Ardelyx Inc. (NASDAQ: ARDX) appointed Rajani Dinavahi as chief medical officer, the biopharmaceutical company announced.

Dinavahi brings over 20 years of experience in healthcare and biotechnology across therapeutic areas including immuno-oncology, autoimmune diseases, metabolic disease, nephrology and transplantation. She has experience advancing programs from early development through Phase 3 and regulatory approval.

Dinavahi most recently served as senior vice president and chief medical officer at Atara Biotherapeutics, where she led pre-clinical and translational sciences through global development and medical affairs of the company's T-cell directed therapy asset and allo-CART program. She previously held senior leadership positions at Atara and spent seven years at Amgen, contributing to multiple global development programs and regulatory filings for products approved in the United States, Europe and Japan.

"I am delighted to welcome Rajani as our new Chief Medical Officer," said Mike Raab, president and chief executive officer of Ardelyx. "As we enter an important phase of growth and execution, Rajani's experience and vision will be instrumental in strengthening our pipeline, deepening our medical capabilities, and ensuring we continue to deliver meaningful outcomes for patients."

Dinavahi began her career in academic medicine as an assistant professor of medicine at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She is board-certified in internal medicine and nephrology and is a fellow of the American Society of Nephrology. She earned a bachelor of science and doctor of medicine from the University of Miami and completed her internal medicine residency and nephrology fellowship training at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital.

Ardelyx develops and commercializes medicines for unmet medical needs. The company has two commercial products approved in the United States: IBSRELA and XPHOZAH, both containing tenapanor.