Life sciences and biopharma companies strengthen their leadership teams and boards with these Movers & Shakers.
Building stronger companies requires the right leadership. This week, life sciences companies from across the globe pinpoint the Movers & Shakers who will best benefit their company.
Singular Genomics: California-based Singular Genomics Systems, Inc. formed its scientific advisory board. New members include David L. Barker, a member of the board of directors of Singular Genomics, as well as AmideBio and Aspen Neuroscience; Lawrence Fong, professor in cancer biology at the University of California, San Francisco; David H. Ledbetter, chief clinical and research officer at United Patient Network; Elaine Mardis, a member of the board of directors and co-executive director of the Institute of Genomic Medicine at Nationwide Children’s Hospital; and Daniel Shoemaker, the former chief scientific officer of Fate Therapeutics.
Marengo Therapeutics: Ke Liu was named chief development officer, and Bruce Chabner was named senior strategic advisor. Liu most recently served as SVP at Sana Biotechnology. Prior to that, he spent more than 17 years working at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration with major leadership responsibilities, including Chief of Oncology Branch in the Office of Tissues and Advanced Therapies at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), and the Associate Director for Cell and Gene Therapy at the FDA’s Oncology Center of Excellence. Chabner is a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He has had extensive experience and pioneered key research in cancer drug discovery and development. During his career at the National Cancer Institute, he served as a Senior Investigator in the Laboratory of Chemical Pharmacology, Chief of the Clinical Pharmacology Branch, Director of the Clinical Oncology Program, and Director of the Division of Cancer Treatment.
Oncorus, Inc.: Richard Wanstall was named chief financial officer of Cambridge, MA-based Oncurus. Most recently, he served as CFO and treasurer for Aileron Therapeutics. Before Aileron, Wanstall served as vice president of finance at Moderna Therapeutics and as senior vice president of Finance at Stream Global Services. Previously, Wanstall was vice president of Finance at Art Technology Group, a vice president at Taxware, and director of finance at CNET.
DNA Script: Chris Barbazette was named chief commercial officer. Barbazette joins DNA Script from Resolve Biosciences, where he served as CCO and established the German parent company’s U.S. headquarters. Prior to Resolve, Barbazette served in senior and executive leadership roles across several life science and diagnostic companies, including Genapsys and Agendia.
Sphere Fluidics: Evelyn Stevenson and Ravi Girdhar join U.K.-based Sphere as director of product management and director of sales, respectively. Stevenson has worked with companies such as Azenta Life Sciences, Lonza and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Girdhar has held various commercial positions within GE Healthcare, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Gyros Protein Technologies. Also, Denise Emsden was named vice president of People and Organizational Development. Emsden has significant experience within diverse industries, including life sciences, such as Abcam, Mundipharma and Elite Sports company Juddmonte.
Evolve: Kaile Zagger was named chief executive officer of Evolve. She began her career in the Global Leadership Development Program at General Electric and earned the coveted Black Belt in Six Sigma. She has been recognized as a “Ten Best COOs of 2021,” was awarded a coveted place as a “Top World Leader in Healthcare” in 2022 and is repeatedly noted as a cutting-edge leader in the FemTech space year over year.
Quantum-Si Incorporated: Patrick Schneider was named president and chief operating officer. Schneider joins Quantum-Si from MilliporeSigma, where he most recently served as senior vice president of Strategy, Business Development and Innovation and chair of the Life Science Innovation Board. Earlier in his career, Schneider served as vice president of R&D, Business Development and Scientific Affairs at Serologicals, Inc. He also served as CSO at Chemicon International, where he founded the Beckman Institute for Biomedical Research and co-founded Genome Biosciences, Inc., and Integrated Cell Technologies, Inc.
BioAgilytix Labs: Lynn Kamen and Michelle Miller were named scientific officers of BioAgilytix. Kamen worked at Genentech as a principal scientist within the Development Sciences organization leading the bioanalytical analysis for large molecules from late-stage research through the clinic. Miller worked with BioAgilytix previously as a bioanalytical associate director. Before joining the company, she led GLP toxicology and immunotoxicology studies and developed high throughput screening assays as a lead investigator. She also worked as an R&D scientist in the pharmaceutical industry. David King was also appointed to the company board of directors. King is the former executive chairman and CEO of Laboratory Corporation of America Holdings (Labcorp). King currently serves on several professional boards, including Privia Health, ZimVie and VaxCare. His volunteer Board involvement includes Novant Health, PATH and the Emily Krzyzewski Center.
Clearmind Medicine: Christian G. Schütz and Mark Weiser were appointed to the scientific advisory board of Clearmind. Schütz is an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, and Weiser is chairman of the department of psychiatry at Sackler School of Medicine.
BrainsWay Ltd.: Eric Hurt was named VP of U.S. Sales. Hirt previously led the U.S. sales team at Aerogen. Before Aerogen, he held sales leadership roles at Teleflex and Integra LifeSciences and sales and marketing leadership positions at Covidien (now part of Medtronic).
LUMICKS: Andre Nel was named CFO. Nel most recently served as CFO of Dante Labs, a global leader in consumer genome sequencing testing services. Previously, he spent close to seven years with Illumina, ending as VP of Finance. In more than eight years with Pfizer, he served as finance director of the Russian Federation, Global Transformation & European Decision Support Centre of Excellence, Finance Lead and Head of Financial Planning and Reporting.
Genenta Science: Italy-based Genenta named Tim Obara as vice president of business development. He joins Genenta from the University of Pennsylvania Gene Therapy Program, where he was executive director of Research Operations. He has previously worked in senior business development roles at Amicus Therapeutics, AstraZeneca, GSK and the Singapore-based Tessa Therapeutics.
Fairtility: Israel-based Fairtility named Cristina Hickman, vice president of clinical affairs. Hickman served as the Head of Embryology at The Boston Place Clinic, where she developed the world’s first IVF clinic designed around time-lapse technology.
Opus Genetics: Jennifer Hunt was named chief development officer. Prior to joining Opus, she held key clinical and regulatory positions at several biopharmaceutical companies, including Genzyme, Voyager Therapeutics and Editas Medicine. While at Editas, she oversaw the development of CRISPR medicines across ophthalmology, hemoglobinopathies and oncology.
Xequel Bio: Jerry St. Peter was named CEO, and Wes Brazell was named CFO. Jerry St. Peter brings over 30 years of specialty biopharma executive leadership implementing strategic planning, commercial operations, financial management, fundraising, business development, and overall general management. Before joining Xequel, St. Peter was the CEO and president of Eyevance Pharmaceuticals. He was also co-founder, CEO and board member of Eyevance Pharmaceuticals before its acquisition by Santen. Prior to co-founding Eyevance, St. Peter was the head of Sun Pharmaceuticals’ newly formed Ophthalmics division. Brazell was CFO for Eyevance and, before that, was CFO of TearLab. Brazell spent 21 years in multiple financial management positions with Alcon, including vice president of finance for Alcon’s business in the United States, VP of Finance for Alcon’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business, and VP of Corporate Financial Planning and Analysis.
Ventyx Biosciences: William Sandborn was named president and CMO. Sandborn was a co-founder and CMO at Shoreline Biosciences. Previously, he was a co-founder of Santarus. Sandborn was a professor of Medicine and Chief, Division of Gastroenterology at the University of California San Diego.
Caribou Biosciences: David L. Johnson was appointed to the board of directors of Caribou Biosciences, Inc. Johnson currently serves as chief commercial officer of Global Blood Therapeutics. Previously, Johnson spent 15 years at Gilead Sciences, Inc., where he held roles of increasing responsibility in the company’s commercial organization.
Pharvaris: Switzerland-based Pharvaris named Joan Schmidt to the newly-created role of chief legal officer. Schmidt most recently served as the general counsel and secretary at Arena Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Arena, Schmidt served as General Counsel at DBV Technologies and as U.S. General Counsel and Head of Human Resources at Biotronik. Earlier, Schmidt had positions of increasing responsibility at Novo Nordisk, both in the U.S. and Europe.
Elicio Therapeutics: Peter DeMuth was named CSO, and Joy Semour was named head of regulatory affairs. Seymour was most recently the global regulatory lead for cellular therapy at Bristol-Myers Squibb. DeMuth has advanced in a multifaceted role at Elicio from his early days as a scientist at the bench to becoming CSO. Before joining Elicio, DeMuth worked extensively with the company’s co-founder, Dr. Darrell Irvine, at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research.
