Pharma Pool
Stephen Aselage
Retrophin Names President and Chief Operations Officer
Retrophin has appointed Stephen Aselage as president and chief operations officer. In this new role, Mr. Aselage is responsible for managing corporate development activities, including the commercialization of existing products, building out the company’s global infrastructure, and exploring new business development opportunities.
Before joining Retrophin in 2012, Mr. Aselage was executive VP and chief business officer at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, where he built the commercial and medical affairs functions that launched three commercial products and developed commercial businesses in more than 45 countries.
Retrophin is a pharmaceutical company focused on the development, acquisition, and commercialization of drugs for the treatment of serious, catastrophic, or rare diseases for which there are currently no viable options for patients.
Dr. Jeannette Barrett
Dr. Jeffrey Bloss
Dr. Bernhardt Zeiher
Astellas Makes Several Appointments
Astellas has appointed Jeannette Barrett, Ph.D., to the position of VP and head of medical excellence, global medical affairs. As the head of medical excellence, a new department within the global medical affairs organization at Astellas, Dr. Barrett is responsible for supporting Astellas’ medical affairs activities globally by providing the tools, processes, systems, and infrastructure they need to ensure transparency, operational consistency, limit risk, and improve compliance.
Dr. Barrett has held a variety of leadership positions for more than 20 years in the areas of medical affairs, regulatory affairs, and drug safety with several global pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer, where she spent 16 years.
She holds a Ph.D. in physiology from the Graduate School of the Biomedical Sciences at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
Astellas has promoted Bernhardt Zeiher, M.D., to executive VP, global development. In this new role, Dr. Zeiher assumes line responsibility for global development operations and global clinical pharmacology and exploratory development (GCPED), in addition to his responsibility as therapeutic area head of immunology, infectious disease, transplant, central nervous system, and pain.
Dr. Zeiher has more than 15 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and most recently came from Pfizer, where he was the VP of the inflammation/immunology therapeutic area. He earned his medical degree at the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.
Additionally, Astellas US, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Astellas Pharma Inc., has promoted Jeffrey Bloss, M.D., to the position of senior VP, medical affairs Americas, Astellas Scientific and Medical Affairs (ASMA).
Since coming to Astellas in October 2012, Dr. Bloss has been responsible for leading the America’s regional medical affairs function, including medical information and publications, therapeutic area medical directors, medical scientific liaisons, health economy and clinical outcomes research, independent medical education, and medical affairs operations.
Dr. Morris Birnbaum
Pfizer Appoints Chief Scientific Officer
Morris Birnbaum, M.D., Ph.D., has been appointed by Pfizer as chief scientific officer for cardiovascular and metabolic disease research.
Dr. Birnbaum previously served as the Willard Ware Professor of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases and Associate Dean for Biomedical Core Resources at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and was also an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.
Dr. Birnbaum has authored more than 200 scientific papers and is the recipient of numerous distinguished awards, including election to the American Association of Clinical Investigation, the American Association of Physicians, and as a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
Saeed Motahari
Purdue Pharma Names Senior VP and Chief Commercial Officer
Purdue Pharma has appointed Saeed Motahari senior VP and chief commercial officer. He has more than 20 years of pharmaceutical sales and marketing experience, and a proven record of achieving commercial excellence. He joins Purdue from AbbVie, where he served as VP of U.S. sales and marketing, specialty brands.
Biotech Pool
Dr. Timothy Fong
Dr. Jagath Reddy Junutula
Cellerant Strengthens Management Team
Cellerant Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing novel hematopoietic stem cell-based cellular and antibody therapies for blood disorders and cancer, has appointed Timothy Fong, Ph.D., as VP of cellular technologies, and Jagath Reddy Junutula, Ph.D., as VP of antibody discovery and development.
Dr. Fong brings more than 20 years of drug development experience and has led research and development groups in cell and gene therapies, bio-active peptides and recombinant proteins from discovery research to early human clinical trials in oncology and autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Dr. Fong most recently served as VP of technology and product development at Progenitor Cell Therapy, a wholly owned subsidiary of Neostem.
He received his Ph.D. in immunology from UCLA School of Medicine, and an MBA from Saint Mary’s College.
Dr. Junutula joins Cellerant with more than 20 years of experience spanning oncology target discovery, antibody engineering, protein engineering, and cell biology. He is a recognized expert in antibody drug conjugate (ADC) development and most recently spent more than 10 years at Genentech, where he led cross-functional R&D teams in ADC and bi-specific antibody-based cancer immunotherapeutic programs in the discovery oncology, research and early development division.
He is the author on more than 60 patents/peer-reviewed publications. Dr. Junutula conducted his post-doctoral training at Stanford University and Genentech. He received his Ph.D. in biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Dr. Robert Friesen
Dr. William Strohl
Janssen Makes Leadership Appointments
William Strohl, Ph.D., was recently appointed to head of Janssen’s Biotechnology Center of Excellence (BCoE), where leads the organization in its development of protein, peptide, and cell-based therapeutic platforms. Replacing Dr. Strohl as VP of biologics research is Robert Friesen, Ph.D., who joined the BCoE in June.
The BCoE is pursuing new technologies beyond the monoclonal antibody, such as bispecific antibodies, alternative scaffolds, and novel peptide platforms to explore next-generation biologics.
Complementing internal research, the BCoE will also prioritize external collaborations, accessing key expertise and technology from academia and industry to grow the biologic pipeline across several therapeutic areas, including immunology, oncology, and cardiovascular.
Dr. Richard Rudick
Biogen Idec Names VP, Development Sciences
Richard (Rick) Rudick, M.D., has joined Biogen Idec as VP, development sciences, value-based medicine, leading this new group that focuses on using new technology to develop innovative programs and tools to better understand, measure, and manage the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).
Dr. Rudick joins Biogen Idec from the Cleveland Clinic, where he served as director of the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research for almost 30 years.
He also served as professor of medicine at the Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, the Hazel Prior Hostetler chair of Neurology, and vice chairman of Research and Development in the Neurological Institute at Cleveland Clinic.
Dr. Rudick graduated from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine in 1975.
Biopharma Pool
Mark Alles
Dr. Jacqualyn Fouse
Scott Smith
Celgene Makes Organizational Changes
Celgene, an integrated global biopharmaceutical company engaged primarily in the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and inflammatory diseases through gene and protein regulation, has made several organizational changes.
Mark Alles has been promoted to president and chief operating officer from head of hematology and oncology franchise. His focus is on enhancing Celgene’s operational excellence and continue to drive world-class performance across our functional capabilities.
Jacqualyn Fouse, Ph.D., has been promoted to president, hematology, and oncology from chief financial officer. During her four years as Celgene’s CFO, Dr. Fouse has played a leading role in the formulation of our business and financial strategies, in addition to ensuring the achievement of important corporate milestones.
Scott Smith has been promoted to president, inflammation and immunology (I&I). He has led the I&I franchise since 2009 from its early development stages to the globally evolving franchise it is today.
Mr. Smith and his team are delivering results, including clinical trial execution, regulatory success, and the infrastructure supporting the global commercial launch of Otezla.
Thomas Anderson
SAGE Therapeutics Appoints Chief Commercial Strategy Officer
Sage Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel medicines to treat life-threatening, rare central nervous system disorders, has appointed Thomas Anderson as chief commercial strategy officer.
Mr. Anderson, former senior VP, corporate strategy and commercial assessment at Shire plc, brings to Sage Therapeutics more than 25 years of experience in the life-sciences and healthcare-focused consumer packaged goods industries, with commercial expertise in the CNS field.
Mr. Anderson received his MBA in finance from the University of Notre Dame.
Dr. Ivan Gergel
Nektar Appoints Chief Medical Officer
Nektar Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company developing novel pain and cancer therapeutics, has named Ivan Gergel, M.D., senior VP, drug development and chief medical officer.
Dr. Gergel has oversight for the company’s clinical strategy and activities, including direct supervision of clinical research, clinical operations, medical affairs, regulatory affairs, and drug safety and surveillance.
Dr. Gergel brings more than 25 years of pharmaceutical leadership and drug development experience to Nektar. From 2008 to 2014, Dr. Gergel served as executive VP, research and development, of Endo Pharmaceuticals and chief scientific officer, where he led clinical, research, regulatory, project management and medical affairs.
Dr. Gergel received his M.D. from The Royal Free Medical School of The University of London and an MBA from the Wharton School of The University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Thomas Parr
Spero Therapeutics Appoints Chief Scientific Officer
Spero Therapeutics, a biopharmaceutical company founded to develop novel therapies targeting virulence and persistence for treatment of bacterial infections, has appointed Thomas Parr, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer.
Dr. Parr is a microbiologist with more than 25 years of drug discovery experience across both large pharmaceutical and small biotechnology companies.
Before joining Spero, Dr. Parr was the chief scientific officer at Fedora Pharmaceuticals, when the company was directing novel beta-lactamase inhibitors toward development partnerships.
Dr. Parr earned his Ph.D. from the University of Calgary and was an MRC postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia.
Dr. Gary Sternberg
Eleven Biotherapeutics Appoints VP of Business Development
Eleven Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company discovering and developing protein therapeutics to treat diseases of the eye, has appointed Gary Sternberg, M.D., as executive VP of corporate and business development.
Dr. Sternberg brings more than 20 years of ophthalmology expertise, including biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry experience and medical practice.
Before joining Eleven Biotherapeutics, Dr. Sternberg served as therapeutic head of ophthalmic medical affairs for Genentech.
Dr. Sternberg is a board certified ophthalmologist. He earned his M.D. at State University of New York and conducted his postgraduate residency training in ophthalmology and fellowship training in cornea, external diseases, and refractive surgery at Mount Sinai Medical Center. He obtained his MBA from the University of Chicago.
Emerging Pool
Dr. Roger Pomerantz
Seres Appoints Former Merck Executive
Seres Health, a clinical-stage therapeutics company developing novel products to treat a host of disease conditions, has appointed Roger Pomerantz, M.D., as president and CEO.
Dr. Pomerantz will also remain as chairman of the board of directors of Seres, where he has served since November of 2013.
Dr. Pomerantz brings valuable drug discovery and development experience to Seres, having previously led the development of eight approved infectious disease drugs in important indications including HIV, HCV, and tuberculosis.
Dr. Pomerantz was most recently senior VP and worldwide head of licensing and acquisitions at Merck, where he oversaw all licensing and acquisitions at Merck Research Laboratories, including external research, out-licensing regional deals and academic alliances.
Dr. Duncan Walker
FORMA Therapeutics Names R&D VP
Forma Therapeutics has appointed Duncan Walker, Ph.D., to the position of VP, pharmacology and early development. Dr. Walker joins Forma after 20 years in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sector.
Most recently, Dr. Walker was at Array BioPharma, where he led the oncology, cellular and translational medicine team and was responsible for advancing its ARRY-520 clinical program in multiple myeloma.
Dr. Walker has co-authored 30 publications and patents and has served as a member of various scientific advisory boards.
Dr. Walker received his Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from Washington University and was an HHMI Research Fellow at University of Colorado Health Science Center.
Forma Therapeutics is discovering and developing medicines that will make a difference in oncology and other genetically driven therapeutic areas.
Specialty Pool
Melissa Bradford Klug
AMAG Pharmaceuticals Appoints Business Development VP
AMAG Pharmaceuticals has appointed Melissa Bradford Klug as senior VP of business development and strategy.
Ms. Klug joins AMAG from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, where she completed a number of significant transactions, including two corporate development transactions within six months of Mallinckrodt’s spin out of Covidien.
For more than 15 years, Ms. Klug has held a variety of senior strategic planning and business development positions in the life-sciences industry.
Ms. Klug holds a master’s of business administration from DePaul University.
CRO Pool
Dr. Sy Pretorius
Parexel Names Chief Scientific Officer
Parexel, a global biopharmaceutical services organization, has named Dr. Sy Pretorius its chief scientific Officer. Dr. Pretorius continues to serve as the company’s corporate VP and worldwide head of early phase in addition to assuming his expanded responsibilities.
As chief scientific officer, Dr. Pretorius leads innovation of clinical research methodologies, and helps Parexel further integrate its offerings to meet growing industry demand for end-to-end drug development services. He focuses on a variety of important capabilities, including clinical trial modeling and simulations, as well as adaptive trial designs.
Dr. Pretorius also leads the company’s study optimization services by aligning its considerable scientific and therapeutic expertise to provide valuable guidance to customers in clinical study design, with a goal of increasing study predictability while reducing costs and time to market.
Dr. Pretorius is a board-certified medical doctor with master’s degrees in clinical pharmacology and business administration.
Susan Romberg
Dr. Michael Wisniewski
Chiltern Appoints New Executives
Chiltern, a global contract research organization (CRO), has appointed Susan Romberg as VP, global clinical development. With more than 20 years industry experience, Ms. Romberg joins Chiltern’s global leadership team to oversee clinical operations across the Americas, providing oversight and strategy development to support the acquisition of new business.
Chiltern has also appointed Michael Wisniewski, Ph.D., as senior executive director, biometrics, to lead Chiltern’s global biostatistics team and provide expertise and consultancy to Chiltern clients.
With 30 years of industry experience, Dr. Wisniewski joins Chiltern as a leader in product development, including more than 23 years at GlaxoSmithKline as executive director of clinical statistics and programming.
He is widely published in oncology and respiratory topics and has been involved in 11 regulatory submissions to FDA and other agencies leading to marketing approval.
Agency Pool
Matt Balogh
Skot Kremen
Ritesh Patel
Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide Makes Appointments
Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide, the health behavior experts of Ogilvy & Mather, has promoted Matt Balogh and Skot Kremen.
Mr. Balogh, who has been with the organization for more than three years, has been promoted from senior VP, director of technology, to senior VP, chief technology officer.
In this new position, Mr. Balogh leads the team of programmers and developers in both the New Jersey and New York offices and oversees the direction of the Ogilvy CommonHealth Innovation Lab. Additionally, he is working to integrate the latest technology into all aspects of the organization.
Mr. Kremen has been promoted from user experience specialist to VP, user experience specialist. With Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide for almost three years, Mr. Kremen has written multiple user personas and user test documents for many healthcare brands. In this new position, Mr. Kremen is tasked with standardizing and creating user experience best practices to be deployed across the organization
Additionally, Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide has appointed Ritesh Patel as executive VP, chief digital officer. In this new post, Mr. Patel is responsible for leading the network’s New Jersey- and New York-based digital groups, both overseeing and driving the expansion of the teams’ collective offerings and client base.
Mr. Patel has more than 20 years of experience in digital media, Web, information technology, and operations in the healthcare, retail, and hospitality industries.
Over the course of his career, Mr. Patel co-founded two companies — Hospitality Perspectives, a marketing consulting organization catering to the travel industry, and Avivocom, a startup banner ad development company that has since been rebranded as Live Advizor.
Debra Feath
Katharine Imbro
Modesto Rodriguez
Rob Thomas
Luke Waldrum
Sara Zaccheo
McCann Agencies Build New Level of Creative Leadership
McCann Torre Lazur and McCann Echo Torre Lazur have established six new leadership positions.
Debra Feath joined MTL as an associate art director in 1999 and quickly rose through the ranks, most recently serving as VP, associate creative director, art, before her promotion to creative director. More recently, Ms. Feath has spent the last three years working on a multiple sclerosis brand, taking responsibility for pitch materials, brand identity, conceptual work (branded and unbranded), and tactical execution.
Katharine Imbro is a 14-year MTL veteran, having started with the agency as a copywriter. She has worked on brands across the whole spectrum of conditions, from BPH to narcolepsy, and has been a key member of numerous new business pitch teams contributing significantly to MTL’s growth. In 2010 Ms. Imbro was named as an HBA Rising Star.
Modesto Rodriguez transitioned to become an interactive creative director at Ogilvy CommonHealth Worldwide before joining MTL in 2012. In a 14-plus-year career, he has launched integrated campaigns across the fashion, entertainment, consumer, education, and pharmaceutical industries.
Rob Thomas has 15 years of advertising and branding experience within the consumer, hospitality, travel, telecommunications, and pharmaceutical industries.
He was named VP, creative director at McCann Managed Markets in 2011, taking responsibility for overall leadership and creative execution of the agency’s client materials as well as a staff of 17 creative professionals.
Luke Waldrum began freelancing with the agency in 2004. He was hired full time to work in the studio the following year. Subsequently, he was named to increasing roles and responsibilities: art director in 2007, art supervisor in 2009, and associate creative director/art in 2011.
Sara Zaccheo is a 15-year industry veteran. She started her career working as an associate copywriter on one of the network’s longest-standing AOR assignments, and later helped launch one of the first brands indicated and marketed for restless legs syndrome.
In 2009, she was named VP, associate creative director of copy at METL; she was named an HBA Rising Star award in 2013.
Consulting Pool
Dr. Edmundo Muniz
Certara Appoints New CEO
Certara, a global technology-enabled drug development and drug safety consultancy, has appointed a new CEO Edmundo Muniz, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Muniz joins Certara from Kirax, where he had served as president and CEO since 2005.
In that role, he focused on acquiring, developing, and commercializing innovative specialty care therapies for oncology, pain, inflammation, acute, and supportive care.
Dr. Muniz held several senior executive roles at Lilly, including head of worldwide pharmacovigilance and epidemiology, cardiovascular business unit leader, and VP of oncology clinical development.
Dr. Muniz earned an M.D. from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic, and a Ph.D. in population planning and international heath, and an M.S. in population planning from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Service Pool
Jim Owens
SDI Names Business Development VP
SDI has appointed Jim Owens as senior VP of business development. Mr. Owens brings client-focused financial insight and significant experience with integrated solutions offerings across multiple industries to the SDI team.
Before joining the SDI team, Mr. Owens was the VP of strategic markets at USM, EMCOR Group, a facilities management and mechanical and electrical construction company.
Technology Pool
Neal Bibeau
Robert Gabruk
Symphony Health Solutions Appointments
Symphony Health Solutions, a provider of data, analytics, and technology solutions for healthcare and life-sciences manufacturers, payers, and providers, has appointed Neal Bibeau as CEO. Mr. Bibeau most recently served as president and CEO of DecisionOne Corp. There, he was widely credited with transforming the company and at the same time gained recognition from industry analysts and technology organizations for outstanding customer value and service. Mr. Bibeau received an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration of Dartmouth College.
Symphony Health has appointed Robert Gabruk as senior VP, customer success and insights. In this role, Mr. Gabruk is responsible for driving insights and thought leadership in the adoption of the firm’s analytics and consulting services by key strategic accounts.
Before joining Symphony Health Solutions, Mr. Gabruk was the North American practice lead at Cognizant (formerly MarketRx), where he led consulting, market research, analytics, and software development professionals serving global organizations across various industries. He is a graduate of New York University’s Leonard N. Stern School of Business where he earned an MBA and Virginia Polytechnic Institute, where he earned an MSA in mechanical engineering).
