Thomas J. Colatsky, PhD ’77

Thomas J. Colatsky, PhD ’77, is a national leader in biomedical innovation and regulatory science. After receiving his doctorate in physiology at UB, he served a postdoctoral fellowship at Yale University School of Medicine. He then joined the faculty of Cornell Medical College, where he conducted research on the electrophysiology of the heart.

In 1982, Colatsky joined Wyeth Research (now Pfizer) as head of its cardiac arrhythmia drug discovery unit. Over the course of a 17-year career at Wyeth, he rose to become vice president of the Division of Cardiovascular and Metabolic Diseases and later, vice president for scientific evaluation, clinical research and development.

In 1999, Colatsky left Wyeth to become executive vice president and chief scientific officer (CSO) for Physiome Sciences, a start-up company developing computer models of the heart and other biological systems for use as tools in drug development. After overseeing the successful launch of the company, he became senior vice president and chief scientific officer at Icoria, a company focused on biomarker discovery, target validation and predictive toxicology.

 From 2009 to 2016, Colatsky held numerous leadership positions at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, where he directed research aimed at improving drug development and the regulatory review process.

Colatsky, who was elected an AAAS Fellow in Pharmaceutical Sciences, currently serves as founder and principal consultant for Marshview Life Science Advisors LLC, helping small companies develop new drugs and medical technologies.d leo.