Dr. Dean has served as a director of Acurx since July 2021 and previously served as a director of the company's predecessor, Dipexium Pharmaceuticals, from 2010 until its 2017 sale. Since 2006 he has advised the Executive Vice President of Drug Development at Sanofi through his firm Drug Development Advisors, LLC, and he is a research professor of Medical Pharmacology and Pharmacology/Toxicology at the University of Arizona. He previously served as President, U.S. Science and Medical Affairs (R&D) and Global Director of Preclinical Development at Sanofi, and held senior drug-safety and toxicology leadership roles at Sterling Winthrop and the Chemical Industry Institute of Toxicology. Dr. Dean holds a B.S. in microbiology and an M.S. in medical microbiology from California State University, Long Beach, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from the University of Arizona College of Medicine.