Program Leaders

CRS is proud to present the 2023-2024 Program Leadership

smSimon Matoori
Director of Focus Groups 

Simon Matoori is an assistant professor at the Faculty of Pharmacy at Université de Montréal (Canada). His research interests are in formulation science and biomedical engineering with an emphasis on drug delivery and diagnostics.

 

JdNJosé das Neves
Director of Scientific Communications

José das Neves is an assistant researcher at i3S - Institute for Research and Innovation of the University of Porto, and invited assistant professor at IUCS - University Institute of Health Sciences, in Portugal. He completed his undergraduate studies in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2003) and obtained an MSc in Pharmaceutical Technology (2007) and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences (2013) at the University of Porto. José also worked as a hospital pharmacist between 2004 and 2009 before engaging in a full-time research career. His graduate studies were conducted under the supervision of Prof. Maria Fernanda Bahia and focused on vaginal drug delivery, particularly regarding the application of nanotechnology-based vaginal microbicides for preventing sexual HIV transmission. During this period, José was able to work abroad as a visiting researcher at Northeastern University (2009-2010) and at the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Belgium (2010) under the guidance of Prof. Mansoor Amiji and Prof. Guido Vanham, respectively. He then joined Prof. Bruno Sarmento’s group at INEB - Institute of Biomedical Engineering of the University of Porto as a post-doctoral/junior researcher between 2014 and 2019.

José and his team are currently focused on the development of drug delivery strategies for the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections and lower female genital tract diseases. For instance, they recently proposed different multiplatform delivery systems for vaginal and rectal drug delivery, and contributed for the understanding of the interactions between nanomaterials and the mucosal environment. He is the author of 76 peer-reviewed articles, 13 book chapters and 80 presentations at scientific meetings. He is the co-Editor of 4 scientific books and editorial board member of Pharmaceutics, Nanomaterials, Frontiers in Pharmacology, PLOS ONE, Drug Delivery Letters and 4Open.

José is an active member of the Controlled Release Society for several years. He previously served as board member of the Nanomedicine and Nanoscale Drug Delivery Focus Group (2018-2020), and as a member of the AMPC for CRS2020 and CRS2021. José has also been recently appointed CRS Director of Scientific Communications.

RS Ruth Schmid
Director of ED&I 

 Ruth is a retired, former Vice President of Marketing at SINTEF Industry in Trondheim, Norway with special responsibility for the area of medical technology, including nanomedicine. Her research activities included the preparation and characterisation of micro- and nanoparticles by various technologies and from a wide variety of materials, including biodegradable polymers and hybrid materials, as well as the surface modification of polymers and polymer particles by wet-chemistry, to introduce tailor-made properties. She had a special focus on applied research and product orientated solutions. Fields of special interest were the emerging fields of nanomedicine, targeted drug delivery and release, nanotechnology-based diagnostics, and regenerative medicine, with a special focus on applications based on particle technology and surface modification. Application of encapsulation technologies and controlled release in various industrial segments, e.g. medicine, animal health, cosmetics, household and body care products, food and beverages, agriculture, etc. were another field of interest.

Ruth Schmid is a Swiss citizen living in Norway since 1979. She gained her Diploma (1975) and PhD (1979) in Natural Sciences at ETH Zürich, Switzerland. She is a member of ACS, CRS, and the European Technology Platform on Nanomedicine (Chair 2019-2021). She has been a member of CRS since 1998 and has had many different volunteer positions. She was on the Board of Directors from 2009-2018, both as Member-at-Large, Secretary, Treasurer and President (2016-2017). She served as Chair of the Women in Science Committee from 2019-2021 and is newly appointed Director of ED&I. She is married and has three adult children ages 31-40.