Vanda Pharmaceuticals Inc (Nasdaq: VNDA), a global biopharmaceutical company, has named Stephen Ray Mitchell, MD as its new director, it was reported on Wednesday.

Presently, Dr Mitchell serves as the Joseph Butenas professor and dean for Medical Education at Georgetown University School of Medicine, a position he has held since August 2002. Prior to that, Dr Mitchell served as associate dean for Clinical Curriculum at Georgetown University School of Medicine from 1998 to 2000 and as senior associate dean for Academic Affairs from 2000 until 2002. Earlier, Dr Mitchell served as program director for Internal Medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine from 1992 until 1997, and as founding program director Med-Peds at Georgetown from 1995 until 1999. He served as a member of the Liaison Committee for Medical Education, the national accrediting body for Medical Schools in the United States and Canada, between 2013 and 2019.

Since 2018, he has held the role of chair of the LCME, where he chaired the Standards subcommittee, and now serves as a member of the Governing Council of that body. Dr Mitchell is a veteran of the United States Air Force, and has served as author and invited external reviewer on Studies by the Institute of Medicine on Chronic Multi-symptoms illness in Gulf War veterans. He has been inducted into the Magis Society at Georgetown, the Hall of Fame for Teachers, after 20 years on faculty. In 2011, the University of North Carolina School of Medicine awarded Dr. Mitchell the Distinguished Alumni Award. In 2019, he was inducted as fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London.

H Thomas Watkins, chairman of the Vanda Pharmaceuticals board of directors, said, 'Ray is a gifted medical leader and will bring critical scientific insights to the Board, which will be beneficial as we work towards the commercialisation of new therapies. We are looking forward to leveraging his notable background to achieve our business objectives.'