Up and Coming

February 7, 2020

This feature highlights changes in clinical trial organizations’ personnel.

Aerie Pharmaceuticals

Michelle Senchyna has been named vice president of clinical development and medical affairs at Aerie Pharmaceuticals. Prior to this appointment, Senchyna was executive director of ophthalmology at Allergan.

Bavarian Nordic

Bavarian Nordic has named Laurence De Moerlooze executive vice president and chief medical officer. De Moerlooze joins Bavarian after briefly serving as vice president and global program lead for vaccines at Takeda Vaccines.

Boston Pharmaceuticals

Craig Basson will now serve as chief medical officer of Boston Pharmaceuticals, joining the company after a decade-long tenure as global head of translational medicine (cardiovascular and metabolism) at Novartis.

BryoLogyx

David Crockford has been appointed to the position of vice president of clinical development and logistics, a newly created role in the company. Crockford most recently served as vice president of regulatory affairs at Neurotrope.

ContraFect

ContraFect has named Jane Ambler the company’s newest vice president of clinical microbiology. Prior to this appointment, Ambler was vice president of clinical microbiology at Wockhardt Pharmaceuticals.

CytomX Therapeutics

CytomX Therapeutics appointed Alison Hannah to the role of senior vice president and chief medical officer. Most recently, Hannah served as a consultant to nearly 30 pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms.

Disc Medicine

John Quisel has been named Disc Medicine’s new CEO and president. Prior to this appointment, Quisel was chief business officer at Acceleron.

Epirium Bio

Epirium Bio has appointed Ransi Somaratne to the role of chief medical officer. Previously, Somaratne was a core team leader for BioMarin Pharmaceutical’s hemophilia A gene therapy program.

Freeline

Theresa Heggie has been named chief executive of biotechnology firm Freeline. Most recently, Heggie served as senior vice president and head of the Central Europe, Middle East and Africa (CEMEA) regions at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.

Healx

Anthony Hall has been appointed to the position of chief medical officer at Healx, succeeding his previous roles as chief medical officer at Aparito and therapeutic area head of orphan drugs at Mereo BioPharma.

Horizon Therapeutics

Shao-Lee Lin, chief scientific officer and executive vice president of research and development at Horizon Therapeutics, has resigned from her role at the company. Horizon has brought in Scott Brun to oversee and act as a senior adviser to the R&D leadership team. Brun will continue to run his own consulting firm.

Moderna

Melanie Ivarsson has joined Moderna as the company’s new chief development officer. Previously, Ivarsson was vice president and head of global clinical operations at Takeda.

NeoImmuneTech

Gene Namgoong has been promoted to the position of chief operating officer at NeoImmuneTech, after serving as the company’s legal counsel and general counsel. Prior to joining NeoImmuneTech, Namgoong was legal adviser for JK BioPharma Solutions.

PhoreMost

Benedict Cross has been appointed senior director of technology at UK-based PhoreMost. Previously, Cross led the functional genomic screening platform at Horizon Discovery.

Portola Pharmaceuticals

Portola Pharmaceuticals announced the appointment of Rajiv Patni to the role of executive vice president and chief medical officer. Patni previously served as chief medical officer at Adamas Pharmaceuticals.

RedShift BioAnalytics

Julien Bradley joins RedShift BioAnalytics as its new CEO after previously serving as the vice president of marketing at Quanterix.

Relay Therapeutics

James Nichols has been tapped by Relay Therapeutics as the company’s new head of genetic diseases. Prior to this new role with Relay, Nichols served as the chief operating officer at Warp Drive Bio.

Spaulding Clinical Research

Cassandra Erato has been named CEO of Spaulding Clinical Research, succeeding Randy Spaulding who will now assume the role of founder, chairman and chief visionary officer.

USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute

Winona Blount has been appointed to the role of director of clinical trials at the USA Health Mitchell Cancer Institute. Since 2016, Blount has served as manager of the division of clinical trials at the Mitchell Cancer Institute.