BASEL, Switzerland — Novartis has appointed John Tsai as the company’s head of global drug development (GDD) and chief medical officer and will begin his new role on May 1. Tsai will report to Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan and will become a member of the company’s executive committee. Tsai succeeds Narasimhan who became CEO of Novartis on February 1, 2018. Rob Kowalski, who led GDD ad interim since February 1, 2018, will resume his responsibilities as head of global regulatory affairs for GDD.

Tsai has been chief medical officer and senior vice president of global medical at Amgen Inc., since May 2017 and oversees all clinical and medical functions across multiple sites worldwide. At Novartis, he will be responsible for advancing the company’s industry-leading pipeline of innovative medicines and biosimilars. Tsai will also lead the GDD organization’s ongoing transformation embracing the power of advanced data sciences and digital technologies to create a more agile model for drug development.

“I am delighted to welcome John to Novartis,” said Narasimhan. “As we continue to reimagine drug development, his expertise across multiple therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular, oncology and neuroscience combined with his background in electrical engineering will be a source of great strength for Novartis. John has a great track record in nurturing talent across clinical development, medical affairs and development operations and shares our commitment to build an empowered and inspired organization. I also want to express my sincere gratitude to Rob Kowalski for his excellent ad interim leadership of the GDD organization.”

Tsai holds a medical degree from the University of Louisville School of Medicine and a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Washington University in St. Louis. He completed his residency at Kaiser Permanente in San Francisco, California, where he then served as a physician in internal medicine, chief resident and as a member of the hospital’s faculty.