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Cartier Esham serves as Chief Science Officer at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). In this role, Dr. Esham manages and directs BIO’s policy development, advocacy, research and educational initiatives for BIO’s emerging companies, which comprise approximately 90% of BIO’s membership. This includes capital formation policy and health policy impacting emerging companies, as well as research and analysis of the biopharmaceutical industry and life-science investment and financing. Among the priorities of BIO’s Emerging Companies Section are: promoting a science-based FDA regulatory environment; supporting NIH funding and programs/initiatives such as SBIR and NCATS that promote the effective transfer of technology; and working to create a public and private market environment that incentivizes the research and development of innovative treatments and therapies. Prior to joining BIO, Dr. Esham was a Vice President and Director of Research at Dutko Worldwide, a private consulting firm in Washington, D.C. There she worked on a variety of environmental, education, science, technology and health care-related issues both on the federal and state/local levels. Esham has a Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of Georgia, a Master's degree in Marine Biology from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and a Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Kentucky. She has published papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals on water quality, marine microbial ecology, and bacterial phylogeny.