Dr. James Bradner, a physician-scientist from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, has been appointed president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) and a member of the executive committee of Novartis, effective March 1, 2016.

Bradner succeeds Mark Fishman, M.D., who will reach his contractual retirement age in March 2016 after a 13-year career at Novartis as the leader of the company's drug discovery and early clinical development efforts.

Bradner will be based at NIBR’s global headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., and will report to Joseph Jimenez, chief executive officer of Novartis. He will join Novartis on Jan. 1, 2016, to work alongside Fishman and the NIBR leadership team to ensure a smooth transition.