digiM Welcomes Dr. Ron Smith as an Executive Advisor

digiM, a leading technology provider that supports drug product development with end-to-end microstructure CRO and software solutions, welcomes Ronald L. Smith, PhD, a distinguished industry leader in pharmaceutical sciences and product development, as an Executive Advisor.

Dr. Smith, currently Principal of Pharmawyze LLC, brings decades of experience in senior scientific and management positions in drug product strategy and design, formulation development and drug delivery where he has contributed to the successful development and approval of nine marketed products across small molecules and biologics.  

Most recently he was Scientific Associate VP of Pharmaceutical Sciences at Merck Research Laboratories leading patient-centric new product innovation.  He joined Merck as Executive Director of Pharmaceutical Research and subsequently became Head of Product Value Enhancement (LCM) translating new product concepts into differentiated medicines. Previously, Dr. Smith led Exploratory Biopharmaceutics & Drug Delivery at Bristol-Myers Squibb advancing enabling technologies in drug solubilization and non-invasive macromolecule delivery.   He began his career with the Procter & Gamble Company in technology and product development of transdermal and alternate route drug delivery.

“It gives us absolutely the greatest honor to have Ron joining the digiM team,” commended Dr. Shawn Zhang, CEO and Founder of digiM. “Ron visionarily quarterbacked some of digiM’s earliest success when the pharmaceutical industry just started to appreciate the critical role of microstructures. With the rapid adoption by the industry and maturing regulatory environment, Ron’s participation in digiM’s microstructure digital transformation, institutionalization, and democratization is vital to ensure timely, biorelevant, and regulatory ready delivery of digiM projects and tools to advance difficult drug development missions.”

Dr. Smith commented, “digiM has been a pioneer in creating and applying advanced imaging technology solutions for microstructure analysis of complex pharmaceutical products and formulations. Such microstructural insight together with product performance measurements and predictive simulations offers unparalleled insight to the formulation and process design space that underpins critical quality attributes of the product. I look forward to contributing to digiM’s strategy and its exciting prospects for future growth and industry impact.”

Dr. Smith is an elected Fellow of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists and the Controlled Release Society.  He has served as Chair of the Pharmaceutics & Drug Delivery Section of AAPS, Chair of the CRS Board of Scientific Advisors and CRS Board of Directors.  He is the author/co-author of more than 100 scientific publications/presentations and an inventor on 12 patents.  Educated as a chemist, he received a BS from West Chester University and PhD from the University of Iowa and has held Adjunct faculty appointments at West Virginia University and the University of Cincinnati.