Pharma, biotech and life sciences companies bolster their executive teams and boards with these Movers & Shakers.
BIO – Michelle McMurry-Heath has been selected to replace the outgoing Jim Greenwood as the new president and chief executive officer of Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO). McMurry-Heath, a Johnson & Johnson veteran, will assume the role on June 1. She most recently served as head of external innovation and Global Leader for Regulatory Science and Executive Director of Scientific Partnerships for JLABS in Washington, D.C., where she led a team charting the evidence generation and regulatory strategy across J&J’s medical device companies. Prior to her work at J&J, McMurry-Heath served in scientific leadership roles at the FDA from 2010 to 2014. McMurry-Heath will become just the third leader of BIO since the organization was founded in 1993.
BioSpecifics Technologies – Joseph Truitt was named interim CEO of Delaware BioSpecifics Technologies Corporation. Prior to joining BioSpecifics, Truitt was most recently CEO of Achillion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He joined the company in 2009 and had previous roles of chief operations officer and chief commercial officer. Under his leadership, Achillion was acquired by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. for $1.2 billion.
CorMedix – New Jersey-based CorMedix tapped Matt David as its new chief financial officer. David was most recently head of strategy at Ovid Therapeutics. David has more than 15 years of experience in finance as a healthcare investment banker and earlier as an equity analyst covering the pharma sector.
TG Therapeutics -- Owen A. O’Connor was named the new chief scientific officer of TG Therapeutics, Inc. O’Connor most recently served as a professor of Medicine and Experimental Therapeutics, the director of the Center for Lymphoid Malignancies, and co-program director of the Lymphoid Development and Malignancy Program in the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center. O’Connor is a past member of the Food and Drug Administration’s Oncology Drug Advisory Committee. He is also a recipient of the American Cancer Society Research Professorship.
Nucleix – Israel-based Nucleix made several new additions to its leadership team. The company appointed Chris Hibberd as CEO, Todd Myers as CFO, and Eyal Miller as general manager for Europe, Middle East and Africa. Opher Shapira has transitioned from CEO to become a strategic business advisor to the company. Prior to taking the helm of Nucleix, Hibberd was CEO and co-founder of Astute Medical. Prior to Astute Medical, Hibberd was senior vice president of corporate development at Biosite and before that, was a manager at The Boston Consulting Group and a development engineer at Albright & Wilson Americas. Prior to Nucleix, Myers was the CFO of Astute Medical and before that, was the CFO at SGX Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Nucleix, Miller was vice president & head of the healthcare division at Stratasys. Prior to Stratasys, Miller was the CEO at Common Sense, an IVD company focused on women’s health.
Ascendis Pharma – Denmark-based Ascendis Pharma A/S will appoint Jesper Høiland as Global Chief Commercial Officer upon completion of his transition from Radius Health, Inc. Høiland most recently served as president and CEO of Radius Health. Prior to joining Radius, Høiland served as president of Novo Nordisk USA. Before that, Høiland held multiple global roles of increasing responsibility at Novo Nordisk, including leading its International Operations which spanned approximately 150 countries.
BioDelivery Sciences – Jeffrey Bailey, a member of the board of directors of N.C.-based BioDelivery Sciencesm was named interim CEO. He succeeds Herm Cukier. Bailey spent more than 20 years at Johnson & Johnson/Janssen Pharmaceutical as well as a tenure as Operating Unit President at Novartis Pharmaceuticals, CCO at King Pharmaceuticals, COO at Fougera Pharmaceuticals, and chairman and CEO of Neurovance. Bailey also served as president and CEO of Lantheus Medical Imaging, Inc, Bailey has served as chairman of Aileron Therapeutics since March 2018 and as a board member of Madison Vaccines.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals – Kim Sablich was named executive vice president and general manager of North America. The new role begins on June 1. Sablich joins Jazz from Myovant Sciences, where she is CCO. Prior to Myovant Sciences, Sablich was vice president of Primary Care Marketing in the U.S. for GlaxoSmithKline. Before GSK, she spent 15 years at Merck where she held positions of increasing responsibility in the commercial organization across sales, product management, consumer marketing, pricing/access, and customer insights/analytics, with a focus on the cardiovascular, respiratory, women’s health and vaccines business areas.
Bolt Biotherapeutics – William P. Quinn was named CFO of Redwood City, Calif.-based Bolt Biotherapeutics. Before joining Bolt, Quinn served as the CFO and senior vice president, finance and corporate development, of Sunesis. Prior to Sunesis, Quinn served as the CEO of Bullet Biotechnology.
Artax Biopharma – Joseph Lobacki was appointed CEO of Artax Biopharma, Inc. The former CEO, Damia Tormo, will continue as a member of the board of directors. Prior to Artax, Lobacki most recently served as CCO of Verastem, Inc., COO of Finch Therapeutics Group and CCO of Medivation.
GO2 Foundation for Lung Cancer – Jennifer C. King was named CSO of GO2 . King will be responsible for leading scientific and research priorities for a global patient advocacy group dedicated to improving the lives of those and diagnosed with lung cancer. King is a cancer research scientist who has been with the organization since 2015. Her previous positions include scientific roles with the American Society of Clinical Oncology and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center as well as co-founding a nonprofit, SHARE For Cures, that helped people freely access and use their health data to advance medical research.
