Samit Hirawat, M.D., joined Abingworth in June 2026 as Medical Advisor bringing extensive experience, in particular in drug development, to the team. Most recently Samit served as the Chief Medical Officer and Head of Global Drug Development at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he oversaw early and late-stage product development across all therapeutic areas, from first-in-human clinical trials to approval for commercialization. Samit's experience in a range of roles in drug development includes clinical trial designs, oversight of operational execution, regulatory submissions and approvals worldwide. Over the more than 6 years at Bristol Myers Squibb, he oversaw approval of 13 New Molecular Entities across modalities and therapeutic areas in Hematology/Oncology, Cardiovascular medicines, Immunology, and Neuroscience. He provided leadership contributions to five major acquisitions and multiple collaborations and partnerships for the company.
Prior to his time at BMS, Samit held senior executive roles and led clinical development programs in multiple indications at Novartis, where he was EVP and Head of Oncology Development, as well as at PTC Therapeutics and Pfizer.
Samit earned his Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) at Sawai Man Singh Medical College in India and completed his internal medicine residency and medical oncology training at North Shore University Hospital in New York. He serves as an independent director on the boards of Pacira Biosciences (NYSE: PCRX), K-2 Therapeutics, LLC, and Abingworth portfolio company Cytospire Therapeutics.
