Covance has announced two key additions to its clinical development services scientific leadership team with the appointments of Robert Wasserman, M.D., as vice president and global therapeutic area head, oncology, and Rogelio Mosqueda-Garcia, M.D., Ph.D., as global vice president, early clinical services within medical and scientific affairs. Both are based in Princeton, N.J.

Wasserman’s experience lies in oncology translational medicine, including preclinical, clinical, biomarker and companion diagnostic drug development. In his new role, he will be responsible for leading the scientific strategy for the oncology and hematology therapeutic areas.

Previously, Wasserman spent 15 years in the pharmaceutical industry, most recently at Hoffmann-La Roche as site head of academic alliances, pharma research and early development (pRED) for the Translational Clinical Research Center. He was vice president and Personalized Healthcare Strategic expert for Roche pRED Oncology, where he was responsible for the personalized healthcare strategy across the preclinical and clinical portfolio. He was responsible for bridging discovery and clinical research through the development of translational medicine strategies, conducting early-phase trials and supporting the personalized healthcare objectives of the organization. Wasserman also held increasingly senior-level positions at Merck and Novartis. 

Mosqueda-Garcia is a clinical pharmacologist with extensive academic and industry experience in several therapeutic areas, as well as in translational and experimental medicine. Mosqueda-Garcia will provide scientific direction for the clinical pharmacology services and early clinical development groups. He also will work internally and externally to address issues of clinical pharmacology studies in patients, integration of biomarkers in early development, and the creation of novel approaches to establish proof-of-concept in development programs of new drug candidates.

Mosqueda-Garcia previously was executive director in clinical pharmacology at AstraZeneca. He held senior roles in the clinical discovery group at Bristol-Myers Squibb and in the clinical pharmacology department at DuPont Pharmaceuticals.