Kia Sepassi, PhD
Scientist
Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development
San Diego, CA
PhD (2006) Advisor: Samuel Yalkowsky
My research as a student in pharmaceutics focused on developing in-silico model for predicting physico-chemical properties pertinent to pharmaceutical and environmental sciences. My dissertation provides estimations of octanol solubility, vapor pressure, octanol-air partition coefficient, and the air-water partition coefficient. These properties were estimated using transition temperatures and molecular descriptors. I was also involved in crystallization and characterization of pharmaceutical salts. My other research projects involved formulation development for the National Cancer Institute.
I am currently working at Johnson & Johnson Pharmaceutical Research and Development in La Jolla California as a Preformulation Scientist. My responsibilities include the development of oral and parenteral formulations for early toxicological and tolerance studies. I am also responsible for solid state characterization and salt form selection of API’s.