Arda Ural, PhD, MBA, MSc
Chief Operating Officer
Health Management Associates
New York, NY
Arda Ural has over 30 years of operational leadership experience in life sciences, spanning the professional services, pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical technology sectors. He is an expert at corporate strategy, specializing in commercialization, product development, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and technology-driven transformation on a global scale. He has consistently demonstrated growth by driving go-to-market strategies, while leveraging emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) for value creation.
Before joining Health Management Associates, Arda was the Americas Life Sciences leader at Ernst & Young (EY), overseeing strategy, consulting, M&A, technology, tax, and assurance activities – driving revenue to pass $2 billion. Prior to his work with EY, Arda served as Accenture’s managing director of the life sciences M&A practice. He previously served as Becton Dickinson’s vice president of strategic marketing, leading the Fortune 500 medtech organization’s business unit. At Eyetech Pharmaceuticals he served as senior vice president of marketing and sales, building commercial capabilities for the biotechnology company through its initial public offering which led to its acquisition.
Arda started his career with Pfizer in Istanbul, Turkey and subsequently relocated to its New York Headquarters where he held leadership roles in commercialization and new product development. He spent a decade with Pfizer, leading the global launch of Viagra and managing the multi-billion-dollar U.S. Celebrex franchise.
Arda is a recognized industry thought leader and innovator. He was named an Innovate 100 honoree by NJ Business and Industry Association in 2026, a PharmaVoice 100 Standout Leader in 2024 and “Global Turk par Excellence” by AmCham and Heidrich & Struggles in 2022. He served as the chair of BioNJ’s C-Suite Summit, a startup mentor for NYU Stern’s Endless Frontier Labs and an advisory board member for the New Jersey Institute of Technology Biomedical Engineering program. Arda also serves on committees for the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) and contributes to the In Vivo Editorial Advisory Board.
He earned a PhD in corporate finance and an MBA, both from Marmara University. He has a MSc degree in materials science and a BSc degree in mechanical engineering from Boğaziçi University where he was a Sabanci Scholar. He also completed several Executive Development and Board Governance Programs at Harvard Business School.