Alita Miller is a Vice President of Biology at Entasis Therapeutics, a small biotech outside of Boston, USA, dedicated to the discovery and development of novel antibacterial agents to treat serious infections by resistant Gram-negative bacteria.
At Entasis, Alita oversees both preclinical biology and developmental microbiology research. As a member of the senior leadership team, she is also involved in the strategic planning and execution of the company’s long-term research objectives.
Alita has over 18 years’ experience in antibacterial research, first at Pfizer where she led both large and small molecule discovery projects and then at AstraZeneca, where she was Head of Microbial Genetics and Genomics.
Alita’s current research interests include novel approaches to antibacterial discovery, including new ways of characterizing small molecule permeation and accumulation in bacterial pathogens.
She serves on several National Institutes of Health review panels for proposals related to the field, is on the target selection board for National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Structure Genomics Centers of Infectious Diseases and is a member of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) Microbe conference programme committee.
Alita obtained a BA in chemistry from Kalamazoo College and a PhD in biochemistry/molecular biology from the University of Chicago. Her postdoctoral training was in the DiRita lab at the University of Michigan characterizing the molecular drivers of pathogenesis in Streptococcus pyogenes.