Founder/President

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Chinonso Edward Akano, PharmD. is currently the Principal Medical Scientist focused on Inflammatory diseases at Gilead Sciences. Prior to Gilead, he was the Cardiology Medical Science Liaison at Arbor Pharmaceuticals. His role includes building and maintaining strategic thought leader relationships, presenting scientific and clinical data to HCPs and Healthcare payers alike, presenting posters and data at conferences and supporting clinical research and patient recruitment in clinical trials while facilitating a quality improvement initiative that supports efforts to prevent mortality and unnecessary hospitalizations to eliminate inequities in health care.

Dr. Akano received his doctoral training at Temple University School of Pharmacy in Philadelphia and completed his post-doctoral fellowship training in Pharmacoeconomics and Health Outcomes Research from Novartis Pharmaceuticals and Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy at Rutgers University where he lectured as an Adjunct Faculty during his training. Prior to his PharmD, he received his bachelor’s degree from East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Akano has primarily functioned within Medical & Scientific Affairs and launched several marketed therapies and collaborated across other functional areas such as clinical research, managed care teams, marketing, regulatory affairs, sales operations, public affairs and advocacy with experiences in various therapeutic areas not limited to Cardiology, Neuroscience, and Addiction medicine with several pharmaceutical companies. He was a preceptor and an adjunct faculty here at Mercer University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences.

He is a founding partner of Access Healthcare Foundation, a nonprofit organization which focuses on improving population health through technology, culturally relevant health education and improved access to quality care. He is an advocate for health equity and his work at Gilead will continue to encourage equity in healthcare and patient engagement. More importantly, he is also the founder/president of The Akano Foundation – a 501c3 charity with a mission to provide cultural awareness and support healthy sustainable communities through education and technology in underserved communities.

Originally from Isu Ancient Kingdom in Imo State, Nigeria, he is deeply passionate about the social and political determinants of health, and healthcare access in his home country - Nigeria. Nonetheless, his greatest passion is spending quality time with his family and friends.