Biopharma and life sciences companies strengthen their leadership teams and boards with these Movers & Shakers.
Rubius Therapeutics -- Jose “Pepe” Carmona was named chief financial officer of Rubius Therapeutics. Carmona most recently served as CFO at Radius Health, where he was responsible for all financial aspects of the business as well as investor relations, business development and other operational functions. Prior to joining Radius, Carmona was CFO of Innocoll Holdings PLC, acquired by Gurnet Point L.P. During his career at Novartis, Carmona held numerous financial management positions with increasing responsibilities in various divisions as chief financial officer in Europe, North America, Latin America and held other senior global financial roles.
Spark Therapeutics – Derek Hicks was named head of Business Development at Spark Therapeutics. Hicks will be responsible for the strategy for potential acquisitions, search and evaluation activities, licenses and other partnership arrangements with the goal of accelerating Spark’s vision of a world where no life is limited by genetic disease. Prior to joining Spark, he was vice president of corporate development at Pfizer.
Clover Biopharmaceuticals – China’s Clover Biopharmaceuticals formed its Scientific Advisory Board, which will provide strategic oversight and guidance to the global development of Clover’s protein-based COVID-19 S-Trimer vaccine programs. The new board includes Ralf Clemens, chairman of the board. Clemens is a former Global Head of Vaccine Development at Takeda, Novartis Vaccines and GSK; Donna Ambrosina, former chief executive officer of Nosocomian Vaccine Corp and MassBiologics; Sue Ann Costa Clemens, visiting professor of Global Health at Oxford University; Pierre Desmons, former Head of R&D of GSK’s China operations; Sam Liao, former Head of Business Development and Licensing (Asia), Novartis Vaccines; Michael Pfleiderer, former Head of Viral Vaccines Section, Paul-Enrlich-Institut; Peter Richmond, Head of Division of Pediatrics at the University of Western Australia; Antoinette Quinsaat, former Head of Clinical Operations (International), GSK Biologicals and Novartis Vaccines; Frank Rockhold, Professor of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics at Duke University; David Salisbury, co-founder of Agginivax; George Siber, co-founder of Agginivax; Nelson Teich, former minister of health in Brazil; Auh Wartel, Associate Director General, International Vaccine Institute; and Nicholas Jackson, former senior Director of Clinical R&D at Sanofi.
Cyted Ltd. – Martin Frost was named commercial and strategic advisor for Cyted. Previously, Martin has held a number of C-suite positions including CEO and CFO of Sagentia, and was co-founder of CMR Surgical in 2014. As CEO of CMR he was recognized as ‘UK Disruptor of the Year’ in the 2019 Entrepreneur of the Year awards, and ‘Executive of the Year’ at the 2019 MedTech Insight awards.
MiNA Therapeutics – Peter Bains, who currently serves on MiNA’s Board of Directors as non-executive director, was named chief business officer of the London-based company. Over a 23-year career at GSK, Bains held multiple senior leadership roles in business development, commercial and general management. Subsequently he led Syngene International and Sosei Heptares as CEO.
Biocom – Stephanie Hsieh was tapped to serve as executive director of the Los Angeles office of Biocom. Most recently, she was the president and chief executive officer of Meditope Biosciences, Inc. Previously, Hsieh held numerous senior management roles, leading cross-functional teams to develop and execute business and new product strategies built heavily upon the intersection of the patent laws and regulatory landscape.
Black Diamond Therapeutics – Robert A. Ingram was named chairman of the board of directors of Black Diamond. Ingram served as CEO and chairman of GlaxoWellcome, where he co-led the merger and integration that formed GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). Ingram is currently a General Partner at Hatteras Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that invests in early stage life sciences companies. He also serves as chairman of the board of BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and is a board member of Novan, Inc., and of HBM Healthcare Investments.
Immatics NV – Arnd Christ is the new CFO for Germany-based Immatics. Christ was previously the CFO of InflaRx. Before joining InflaRx, he was CFO of several companies including Medigene AG, Novimmune SA and Probiodrug AG. Christ replaces Thomas Ulmer, who is stepping down to pursue new opportunities.
Deep Genomics – Ferdinand Massari was named CMO of Deep Genomics. Massari has been the CMO or most senior medical and development leader at over a dozen companies in the United States and Europe. He served as vice president of Worldwide Medical Affairs at Pfizer, vice president of Pharmacia, and director at Merck. Most recently, he helped to found Kintai Therapeutics out of Flagship Pioneering.
TriSaius Life Sciences – Steven Katz was named CMO of TiSaius. Katz has served as the company’s chief medical advisor and as chairman of its Scientific Advisory Board since 2018.
Vertice Pharma – Don DeGolyer, the founder of Vertice Pharma, will join the board of directors. Scott Meyers will become CEO. Meyers joined Vertice Pharma in 2016 as chief operating officer. Before Vertice he served as vice president & general manager of Fougera Inc., a Sandoz / Novartis branded and generic dermatology business. He was formerly a consultant for McKinsey & Company’s pharmaceutical practice and a Chemical Engineer for Merck & Co.
Harrow Health – Larry Van Horn was named to the board of directors. He will fill the seat of Anthony Principi, who has served on the board since 2015. Van Horn is the founder and CEO of Preverity, Inc.
Thrive Earlier Detection – Thrive announced three leadership appointments. Sam Asgarian was named CMO, Frank Diehl was named head of product solutions and Dina Ciarimboli, the new chief legal officer.
Compugen Ltd. – Nils Lonberg was named to the scientific advisory board of Compugen. Lonberg will support Compugen’s efforts to discover and develop drugs targeting completely new immune checkpoint pathways. Lonberg currently serves as executive in residence at Canaan Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm. Prior to Canaan Partners, Lonberg spent 10 years with Bristol Myers Squibb, leading drug discovery efforts for immuno-oncology.
City of Hope – Debbie C. Thurmond was named the new director of City of Hope’s Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute. Thurmond joined City of Hope in 2015 as professor and founding chair of the Department of Molecular & Cellular Endocrinology within the Diabetes & Metabolism Research Institute. She became deputy director of the institute last year. Prior to City of Hope, Thurmond was a professor of pediatrics and associate director of the Basic Diabetes Research Group within the Herman B. Wells Center for Pediatric Research at Indiana University School of Medicine.
Tarveda Therapeutics – Brian Roberts was named president and CEO of Tarveda. Roberts will succeed Drew Fromkin, who has resigned from his roles as CEO and chairman of the board to pursue other interests and will transition to an advisory role. Roberts served as CFO of Tarveda since joining the company in January 2018, and in March 2020 was appointed to president and CFO. Prior to joining Tarveda, Roberts served as CFO and COO at Avedro, Inc. Previously, he served as CFO at Insulet Corporation.
Vico Therapeutics – Dutch company Vico Therapeutics named Rupert Sandbrink as CMO and Anders Hinsby was named an independent director. Prior to joining Vico, Sandbrink has held many senior positions, most recently as chief development & CMO at Topas Therapeutics GmbH. At Bayer he was head of Experimental Medicine Women’s Health & Common Mechanism Research, and he also served as Head Global Clinical Development Neurology, Ophthalmology, Hematology, Immunology. Hinsby is the CEO of Muna Therapeutics and works as entrepreneur-in-residence with Novo Seeds.
Adamas Pharmaceuticals – Adrian Quartel was named CMO and will provide leadership and direction for all scientific and medical functions. He was most recently global head of Medical Affairs at BioMarin, where he oversaw the launch of six products. Prior to BioMarin, Adrian held senior positions leading clinical development and as principal investigator for several studies at Chiltern. He also served in pharmacovigilance, clinical development and medical affairs roles at Paraxel, Icon and Astellas.
Centricity Vision – Jim Mazzo was named to the board of directors of Centricity Vision. Mazzo spend 22 years leading Allergan’s North American and European eye care organizations. Before that, he spent seven years as chairman, president and CEO of Advanced Medical Optics.
insitro – Roger Perlmutter, executive vice president and president of Merck Research Laboratories, was tapped as the first independent board director for inistro, a machine-learning driven drug discovery and development company. Prior to Merck, Perlmutter was executive vice president and head of research and development at Amgen.
Akouos – Sachiyo Minegishi was named CFO and Jennifer Wellman was promoted to COO from her prior role as senior vice president of regulatory and quality at Akouos. Minegishi led the gene therapy program for sickle cell disease at bluebird bio and held leadership roles at Aegerion Pharmaceuticals, Human Genome Sciences, Genzyme and Amgen. Prior to joining Akouos in 2018, Wellman was co-founder and head of product development strategy at Spark Therapeutics. Earlier in her career, she was at Avigen, Inc. in various R&D positions with increasing responsibilities.
X4 Pharmaceuticals – Boston-based X4 expanded its board of directors with the appointment of Alison Lawton, a biopharmaceutical industry veteran with more than 30 years of experience. Lawton currently serves as a special advisor and board member at Kaleido Biosciences, Inc., and as an independent director of ProQR Therapeutics N.V. Previously, she served as Kaleido’s CEO, after initially joining the company as President and Chief Operating Officer. In addition to her previous operational roles at X4, she also previously held COO roles at Aura Biosciences and OvaScience Inc.
SAGE Therapeutics – Barry Green was named to the board of directors at Sage Therapeutics. Greene recently served as president of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Prior to his 17 year tenure at Alnylam, Greene was the General Manager of Oncology at Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
