Michael Carleton has served in several roles at The Mark Foundation since 2020. He has over 24 years of research experience spanning the entire oncology translational medicine spectrum from target ID to Phase III trials. Michael’s current Mark Foundation activities include Mark Center oversight, program review, and external scientific outreach. Prior to The Mark Foundation, Michael served sequentially as Vice President of Translational Medicine at Mavupharma, Inipharm Inc., and Atrin Pharmaceuticals. His efforts supported the preclinical development of Mavupharma ENPP1 inhibitor, MAVU-104, subsequently licensed to AbbVie, the preclinical development and phase I translation of Inipharm HSD17B13 inhibitor, INI-822, for use in fibrotic liver disease, and the oncology phase I translation of Atrin Wee1 inhibitor, APR-1051. Prior to these positions, Michael served in director roles at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Presage Biosciences, and Matrix Genetics. Michael’s BMS team established that elevated serum IL-8 is associated with reduced clinical benefit to immune checkpoint blockade. As a research fellow at Rosetta Inpharmatics (Merck), Michael’s team worked on preclinical development of Niraparib, a PARP inhibitor approved for maintenance treatment of adults with ovarian, fallopian tube, or primary peritoneal cancer.
Michael has co-authored over 30 peer-reviewed research papers, is a co-inventor on patents across a diverse set of scientific disciplines, and has served on FNIH steering committees and NCI SBIR study sections.
Michael obtained his BA and PhD in microbiology from the University of Texas at Austin and was a Cancer Research Institute postdoctoral fellow and Young Arthritis Investigator at Fox Chase Cancer Center.