Michael Cola
Michael Cola has served as a Director of Vanda since June 2012. Mr. Cola served as President of Shire plc's Specialty Pharmaceuticals business from 2007 until April 2012. Mr. Cola joined Shire in July 2005 as Executive Vice President for Global Therapeutic Business Units and Portfolio Management prior to being named President of the Specialty Pharmaceuticals business. Prior to joining Shire, Mr. Cola spent more than five years at Safeguard Scientifics, where he served as President of the Life Sciences Group. As part of his role with Safeguard Scientifics, Cola served as Chairman and CEO of Clarient, a cancer diagnostics company, and Chairman of Laureate Pharma, a full service contract manufacturing organization serving research based biologics companies. Prior to joining Safeguard Scientifics, Mr. Cola held progressively senior positions in product development and commercialization at AstraMerck, a top 20 U.S. pharmaceutical company, and later with AstraZeneca. Mr. Cola currently serves on the Board of Directors of NuPathe Pharmaceuticals, is a member of the Board of Trustees of Ursinus College, and a member of the Board of Directors of Pennsylvania Bio, the statewide association representing the biosciences community.
Mr. Cola received his Bachelor of Arts degree in biology and physics from Ursinus College and his Master of Science degree in biomedical science from Drexel University.