Biography

Stephanie Ford-Scheimer, Ph.D., M.P.H., serves as a program manager in the Early Translation Branch within NCATS’ Division of Preclinical Innovation, where she works on the Helping to End Addiction Long-term^SM Initiative, or NIH HEAL Initiative^SM. In this role, she helps facilitate the evaluation and management of collaborative partnerships with academic research laboratories and biotechnology companies to accelerate the discovery and development of new treatments for pain, addiction and opioid overdose.

Prior to joining NCATS, Ford-Scheimer had been a biomedical scientist at Leidos for 12 years. During that time, she supported the All of Us Research Program as part of the operations team, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases as a regulatory scientist, and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute as a patient-stakeholder review officer/scientific review officer. She also was a program/technical coordinator for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs.

Ford-Scheimer received her doctorate in public health, with an emphasis in epidemiology, from Walden University. Her research focused on evaluating the relationship between quality of life (QOL) and specific neuroendocrine tumor (NET) biomarkers, as well as the relationship between QOL and primary tumor site in patients with NETs. While earning her Master of Public Health degree at Eastern Virginia Medical School, she conducted clinical research in diabetic neuropathy (DN), helped develop the Norfolk QOL-NET instrument, and validated the Norfolk QOL-DN tool at the Strelitz Diabetes Center.

Research Topics

Ford-Scheimer manages collaborative research projects with academic, NIH and industry partners that apply breakthrough translational approaches to advance new treatments for the opioid crisis.