Ken Duncan BSc, PhD

Ken Duncan is a Deputy Director on the Discovery & Translational Science team, where he leads the foundation’s efforts in early stage drug discovery. He is also responsible for devising and implementing the “TB Drug Accelerator” research program, which is aimed at uncovering the biology of persistent Mycobacterium tuberculosis and providing new tools and leads for TB drug discovery to realize the goal of an ultra-short-acting therapy. Prior to joining the Gates foundation, Dr.. Duncan was Program Director of a Grand Challenges in Global Health project funded jointly by the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust, which aims to identify new drugs active against latent TB. He also served as a consultant to the foundation for two years. Dr. Duncan previously spent 16 years in the pharmaceutical industry. He joined Glaxo in 1988 and held positions of increasing responsibility, most recently Director, Diseases of the Developing World at GlaxoSmithKline. His research teams worked on novel broad-spectrum antibacterial agents, and conducted TB drug and vaccine discovery research. Dr. Duncan directed GlaxoSmithKline’s Action TB Initiative, a multi-disciplinary program of basic research aimed at identifying new TB drug targets and vaccine candidates.

Dr. Duncan helped establish the Global Alliance for TB Drug Development and served on its Scientific Advisory Board for six years. He is currently a member of WHO Special Programme in Research and Training in Tropical Disease (TDR) drug discovery External Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Duncan obtained a BSc in Molecular Biology from the University of Edinburgh and a PhD from the University of Glasgow, and completed Postdoctoral Research Fellowships at the University of Glasgow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard Medical School.