Biotechnology Pool
Mary Thistle
Dimension Names Chief Business Officer
Dimension Therapeutics, a rare disease company advancing novel treatments for diverse genetic disorders of the liver based upon an AAV gene therapy platform, has appointed Mary Thistle to the newly created position of chief business officer. Most recently, Ms. Thistle was senior VP, business development, at Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
Biopharma Pool
David Barrett
Derek Small
Assembly Biosciences Announces Senior Management Changes
Assembly Biosciences, which is developing novel oral therapies for the cure of intractable infectious diseases, focusing on hepatitis B virus (HBV) and C, has named David Barrett chief operating officer, in addition to his current role as chief financial officer.
In other company news, Derek Small has been named CEO in addition to his current position as president. Mr. Small succeeds Russell Ellison, M.D., as CEO.
Dr. Robert Copeland
Epizyme Appoints President of Research
Epizyme, a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company creating innovative personalized therapeutics for patients with genetically defined cancers, has named Robert Copeland, Ph.D., president of research. Dr. Copeland, who was previously executive VP of research and chief scientific officer at Epizyme, will continue to serve as chief scientific officer.
Dr. Krishna Polu
Raptor Pharmaceutical Appoints Chief Medical Officer
Raptor Pharmaceutical has appointed Krishna R. Polu, M.D., as its chief medical officer. He is charged with overseeing all global clinical development programs, medical affairs and other related functions.
Dr. Polu most recently served as chief medical officer at CytomX Therapeutics.
Dr. Paula Bokesch
Tenax Therapeutics Names Chief Medical Officer
Tenax Therapeutics, a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on developing and commercializing a portfolio of products for the critical care market, has appointed Paula Bokesch, M.D., as chief medical officer.
Dr. Bokesch will direct clinical development for the company’s lead asset, levosimendan, including the current Phase III LEVO-CTS trial to evaluate the use of levosimendan for the reduction of morbidity and mortality in cardiac surgery patients at risk for developing low cardiac output syndrome.
Dr. Bokesch most recently worked as senior medical director for drug development at Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
Service Pool
Phil Cyr
Ellynne Dec
Dr. Bob Nordyke
Precision for Value Expands Health Economics and Outcomes Research Team
Precision for Value, a Precision for Medicine Company, which provides health economics, analytics, and marketing communications services to life-sciences clients, has expanded its Health Economics and Outcomes Research (HEOR) team to meet growing customer demand. Phil Cyr was named VP, health economics, Ellynne Dec was named senior principal, health economics, and Bob Nordyke, Ph.D., was appointed senior VP, health economics and evidence strategy.
Mr. Cyr is focused on developing and executing academically and commercially relevant health economic and outcome research studies and services for biopharma, medical device, and diagnostics clients. Before joining the company, Mr. Cyr was senior director of health economics at PriceSpective and ICON.
Ms. Dec is a decision analyst and an actuary. Before joining Precision for Value, Ms. Dec was a healthcare actuary at Milliman.
Dr. Nordyke is responsible for delivering scientifically rigorous and commercially relevant services to global biopharma clients.
Before joining Precision for Value, Dr. Nordyke established the health economics practice at PriceSpective.
Michael du Toit
Everyday Health Names President
Everyday Health, a digital health and wellness company, has appointed Michael du Toit as president.
In this newly created role, Mr. du Toit is responsible for managing and directing the strategy for the consumer and professional businesses, including product, editorial, sales and sales development.
Mr. du Toit joins Everyday Health from Publicis Healthcare Communications Group, where he served most recently as global group president.
Dr. Amin Rostami
Certara Promotes within R&D
Certara, a global biosimulation technology-enabled drug development and drug safety consulting company, has promoted Amin Rostami, Pharm.D., Ph.D., to senior VP of R&D and chief scientific officer.
Dr. Rostami previously served as co-founder and VP of R&D for Certara’s Simcyp Business Unit.
In addition to his work with Certara, Dr. Rostami serves as a professor of systems pharmacology at the University of Manchester, England.
Roger Smith
Acurian Announces Promotion
Acurian, a full-service provider of global patient enrollment and retention solutions and a subsidiary of PPD, has appointed Roger Smith to lead the company as senior VP and general manager. Formerly, he was senior VP of Acurian operations. Mr. Smith has been a member of Acurian’s senior management team for 13 years.
Pharma Pool
Dr. Lorianne Masuoka
InVivo Therapeutics Appoints Chief Medical Officer
InVivo Therapeutics Holdings has appointed Lorianne Masuoka, M.D., as chief medical officer. Before joining the InVivo team, Dr. Masuoka served as senior VP and chief medical officer at Cubist Pharmaceuticals.
InVivo Therapeutics Holdings is a pioneering biomaterials and biotechnology company with a focus on treatment of spinal cord injuries.
Dr. Pratik Multani
Dr. Adrian Senderowicz
Ignyta Expands Clinical Leadership Team
Ignyta, a precision oncology biotechnology company, has named Pratik Multani, M.D., chief medical officer, assuming responsibility for the role from Adrian Senderowicz, M.D., who has been appointed to the newly created role of clinical and regulatory strategy officer.
Dr. Multani was most recently chief medical officer at Fate Therapeutics, where he led the clinical development of ProHema for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and other rare diseases.
Biopharma Pool
Dr. James Cassella
Concert Pharmaceuticals Appoints Chief Development Officer
Concert Pharmaceuticals has appointed James Cassella, Ph.D., as chief development officer. In this newly created role, Dr. Cassella is leading Concert’s product development strategy and operations and will have responsibility for all preclinical, clinical, and manufacturing activities.
Dr. Cassella brings to Concert more than 25 years of experience in drug development, including experience with product development, clinical trial design and execution, regulatory affairs, and product registration in the US and EU. Most recently, Dr. Cassella served as executive VP, research and development, and chief scientific officer of Alexza Pharmaceuticals.
Tiffany Crowell
Cerulean Appoints VP, Clinical Operations
Cerulean Pharma has appointed Tiffany Crowell VP, clinical operations.
Ms. Crowell is charged with overseeing Cerulean’s clinical operations, including the Phase II clinical trial for CRLX101 in third and fourth line renal cell carcinoma, the Phase I clinical trial of CRLX301 in solid tumors, and ongoing investigator-sponsored trials in non-metastatic rectal cancer and relapsed ovarian cancer.
Ms. Crowell joins Cerulean from AVEO Pharmaceuticals, where she spent approximately three years in positions of increasing responsibility in clinical operations, most recently as VP, clinical operations.
David Hallal
Alexion Appoints CEO
Alexion Pharmaceuticals has appointed David Hallal as CEO. Mr. Hallal has been Alexion’s chief operating officer.
He succeeds Leonard Bell, M.D., chairman and CEO, who will retire as CEO and continue to serve as chairman of the board. Dr. Bell was the principal founder of Alexion, a biopharmaceutical company focused on serving patients with severe and rare disorders through the innovation, development, and commercialization of life-transforming therapeutic products, in 1992 and has served as CEO for the past 23 years.
Mr. Hallal has more than 25 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry. Since joining Alexion in 2006 to initiate commercial operations, he has served in key leadership positions of increasing responsibility, including as the company’s first chief commercial officer.
Rick Modi
Catabasis Names Chief Business Officer
Catabasis Pharmaceuticals, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapeutics using its proprietary SMART linker technology platform, has named Rick Modi as chief business officer.
Mr. Modi brings to Catabasis 15 years of experience in corporate, business, and product commercialization strategy.
Before joining Catabasis, Mr. Modi was senior VP, global marketing at InterMune, an orphan drug company that was acquired by Roche in 2014.
Peter Radovich
Global Blood Therapeutics Strengthens Management Team
Global Blood Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel, orally available small molecule therapeutics for the treatment of severe chronic blood diseases, has appointed Peter Radovich VP of program leadership and business strategy. Mr. Radovich, who possesses more than 13 years of biotechnology industry experience, is responsible for overseeing the company’s project management, chemistry, manufacturing and controls (CMC), commercial strategy and public relations functions.
Mr. Radovich most recently served as VP of program leadership at Onyx Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Amgen, where he led the company’s global, cross-functional product team responsible for the development and commercialization of Kyprolis.
Device Pool
Maximillian Fiore
NxThera Names Chief Development and Operations Officer
NxThera, a medical device company focused on providing solutions to treat endourology conditions, has appointed Maximillian Fiore as its chief development and operations officer.
In this new role, Mr. Fiore will lead the evolution of the company’s development and operations organizations as NxThera begins to scale production and expand commercial availability of its proprietary Rezum System to treat benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).
Service Pool
Dr. Gregory Gross
Pamela Pinta
GTO Adds Two New Partners
Greater Than One, an independent and global digital communications company focused on healthcare, has added two partners to the organization: Gregory Gross, Ph.D., executive creative director for content, and Pamela Pinta, chief account and strategic officer.
Dr. Gross joined GTO in February 2013 and brings 15 years of agency–of–record experience in healthcare communications, with a focus in oncology.
Ms. Pinta joined the company in September 2012, bringing with her more than 20 years of agency–of–record experience in pharmaceutical advertising.
She has launched blockbuster and specialty brands in many therapeutic categories, including oncology, virology, CVD, CNS, and infectious disease.
Dr. Susan Suponcic
Navigant Taps Leader for Global Market Access Center of Excellence
Navigant has named Susan Suponcic, Ph.D., to Navigant Life Sciences’ practice as managing director and leader of the Global Market Access Center of Excellence.
In her role, Dr. Suponcic is charged with assisting life-sciences clients with strategic initiatives to optimize, substantiate, and capture the value of their innovations across dynamic and demanding global market access environments.
Dr. Suponcic brings almost two decades of experience delivering measurable and impactful business results through global pricing, health economics, and market access initiatives both as a pharmaceutical company executive and industry consultant. Most recently, she led the global market access practice at Kantar Health, a WPP company.
Consulting Pool
Joseph Mauro
Huron Healthcare Names Managing Director
Huron Consulting Group, a provider of business consulting services, has named Joseph Mauro as a managing director in its healthcare practice to assist hospital executives and physician leaders with the transition from a volume-based to a value-based care delivery system.
Mr. Mauro has more than 30 years of experience partnering with large hospitals and health systems on clinical and operational improvements. He joins Huron Healthcare from Siemens Medical, where he served as national director, strategic accounts.
Technology Pool
Anand Mehta
Sproxil Appoints Head of India Operations
Sproxil, a provider of world-class brand protection, has announced that Anand Mehta has been appointed head of the company’s Indian operations. In this role, Mr. Mehta is responsible for managing the staff and leading the development and execution of Sproxil India’s expansion plans. He is directing the management of the company’s corporate relationships with customers, vendors, regulators and shareholders. Before joining Sproxil, he was the chief marketing officer at Motoring Ahead and at Think as Consumer, a growth acceleration and outsourced marketing firm focused on startups and SMBs.
Nick Watling
DrugDev Appoints Chief Business Officer
DrugDev has appointed Nick Watling to the new position of chief business officer.
Mr. Watling is charged with leading strategic initiatives to further enhance DrugDev’s operational performance and enable it to continue providing world-class support to customers as it achieves its ambitious strategic goals. He also will oversee the human resources, quality and administration functions.
An accomplished international human resources and talent expert, Mr. Watling has a proven track record for achieving excellence in managing operations and driving organizational change. (PV)
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