James Shannon took over as GSK’s chief medical officer on 1 May, reporting to r&d chairman Moncef Slaoui. He will be based in London and will be accountable for medical governance and patient safety for all of GSK: pharmaceuticals, consumer healthcare, vaccines and the global businesses.
The CMO is the most senior physician in the company with primary responsibility for matters of patient safety, general medical governance, medical ethics and integrity, medical information and investigations involving human subjects relating to any GSK product (pharmaceutical, biological and consumer healthcare medicinal products) in development and on the market.
Shannon, who is trained in cardiology, has more than 20 years’ experience at senior levels of the pharmaceutical industry.
Most recently, he was global head of drug development for Novartis Pharma and since leaving the firm in 2008 he has served on the boards of a number of companies. He received his undergraduate and post-graduate degrees at Queen’s University of Belfast and is a member of the Royal College of Physicians (UK).
