Maria Urso, Ph.D.

Bio:

Maria Urso, PhD is a Medical Affairs executive with over two decades of experience building the scientific infrastructure that moves products from evidence to adoption. She currently leads Clinical Affairs at Isto Biologics, where she is developing clinical strategy and study programs for a novel spine biologics platform.

Before Isto, she served as Director of Medical Communications at Exact Sciences (Abbott Cancer Diagnostics), leading omnichannel scientific education across its cancer screening portfolio. She built and managed high-performing teams responsible for advisory boards, congress strategy, and developing medical educational content. Her work has reached over one million healthcare providers throughout her career.

Her career started in uniform. Maria served as an Active-Duty Major in the U.S. Army and as a principal investigator at USARIEM, studying pharmacological approaches to skeletal muscle recovery after traumatic injury. That foundation in rigorous research design shapes how she approaches every role. Her work generated more than 30 peer-reviewed publications.

She speaks regularly at forums including MAPS and Fierce Pharma, and is looking forward to participating again this year.