Galmed Pharmaceuticals Ltd., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of a once-daily, oral therapy for the treatment of liver diseases, has named Prof. Ran Oren, head of the Hadassah Medical Organization’s Institute of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease, as its new Chief Medical Officer.

Having received his medical degree from the Hadassah-Hebrew University School of Medicine, as well as residency training in internal medicine, gastroenterology, and liver pathology at Hadassah, Prof. Oren also completed a fellowship in New York City, combining research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and advanced clinical fellowship at the Liver Division of Mount Sinai Medical Center. In 2000, Dr. Oren established the Liver Unit at the Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, where he also served as Chief of Medicine from 2008 to 2010. Dr. Oren concurrently served as the President of the Israeli Association for the Study of the Liver between 2007 and 2010.  In 2010, he became head of Hadassah’s Institute of Gastroenterology and Liver Disease.

A scientific collaborator of the late Prof. Tuvia Gilat, Co-founder of Galmed, Prof. Oren has served as a member of Galmed’s Scientific Advisory Board since 2014. Prof. Oren was the principal investigator of Aramchol’s Phase IIa study, reports Allen Baharaff, Galmed’s President and Chief Executive Officer, “and we are privileged that he has agreed to join Galmed and lead the clinical development of Aramchol.”

Prof. Oren notes: “I am honored to continue the life work of Prof. Gilat, who was my mentor and friend for many years. I have been scientifically and clinically involved in the field of NAFLD (non-alcoholic fatty liver disease) since the early 2000’s. I view this position at Galmed as an exciting opportunity for me to contribute to a company that I have been following from concept to this exciting phase of advanced clinical studies, and I look forward to working with the Galmed team.”