Michael A. Luther, Ph.D., has been appointed senior vice president of Discovery at AMRI, effective October 28, 2013. Dr. Luther will report to Thomas E. D’Ambra, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer. Dr. Luther succeeds Bruce J. Sargent, Ph.D., who will retire at the end of the year.
 
Dr. Luther will lead the company’s global discovery organization, which provides biology and chemistry services to the biopharmaceutical industry, with locations in the U.S., Singapore and Hyderabad, India. Dr. Luther will also oversee AMRI’s expansion into Western New York in the Buffalo Medical Innovation and Commercialization Hub at Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.
 
Dr. Luther most recently served as corporate vice president of Global Discovery Research Services at Charles River Laboratories, where he managed the discovery business unit, including developing and implementing strategic and operating plans. Prior to Charles River, he was president and a member of the board of directors of the David H. Murdock Research Institute in Kannapolis, NC, where he led and directed R&D activities from discovery to proof of principle and early product development. He also held roles as vice president and site head at Merck Frosst in Montreal, and vice president, High Throughput Biology at GlaxoSmithKline.
 
“We are pleased and excited Dr. Luther is joining AMRI’s leadership team as we continue to execute our growth strategy and move forward providing high quality services to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries,” said Dr. D’Ambra. “Mike’s strong biology background and accomplishment, as well as his experience in both large pharma and the CRO world bring to his role the experience and network to strengthen AMRI’s position as a leading discovery partner to the industry. I am confident that Dr. Luther is the right person to lead AMRI’s strong global discovery brand to the next level as we expand the breadth and depth of our biology capabilities in line with movement by our customers seeking greater and more integrated offerings by service providers.”