Switzerland-based Roche has named John C. Reed, M.D., Ph.D., as its new head of Roche Pharma Research and Early Development (pRED) and member of the enlarged corporate executive committee.

Reed will be based in Basel and assume his new role on April 2, 2013. The Genentech Research and Early Development organization (gRED), based in South San Francisco, Calif., will not affected by this management change.

Prior to joining Roche, Reed served as CEO at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif. He is a biomedical researcher with a focus on cancer, neuroprotection, autoimmunity and other diseases. Reed is an inventor of more than one hundred patents, a member of multiple scientific journal editorial boards and the founder or co-founder of a number of biotechnology companies. He has also served on the boards of directors of several public biopharmaceutical and biotechnology companies.