Terns Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the appointment of Scott Harris as chief development officer (CDO) effective May 28, 2024 and the upcoming departure of Erin Quirk, M.D., president, head of research and development. Dr. Quirk will be transitioning her responsibilities and leaving the company to pursue other opportunities effective June 3, 2024. Mr. Harris will report to the CEO and oversee clinical operations, regulatory affairs, chemistry manufacturing and controls, quality assurance and project management.

Emil Kuriakose, M.D., chief medical officer, and Jeffrey Jasper, Ph.D., senior vice president and head of research, will now also report to the CEO. Scott Harris has more than 25 years of broad cross-functional experience across a range of therapeutics areas and modalities, including directing all aspects of drug development from pre-clinical to post-marketing activities. Most recently, Mr. Harris was chief operating officer of Cleave Therapeutics, a clinical stage hematology oncology company, where he oversaw all research and development activities including the clinical advancement of its investigational therapy for the treatment of acute myeloid leukemia.

His biopharmaceutical career has included positions of increasing responsibility at companies such as BridgeBio, Corthera, Inc., BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Angstrom Pharmaceutical, Attenuon, LLC and Adynxx, Inc. Mr. Harris started his career as a bench scientist at Biosite Inc. He earned an M.S. in Regulatory Affairs from San Diego State University (SDSU) and a B.S. in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from University of California San Diego (UCSD). He also holds an academic appointment at SDSU where he teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in healthcare product regulation.