

Christopher Houchens, PhD joined the US Government’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) in April 2012. In his previous role as a BARDA Project Officer, Chris lead multiple interdisciplinary product development teams responsible for advancing the development, manufacture, clinical and non-clinical evaluation, and regulatory approval of novel drugs against multidrug resistant organisms, emerging infectious diseases and biothreat agents. In his current role as the Acting Branch Chief of BARDA’s Antibacterials Program, Chris manages a diverse portfolio of novel therapeutics targeting the global threat of antimicrobial resistance while also conducting outreach with academia and industry to identify new public-private partnership opportunities to strengthen BARDA’s portfolio of antimicrobial products.

Chris also participates on numerous interagency working groups and has demonstrated success working across the US government to build partnerships, strengthen interagency collaborations and coordinate efforts among US government agencies and stakeholders to accelerate the development of medical countermeasures. Chris received his PhD in Cell and Molecular Biology from the University of Vermont and continued his training as a Research Fellow at Johns Hopkins Medical Institute and a Staff Scientist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Prior to joining BARDA, Chris served as a Senior Scientist at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency where he managed translational research and development programs to rapidly design, manufacture and evaluate novel medical countermeasures. Chris has over 25 years of experience ranging from early stage disease research to late stage product development and approval which has provided him a thorough understanding of the lifecycle of drug development and the challenges associated with each specific phase of product development.