Mr. McCourt is the CEO and a member of the board of directors of Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, where he has worked since 2009. He has spent his dynamic career working at some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies, including Merck, Amgen Inc., Novartis AG and Astra Merck, Inc., and he has contributed to some of the biggest breakthroughs in the GI industry. Mr. McCourt played significant roles in educating the medical community about the FDA’s decision to remove the black box warning on Prilosec, establishing the definition for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), enabling the first evidence-based guideline for the treatment of GERD, bringing Nexium to the market as the fourth proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) and still capturing the majority market share and changing how doctors talk to patients about irritable bowel syndrome using the “ABCs” (abdominal pain, bloating and constipation) of IBS. It is also worth noting that Mr. McCourt launched Linzess, which became a blockbuster product for Ironwood in 2021.
Mr. McCourt also serves on the Board of Directors of Pliant Therapeutics, Inc., and he has been a member of the ASGE Foundation’s Board of Trustees, where he cultivated collaborative efforts between industry and GI professional societies for more than 30 years. In 2022, Mr. McCourt was honored with ASGE’s President’s Award for his efforts to improve GI patient outcomes and care. He also received the PM360 Uber ELITE Award in 2023, and he has served on the board of directors of Acceleron Pharma Inc. Mr. McCourt has a degree in pharmacy from the University of Wisconsin, where he received the School of Pharmacy’s Citation of Merit. He has been featured in numerous publications, sharing his insights, experience and vision for GI advancement.