Calithera Biosciences, Inc. announced the appointment of Dr. Keith Orford, M.D. Ph.D., as Vice President of Clinical Development. He joins the company following a distinguished career in oncology pharmaceuticals development, including senior clinical roles with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and Merck. At Calithera, Dr. Orford will be responsible for clinical development of CB-839, its lead oral product candidate in tumor metabolism, as well as subsequent clinical development programs. Dr. Orford joins Calithera from GSK where he was the Clinical Development Lead in the Immuno-Oncology and Combinations Development Performance Unit, overseeing the clinical activities on multiple early stage clinical trials with targeted agents and novel immune-based therapies.

Prior to GSK, Dr. Orford was at Merck, where he worked on early clinical development programs across oncology and other therapeutic areas. He completed his clinical training in Internal Medicine and postdoctoral work at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS), studying the epigenetic regulation of hematopoietic and embryonic stem cell differentiation, becoming a Research Fellow and then an Instructor at MGH/HMS.