Passley Hargrove-Grimes, PhD profile page

Passley Hargrove-Grimes, a program officer in NCATS' Office of Special Initiatives, leads the NIH-wide Tissue Chip for Drug Screening program. As a liaison between investigators, NIH staff, and external stakeholders, she manages over 20 teams in initiatives like Tissue Chips for Disease Modeling and Efficacy Testing. Guided by Dr. Danilo A. Tagle, her work translates NIH-funded research into transformative tissue-chip technology, addressing challenges in drug development. Joining NIH in 2012 through The George Washington University Partnership Program, Passley conducted research at NEI, focusing on mouse models for retinal degenerative diseases. Her research highlighted the role of endocytic and autophagic pathways in photoreceptor development. After earning her doctorate in molecular medicine from The George Washington University in 2018, she continued studying retinal degenerative diseases during her postdoctoral research fellowship at NEI. Inspired by former NCATS Director Christopher P. Austin's emphasis on translating scientific discoveries, Passley dedicated her career to supporting translational science. From 2019 to 2021, she worked as a scientific program manager for the NIH Tissue Chip Program, following a role as a scientific project leader at Champions Oncology, managing preclinical drug development studies in patient-derived xenograft mouse models.