MEI Pharma announced that David M. Urso, J.D., the company's senior vice president of corporate development and general counsel, was promoted to chief operating officer. Urso will also continue as the company's general counsel and head of corporate development.
"David is one of the driving forces behind our company's advancement, having played a central role in multiple areas including business development and strategy formulation for our growing pipeline," said Daniel P. Gold, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of MEI Pharma. "His promotion to chief operating officer is reflective of his leadership across a wide range of our programs and operations. We look forward to continuing to leverage David's knowledge, expertise and leadership as we advance our four clinical candidates towards commercialization."
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Urso joined MEI Pharma in March 2014 and has over 20 years of experience in the life science industry. Prior to joining MEI he was most recently chief operating officer and general counsel at Tioga Pharmaceuticals, a privately held drug development company he co-founded in 2005. Previously, he was a principal at Forward Ventures, where he was responsible for identifying and developing life science venture capital investments. Before joining Forward Ventures in 2002, Urso was director of corporate development and legal affairs at DNA Sciences. Previously, he worked as an attorney in the corporate securities and licensing groups at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati LLP and Cooley Godward, after beginning his career as a bench scientist at SmithKline Beecham and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School. Urso received a J.D. from Harvard Law School. He also holds a bachelor's degree in Molecular Biology and Philosophy from Reed College.