SIGA Technologies, Inc. announced that Dr. Jay K. Varma has joined SIGA as Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer (CMO). He will also continue to serve as a director of the SIGA Board of Directors. Dr. Varma joined the SIGA Board of Directors in November 2022.

He was previously a Professor of Population Health Sciences and Director of the Cornell Center for Pandemic Prevention and Response at Weill Cornell Medicine, a new center at the university focused on pandemic prevention, preparedness, and response. From 2001-2021, he worked for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Thailand, China, Ethiopia, and New York City. Recruited by the Mayor of New York at the peak of the COVID epidemic, Dr. Varma served from April 2020 to May 2021 as the principal scientific spokesperson and architect for New York City's COVID-19 pandemic response, including management of the larger diagnostic testing and contact tracing programs in the country.

He earned his undergraduate degree with higher honors from Harvard College and completed medical school and his internal medicine and chief residencies at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.