Primary Job Title Co-Founder & Advisor Primary Organization 
Tansna Therapeutics
Gender Male
Dr. Baker serves as Associate Professor (with tenure 1994-present) in the Department of Anesthesia at the University of Iowa College of Medicine. He is the inventor of Tansna’s technology. His research interests involve the metabolism, synthesis, and stabilities of drug compounds having anesthetic/sedative effects. His expertise centers on the
application of fluorine substituents on drug molecules where such substituents have known advantages for the central nervous system (CNS). This has included work on the fluorinated anesthetic sevoflurane and the synthesis of fluorinated ether compounds.
Currently, he is applying his efforts to the creation of novel CNS drugs with improved anticonvulsant activity. Dr. Baker has consulted for AstraZeneca and American Biosciences and has prior experience with start-up formation. He previously served as Assistant Professor (1989-1994) and Associate Research Scientist (1984-1989) within the University of Iowa Department of Anesthesia. From 1983-1984 he was a Research Associate, and from 1980-1983 he served as a post-doctoral associate in the Department of Anesthesiology at the Mayo College of Medicine. He obtained his M.S. (1978) and Ph.D. (1980) in Pharmacology from the University of Georgia, Athens, and his B.S. in Biology (1975) from Georgia College in Milledgeville, GA.
