West Wireless hires J&J veteran as CMO

The leadership team at the West Wireless Health Institute is quickly shaping up. Last month, the organization hired its first CEO, Donald Casey. Monday, the La Jolla, Calif.-based not-for-profit named Dr. Joseph Smith its chief medical and science officer.

Like Casey, Smith comes from Johnson & Johnson, where he was vice president for emerging technologies in the pharma giant's Corporate Office of Science and Technology. At West Wireless, Smith will lead medical research and other clinical activities and help design and implement a strategy for global collaboration across the domains of medicine, engineering, technology and business. He also will work closely with WWHI Vice-Chairman and Chief Innovation Officer Dr. Eric J. Topol to help identify research opportunities.

Smith, a cardiologist, holds a master's degree in electrical engineering and a Ph.D. in medical engineering and medical physics, the institute says.

"Joe is known and respected throughout medicine and industry for his ability to identify and help commercialize innovative healthcare technologies, and we are fortunate to add his unparalleled talents to the West Wireless Health Institute leadership," Casey said in a press release. "Joe's blend of talents and vision will help establish WWHI as the preeminent medical research organization in the world focused on wireless health."

For more:
- read this WWHI press release