Samumed Taps Pfizer’s Michael White as Its Chief Scientific Officer

Samumed added Michael White to its leadership team as its chief scientific officer. He was most recently CSO for tumor cell biology at the Pfizer (NYSE: [[ticker:PFE]]) oncology R&D group.

White’s prior experience includes more than 20 years at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, where his roles included professor of cell biology, associate director of basic science for the Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center, and inaugural director of the Cancer Intervention and Prevention Discovery training program.

Samumed is developing therapies that target Wnt signaling pathways to treat a wide range of indications, including oncology, osteoarthritis, and Alzheimer’s disease. The La Jolla, CA-based company’s lead drug candidate, an investigational therapy for osteoarthritis of the knee, is in Phase 3 testing.

Author: Sarah de Crescenzo

Sarah is Xconomy's San Diego-based editor. Prior to joining the team in 2018, she wrote about startups, tech and finance at the San Diego Business Journal. Her decade of full-time news experience includes coverage of subjects including campaign finance, crime and courts as a reporter and editor at outlets throughout California, including the Orange County Register. She earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature at UC San Diego, where she wrote for the student newspaper and played collegiate lacrosse. In 2019, she earned an MBA at UC Irvine.