Barry A. Schlech, Ph.D.

 Former VP R&D Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Alcon Laboratories, Inc.

 

•  EDUCATION:

• Dr. Schlech is a pharmaceutical microbiologist and graduate of the University of Texas at Austin where he received his B.A. degree in zoology, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in microbiology. In 1989, Dr. Schlech completed the Program for Management Development at the Harvard Business School.

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• PHARMACEUTICAL MICROBIOLOGY:

• Dr. Schlech joined Alcon Laboratories in 1970 and retired in 2009 after 39 years of service to Research & Development. Alcon is based in Fort Worth, Texas and is the premier manufacturer of products for vi­sion care with annual sales exceeding $6 billion. At Alcon, Dr. Schlech became VP in 1993 and subsequently directed the R&D departments of microbiology, package and process development, technical documentation, pharmaceutics/formulations, and analytical chemistry.

• His specialties include antimicrobial agents, ophthalmic infections, sterilization, and pharmaceutical microbiology. Dr. Schlech was Alcon’s chief R&D microbiologist and directed the anti-infective research programs and authored hundreds of new drug applications (INDs, IDEs, NDAs, and PMAs).

• He has been responsible for departments exceeding 100 employees and over $15 million in budgets. He was project leader for the development, approval and post marketing of the new topical antibiotic, VIGAMOX® in the U.S., Japan & Europe.  VIGAMOX® continues to be a leading ocular fluoroquinolone antibiotic product. 

• For 3 decades, he was responsible for the selection and introduc­tion of Alcon’s important new antimicrobial products such as the tobramycin, ciprofloxacin and moxifloxacin series of anti-infective products [TOBREX®, TOBRADEX®, CILOXAN®, CIPRODEX®, and VIGAMOX®] and contact lens disinfectants [the OPTI-FREE® franchise]. All these products became #1 in their markets. 

• Dr. Schlech is well known for instituting better control systems and standards for the R&D departments under his care.  He has authored innumerable scientific and managerial documents scrutinized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and international regulatory agencies.

• He has traveled widely and has been a member of the American Society for Microbiology since 1968 serving as the Treasurer for the National Annual Meeting in Dallas, Texas in 1991. He was a long time member of Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group [OMIG] and the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology [ARVO].

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• HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL:

• Dr. Schlech was the President of the Harvard Business School Club of Fort Worth in 2009-2010

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• CONSERVATIVE ACTIVISM:

• Since 2009, Dr. Schlech has been an officer, webmaster or board director of several tea parties [Burleson Tea Party, Texas Patriots Tea Party] in Johnson County, Texas and is currently an advisor to the We, The People of Texas PAC.

• He is a Sentinel for Heritage Action for America and a member of 912 Project Fort Worth, the Hood County Tea Party, the NE Tarrant Tea Party, and the Parker County Conservatives. He is also a life member of the NRA and the Chisholm Trail 100 Club.

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• Dr. Schlech was married for 35 years and has 5 grown children and 19 grandchildren.

  

Education:

1970    Ph.D.        The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

                              Microbiology [Microbial Physiology]

1968    M.A.          The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas

                              Microbiology/Chemistry

1965    B.A.          The University of Texas, Austin, Texas

                              Zoology/Premedical/Mathematics

1989    PMD58     Harvard Business School, Boston, Massachusetts

                              Program for Management Development (Fall 1989)

 

Publications: A myriad of presentations and publications on bacterial, fungal and protozoal infections of the eye, microbiological models for evaluating antimicrobial agents and disinfectants, sterilization validations, etc. [References available on request]