Biopharma and life sciences companies strengthen their boards and leadership teams with these Movers & Shakers.
AVEO Oncology – Kevin J. Cullen was appointed to the board of directors of Boston-based AVEO Oncology. Cullen is the Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Distinguished Professor in Oncology and director of the Program in Oncology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He also serves as director of the University of Maryland Marlene and Stewart Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Metrion Biosciences – Mark Keogh was named a non-executive director at U.K.-based Metrion Biosciences Limited. Keogh is a chartered accountant and civil engineer with more than 30 years’ experience of senior finance management in multiple industrial sectors. Most recently he was Group Chief Financial Officer of Charles Taylor plc.
EQRX – Cambridge, Mass.-based EQRx tapped Jami Rubin as chief financial officer and Kent Rogers as chief customer officer. Rubin has spent more than 25 years as an equity analyst following large-cap and specialty pharmaceutical companies, including as a partner at Goldman Sachs where she led the healthcare business unit and ranked as a top pharmaceutical industry analyst. Previously, she held roles at Pfizer, Abbott, AbbVie, Eli Lilly and Company and Mylan. Rogers joins EQRx from OptumRx, a United Health Group company, where he was senior vice president of industry relations. Prior to OptumRx, he held leadership positions at the Blue Fin Group, Acorda Therapeutics, Schering-Plough and Merck, in areas of sales, market access and reimbursement.
Celyad Oncology – Charles Morris was named chief medical officer at Celyad where he will provide strategic direction for all medical, regulatory and clinical development activities. Prior to joining Celyad Oncology, Morris served as CMO of Radius Health and held leadership positions at PsiOxus Therapeutics, ImmunoGen Inc. and Allos Therapeutics. Before serving in these positions, he was Vice President of Worldwide Clinical Research at Cephalon, Inc., where he helped the company achieve its first oncology drug approval for Treanda (bendamustine). He spent the early years of his career in various roles at AstraZeneca.
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals – Chris Aiello was named Head of Canada and General Manager at Amylyx. Aiello joins Amylyx from Sanofi Genzyme Canada, where he served as the Business Unit Director of both the Rare Disease and the Rare Blood Disorders units. Prior to that, Aiello was the General Manager of Canada for Bioverativ, which was ultimately purchased by Sanofi Genzyme.
Inventiva – Martine Zimmerman was appointed to the board of directors of France-based Inventiva. Zimmermann has been the Senior Vice President and Head of Global Regulatory Affairs of Alexion Pharma International since June 2016. Throughout her career, she has acquired extensive expertise as Regulatory Affairs Executive in both small and large pharmaceutical groups, holding senior roles in the United States, Europe and Asia-Pacific. She is also an active member of several life-sciences trade associations and has been a member of the Board of Directors of U.S.-based Caelum Biosciences since 2019.
Tubulis -- Günter Fingerle-Rowson was named CMO of Germany-based Tubulis. In this newly established role, he will use his extensive knowledge in the development of cancer therapeutics to oversee Tubulis’ clinical activities and advance the company’s Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) towards clinical evaluation. Prior to joining Tubulis, Fingerle-Rowson worked in Global Clinical Development at MorphoSys and F. Hoffmann-La Roche as well as in Medical Affairs at Janssen-Cilag, a J&J company. Fingerle-Rowson also worked as Medical Manager at Janssen-Cilag, and as academic physician in internal medicine, hemato-oncology at the University Hospitals in Cologne and Munich.
Patient Square Capital – Jake Cabala joined investment firm Patient Square Capital as a Partner. He will be the Head of Fund Partnerships and primarily be responsible for the firm’s capital formation, co-invest syndication, and investor relations functions. Previously, Cabala was the Head of Capital Formation at Golden Gate Capital, where he focused both on building and maintaining partnerships with Golden Gate’s limited partners and developing new asset management platforms within the firm’s financial services vertical. Prior to Golden Gate, Cabala was a Managing Director at CircleUp, a venture-backed, data-driven investment platform.
Ovid Therapeutics -- Robert S. Langer was appointed Chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board. Langer is one of 10 Institute Professors at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has served as the chair of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Science Board, and has been recognized with over 220 awards, including the United States National Medals of both Science and Technology, and Innovation.
Castle Creek Biosciences – Matthew Gantz was named president and chief executive officer of Pennsylvania-based Castle Creek Biosciences. Gantz succeeds John Maslowski, who will continue to serve the company as chief operating officer. Gantz previously served as CEO of OxThera AB. He has also held executive leadership positions with BTG plc, Acureon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Hydra Biosciences, Chiron Corporation, PathoGenesis Corporation and Abbott Laboratories. Gantz is currently a board member of Swedish Orphan Biovitrum AB.
Replimune Group – Genentech veteran Sushil Patel was named chief commercial officer effective May 3. At Genentech, Patel was global oncology franchise head for lung cancer, skin cancer and rare / agnostic tumor types. Previously, Patel was lifecycle leader and “CEO for the molecule” in lung cancer for the multi-billion-dollar checkpoint blockade drug Tecentriq. As CCO, Patel will lead Replimune’s commercial team including launch readiness initiatives and play a key role in the development and execution of the company’s market strategy.
Ambys Medicines – Alan Smith was named chief technology officer for South San Francisco-based Ambys. Smith joins Ambys from Akouos, where he was CTO. Prior to Akouos, he spent many years in various R&D, manufacturing, and quality roles and was most recently Executive Vice President of Technical Operations at Bellicum Pharmaceuticals.
PsyBio Therapeutics –Ohio-based PsyBio appointed Bob Oliver, president and CEO of Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, to the company’s board of directors. He also served as CEO for V ClinBio an early stage Biopharmaceutical Technology Platform.
Lumen Bioscience – Marcos Milla was appointed to the board of directors of Seattle-based Lumen Bioscience. Milla is an experienced leader in drug discovery efforts spanning a range of disease indications, most recently serving as chief scientific officer of Synthorx, a Sanofi company. Previously, he served in leadership roles at Adaptive Biotechnologies, Janssen Research & Development and Roche. As of April 1 of this year, Milla joined Samsara BioCapital as Venture Partner.
