Joel Morganroth, who had served as interim president and chief executive, said Litwin, an internal candidate, was the most qualified person to lead ERT.
Litwin joined ERT in 2000 as senior vice president and chief medical officer and was subsequently promoted in December 2005 to executive vice president and chief medical officer.
Litwin oversaw ERT’s global cardiac safety operations for seven years and was instrumental in implementing the firm's digital operating system, called EXPERT. For the last four years, he has been leading ERT's consultancy business, assisting more than150 companies with the design and evaluation of cardiac safety testing programmes.
Litwin commented: ‘It has been a great pleasure working with the employees, management team and board at ERT for the past 11 years. This experience should allow for a seamless transition from Dr Morganroth's service as our interim president and chief executive.’
The board of ERT also elected Elam Hitchner to succeed Dr Morganroth as chairman.