Paul B Watkins, M.D.
Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
About Paul
Paul B. Watkins, M.D., is the Howard Q. Ferguson Distinguished Professor of pharmacy, medicine, and public health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), and the director of the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy Institute for Drug Safety Science (IDSS) since its formation in 2009. He serves as director of the DILI-sim Initiative, a public-private partnership consisting of major life science companies charged with developing the DILIsym software. In addition, Dr. Watkins is the Principal Investigator for the FDA funded Research Triangle Center of Excellence in Regulatory Science and Innovation (Triangle CERSI).
As an internationally recognized expert in drug safety and a clinically trained hepatologist, Dr. Watkins has extensive research experience in drug-induced liver injury (DILI), which includes basic investigation in drug metabolism and transport, clinical studies, causation assessment, and regulatory affairs. He has been continuously funded for over 30 years by the National Institutes of Health for basic and translational research, and he is one of the most frequently cited authors in the field of pharmacology. He is chair of the steering and genetics committees for the U.S. Drug-Induced Liver Injury Network supported by the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Watkins is the recipient of numerous awards including the 2023 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American College for Toxicology, the 2018 Toxicology Career Award from the American Society of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET), a MERIT award from the National Institutes of Health, the 2014 Agilent Thought Leader Award, and the 2015 Rawls-Palmer Innovation in Medicine Award; he has been elected to several honorary societies including the Association of American Professors (AAP). He has served on many advisory boards, including almost a decade on the GlaxoSmithKline Scientific Advisory Board.
Prior to serving as director of the IDSS, Dr. Watkins was director of the UNC Translational and Clinical Sciences (TrACS) Institute and principal investigator on the university’s $60 M Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) supported by the National Institutes of Health. His academic career started at the University of Michigan where he became Professor of Medicine and Professor of Pharmacology and director of the General Clinical Research Center.
