Wall Street Analyst Joins Novartis Execs
Well-known Sanford Bernstein analyst, Ronny Gal, PhD has joined Novartis as Chief Strategy and Growth Officer. CEO Vas Narasimhan created the position as a leader of the company’s corporate strategy. Dr. Gal has spent his 20 years in financial research providing high-profile analyses of biopharma companies and the life sciences industry at large. His savvy will now be used to advance Novartis’ R&D portfolio and business development.
“He is a thought leader in the healthcare sector and is widely recognized for his deep thematic research across therapeutic areas, technology platforms, and key industry topics such as the U.S. drug delivery system and efforts to reform it,” Novartis said of Dr. Gal in a statement.
Alchemab Appoints New CEO
Young T. Kwon, PhD, Alchemab Therapeutics’ current Chief Financial and Operating Officer, is taking over as Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board. Replacing Douglas A. Treco, PhD, Dr. Kwon will be driving growth for the company as it focuses on discovery and development of naturally occurring protective antibodies and immune repertoire-based patient stratification tools in neurodegeneration and oncology.
Houman Ashrafian, Chairman of the Board, commented, “In addition to building transformative biotech companies, Young’s track record working with and developing talented teams will build on and shape Alchemab’s diverse, ambitious, and unique culture. As the company continues to grow its footprint in the U.S. and the U.K., we look forward to working with Young to advance our novel programs to the clinic and build out our highly differentiated platform.”
Apellis Pharmaceuticals
The global biopharma company announced industry veteran Peter Hillmen, MB ChB, PhD, is the new Head of Hematology Engagement. Dr. Hillmen is an internationally recognized clinical researcher and thought leader in the paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) field, helping to develop several approved PNH treatments and led the efforts to create the Global PNH Registry to further understand the burden and outcomes of people who are living with the disease.
Arcellx
The California-based biotech focused on cancer immunotherapies announced Michelle Gilson as its new Chief Financial Officer. Gilson makes the switch to an executive role from her position as Managing Director and Senior Equity Research Analyst at Canaccord Genuity, where she covered biotech companies.
CN Bio
The leading Organ-On-A-Chip company has announced that Paul Brooks, PhD, MBA will take over as Chief Business Officer. With 25 years of experience, Dr. Brooks will be responsible for shaping the company’s commercial business strategy and leading the expansion of its global commercial organization. He aims to help the company accelerate reliable drug development without relying on animal models with CN Bio’s multi-organ microphysiological systems.
Element Biosciences
Prior Thermo Fisher Scientific veteran, Mark Aitkenhead, PhD, has been named Chief Commercial Officer at Element Biosciences. Dr. Aitkenhead will build, guide, and manage the customer-facing functions of the DNA sequencing tech company, as well as develop and implement strategies for driving adoption of current and future products in the marketplace.
Greater Than One
The full-service marketing agency announced that Bindhu Gopalan has been appointed Chief Client Officer and will be responsible for overseeing all client engagements, with a focus on building better healthcare experiences through Greater Than One’s Capability Convergence model. While she aims to build connections with clients, Gopalan also has a passion for marketing products to treat rare diseases.
Civetta Therapeutics
The biotech developing therapies that target beta-propeller domains has added Jesse Smith, PhD to its team as Chief Scientific Officer. Dr. Smith has worked successfully with startups like REMIX Therapeutics to attract funding and partnerships from big names such as Janssen.
Nouscom
The clinical-stage immuno-oncology company promoted Richard Davis, PhD to Chief Operating Officer. Since joining Nouscom in 2020, Dr. Davis has been integral in building relationships that help the company further its proprietary viral vector vaccines platform, which has led to the FDA clearance of the potential first off-the-shelf viral cancer vaccine.
Oncotelic Therapeutics
The pediatric oncology drug developer appoints Fatih Uckun, MD, PhD as its Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Uckun will be responsible for execution of internal company led registrational trials as the rare pediatric designation OT-101 is in development as treatment for difficult to treat cancers.
Syneos Health
Michelle Keefe moves from President, Medical Affairs and Commercial Solutions, to the company’s new CEO and Board Member as Alistair Macdonald retires after 20 years at Syneos Health. Since 2017, Keefe has driven growth across product development and will bring this mindset to new market opportunities as Syneos becomes a next era data- and insights-driven organization.
TAMP
TAMP, a medical doctor Digital Innovation Upskilling company that is carving out a space in the Continuing Medical Education market, appointed Gil Bashe, Chair Global Health and Purpose, FINN Partners, to its Advisory Board. Bashe says, “TAMP is a bold, long-awaited answer to providers’ needs to leverage the wide-range of possible benefits of digital health technologies to improve their patients’ care.” The TAMP solution is now accessible to over 90,000 doctors, including to 9,600 surgeons who can access the 12-week Digital Surgery Program.
The Bloc
The health creative agency continues its growth with two new hires. Jay Appel will be taking the newly created role of Chief Digital Officer, where he will use science-based tools and tactics to integrate the company’s award-winning creative into unique digital experiences . Appel will build a content strategy team while taking over the UI/UX, digital solutions, and innovation divisions to provide evidence-based changes to traditional marketing. Long-time H4B Chelsea lead Christian Bauman, joins the agency as its Chief Creative Officer to oversee an international team of creatives with the goal of fostering a singular, deep creative community throughout the agency.
Truepill
Truepill continues to expand with the announcement of Ana Schrank as its first Chief Financial Officer. Schrank has over 20 years of experience in finance and operations strategy to bring to the company as it continues to power the future of consumer healthcare and enters its next phase of growth.
