Michael Blank., PhD, is currently the President of Drug Development Solutions LLC, a pharmaceutical research and development consultancy where he provides advice on the management of drug development projects having 30 years of global experience in both small and large molecule projects in various therapeutic areas including immunology, oncology, CNS/pain, and women’s health. His consultancy also includes team leadership, business process improvement, alliance management, licensing assessments, and expert testimony.

Since 2005, Dr. Blank has taught two courses related to the pharmaceutical industry in the Thomas Jefferson University College of Life Sciences.

Dr. Blank obtained his PhD in Physiology at Jefferson in 1976, followed by a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Manitoba Faculty of Medicine where he studied neuroendocrinology. He then joined the Yerkes Primate Center and the faculty of Emory University School of Medicine in 1978, followed by stints at the NIH and Hazleton Biotechnologies Company.

In 1988, Dr. Blank joined Johnson & Johnson (J&J) as a Director in the Drug Metabolism department of the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute, and in 2001, he moved to another J&J company, Centocor, where he was a Senior Director and led the development team that launched STELARA, a global biologic approved for plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, Crohn's Disease, and ulcerative colitis. STELARA is currently Johnson & Johnson's leading pharmaceutical product.