Eric Toone received his doctoral degree in Chemistry from the University of Toronto in 1988 and completed post-doctoral studies at Harvard University. He began his independent career at Duke in 1990, and retired in 2017 as Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry.

Dr. Toone has authored nearly 300 original papers, reviews, book chapters, and abstracts on physical organic and biophysical chemistry. Listed as an inventor on more than 30 patents in a range of biomedical fields, he is also a scientific founder of three research-based pharmaceutical companies including Aerie Pharmaceuticals, a publicly-traded ophthalmology (glaucoma) company.

From 2009 to 2012, Dr. Toone served as Program Director and Deputy Director for Technology to the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy (ARPA-E).