Distinguished Alumni 2007: Alton D. Johnson

Alton D. Johnson

Dr. Alton Johnson was born and raised on a farm in North Carolina. He was interested in science from an early age. He attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received his BS in Pharmacy in 1982. He was named to the Dean's List each semester, served as class president, and received numerous honors including the Pharmacy Student Body Award, and the Buxton Williams Hunter Award for Excellence in Medicinal Chemistry. He developed his interest in the pharmaceutical industry after being awarded a summer internship at Burroughs Wellcome by the American Pharmaceutical Association. Upon graduation from pharmacy school, he enrolled as a graduate student in the School of Pharmacy at Purdue and studied with Professor Garnet E. Peck. He completed his doctoral studies in February 1987.

After completing his studies at Purdue University, Dr. Johnson began his career with Pfizer Inc in Pharmaceutical Research & Development in Groton, Connecticut, where he gained technical and leadership experience in New Technology, Formulation Development, Regulatory Submissions, Technology Transfer and Clinical Supplies.

In 1995, Alton joined Pfizer's Manufacturing division, as Director, Product & Process Development (PPD) in Brooklyn, New York. His group was responsible for development, clinical supplies, scale-up, pre-approval inspection, and/or launch of new products including Aricept™, Cardura XL™, Glucotrol XL™, Zithromax™, Geodon/Zeldox™, Viagra™, Zoloft™, Relpax™, Vfend™ Tablets and others. In 2001, he moved to Pfizer Inc's New York Headquarters as Senior Director/Team Leader of Global PPD. This role included technical support for new products, marketed products and new processing technologies with locations in New York, New Jersey, Sweden and Germany. He was named Vice President in March 2006. In March 2007, Dr. Johnson became Vice President, Marketed Product Support Group, with responsibility for API, Drug Product and Equipment Technology support groups.

Dr. Johnson currently serves as Chair, PhRMA Drug Product Technical Group and is a member of the Technical Leadership Committee where he assumes an officer role in 2008. He also serves as Chair of the Steering Committee for the Engineering Research Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems funded by the National Science Foundation, Academia and Industry. He has presented at numerous scientific forums on topics ranging from advanced pharmaceutical processing, validation, pre-approval inspections, and quality by design. Dr. Johnson resides in New York City.