Chief Scientific Officer, Co-Founder
Sarah Molokhia has over 20 years of experience in ocular drug delivery, ocular imaging, and ocular pharmacokinetics. After completing her B.S. in pharmacy, she received her Ph.D. in pharmaceutical chemistry from the University of Utah under the supervision of Dr. William I. Higuchi. She then joined the Moran Eye Center for a 2-year postdoctoral position under Dr. Balamurali Ambati, working on intraocular drug-delivery implants and the conjugation of biomarkers to proteins for imaging.
She managed a team developing an ocular iontophoresis device for macromolecule delivery (anti-VEGF) to the posterior segment of the eye, which involved designing device prototypes, conducting pharmacokinetic studies in vivo and ex vivo, ocular imaging using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and various choroidal neovascular(CNV) animal models.
Sarah has managed the development of IVMED-80 eye drops for the treatment of keratoconus. She successfully completed an ex-US clinical trial, followed by iVeena’s licensing of the product to Glaukos. Currently, she is managing preclinical and clinical work, including all IND-enabling activities for IVMED-85, direct oversight of CRO activities, and ensuring compliance with protocols, ICH-GCP, and regulatory requirements through rigorous documentation review.
She has secured over $ 12 million in NIH and NSF grant funding.