Taris Biomedical tapped Julie Lekstrom Himes to be its chief medical officer and lead its clinical development program.

The Lexington, Mass.-based company, which is developing a drug/device combination to deliver medicine in the bladder, said Himes brings a wealth of clinical research and operations expertise in the biopharm arena. Her resumé includes stints at Coley Pharmaceuticals, Millennium Pharmaceuticals and academia. Himes held positions at the National Institutes of Health’s Allergy and Infectious Diseases and Human Genome Research Institutes, according to a press release.

Taris co-founder and COO Christine Bunt said the company is preparing for mid-stage clinical development its LiRIS interstitial cystitis treatment, a lidocaine-releasing intravesical system designed to provide a sustained release of lidocaine directly into the bladder.