EyePoint Pharmaceuticals Appoints Jay S. Duker, MD, as Chief Operating Officer
EyePoint Pharmaceuticals announced the appointment of Jay S. Duker, MD, as Chief Operating Officer. Dr. Duker joined EyePoint as Chief Strategic Scientific Officer on a part-time basis in 2020, after having served as an independent member of EyePoint’s Board of Directors since 2016. In his new full-time role as COO, Dr. Duker will be responsible for overseeing all clinical development, research, product development and manufacturing.
“We are very excited to have Dr. Duker join the EyePoint team in this critically important role. Jay is the right person at the right time for EyePoint. He is a proven retinal disease expert who will help drive our company’s emergence as a leader in the development of next generation ophthalmic therapeutics for serious eye diseases like wet AMD. His vast experience in the formation and execution of business strategies for innovative ophthalmological diagnostics and treatments complements and enhances the already strong capabilities of our executive team as EyePoint continues to develop and advance new products through the pipeline,” said Nancy Lurker, CEO of EyePoint Pharmaceuticals.
“In addition, Jay’s extensive clinical expertise in treating retinal diseases coupled with a successful track record as a repeat entrepreneur make him uniquely qualified for this important new role at EyePoint. We are confident that as COO, Jay will continue to be a tremendous asset to our team as we grow our organization and expand our exciting pipeline of ocular products that have the potential to disrupt current treatment paradigms,” said Dr. Goran Ando, Chair of the Board, EyePoint Pharmaceuticals.
“It’s an honor to be taking on a greater role at EyePoint and I’m excited for the challenge of driving EyePoint’s innovative products to help patients suffering from serious eye diseases. EyePoint already has a significant foundation in place with compelling vision, great people, excellent science, and a promising pipeline, and I am particularly excited about the culture and the team at EyePoint,” said Dr. Duker. “After over 30 years in academic ophthalmology and 21 years at Chair of the Department of Ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center and the Tufts University School of Medicine, I look forward to the new challenges offered to me by EyePoint.”
Dr. Duker has extensive experience with wide-ranging roles in clinical, research, business, start-ups, and academic settings. In addition to his earlier roles at EyePoint, Dr. Duker was the Director of the New England Eye Center and Chair of Ophthalmology at Tufts Medical Center and the Tufts University School of Medicine, positions which he has relinquished to join EyePoint in a full-time capacity. Dr. Duker has co-founded three start-ups, including Hemera Biosciences, a gene therapy company that developed an anti-complement treatment for dry macular degeneration, which was acquired by Janssen in 2020. In addition, Dr. Duker is currently the Chair of the Board of Sesen Bio, a publicly traded clinical stage biopharmaceutical company. He has published more than 300 journal articles related to ophthalmology and is co-author of Yanoff and Duker’s Ophthalmology, a best-selling ophthalmic textbook. Dr. Duker received an A.B. from Harvard University and an M.D. from the Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.