BridgeBio Adds Workplace Diversity and Genomics Leader Dr. Hannah Valantine to Team
Known as a national leader in organ transplant genomics and champion of workplace diversity, Hannah Valantine, MD, joins BridgeBio Pharma as an independent member of the Board of Directors. Dr. Valantine currently serves as a professor of medicine at Stanford University School of Medicine and was elected to the National Academy of Medicine in 2020. She previously worked as the inaugural Chief Officer for Scientific Workforce Diversity at the National Institutes of Health from 2014 to 2020.
“From her groundbreaking discovery of a new technology to help transplant patients, to her meaningful efforts to support and encourage diversity within biomedical sciences, Dr. Valantine’s impact on our industry is far-reaching,” said BridgeBio Founder and CEO Neil Kumar, PhD. “We are proud to have Dr. Valantine join our board and we feel privileged to have the opportunity to learn from her as we work to build the next great genetic medicine company together.”
Medivir Announces New CEO
The pharma company developing innovative drugs focused on unmet cancer needs has appointed Jens Lindberg as the new Chief Executive Officer. Lindberg joins Medivir from his role as CEO at Sedana Medical, but previously spent 25 years at AstraZeneca in increasing leadership roles in Commercial & Investor Relations. A majority of his career has focused on oncology across multiple tumor types, leading local and global strategy, product development, and maximizing commercial value.
“I am delighted about our recruitment of Jens Lindberg as CEO,” stated Dr. Uli Hacksell, Chairman of the Board for Medivir. “He has the ideal personality and experience for this job. Jens brings relevant skills both when it comes to building successful organizations and in developing and commercializing medicines for the treatment of cancer.”
Adial Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Cary J. Claiborne has been appointed to the Board of Directors of this clinical-stage biopharma company developing therapies for treating and preventing addiction and related disorders. Claiborne previously served as CFO of Indivior PLC, a pharma company developing medicines to treat addiction and serious mental illnesses.
Akous Inc.
The precision genetic medicine company focused on hearing loss appointed Stacy Price as Chief Technical Officer. Price brings 25 years of experience managing clinical and commercial biotechnology manufacturing and technical operations and is charged with leading strategy and operations of vector development and manufacturing, as well as device development and engineering.
Doceree Inc.
The global network of HCP-only platforms for programmatic messaging named Michael Fishweicher as the company’s Senior VP, Point of Care and Business Development, North America. He will now foster partnerships in the life sciences market with his background in the healthcare technology sector. He will bolster industry collaborations across EHR, e-prescribing, and telehealth networks.
Ensoma
Crystal Mackall, MD, and Harry Malech, MD, join the gene therapy company focused on vivo engineering of blood and immune cells as members of the Scientific Advisory Board. Dr. Mackall of Stanford University has led an internationally recognized research program focused on immune-oncology. Her group has been at the leading edge of developing and testing CAR T-cell therapies, defining resistance pathways in this setting and developing next-generation cell therapies for cancer. Dr. Malech, the Chief of the Genetic Immunotherapy Section in the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is a globally recognized expert in primary immune deficiencies and gene therapy. He leads research and clinical development of gene therapy and hematopoietic stem cells transplantation approaches.
Evolution Health Group
Leo Francis, PhD, was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of Evolution Health Group (EHG), a full-service, global healthcare communications agency. Dr. Francis was serving as Chief Medical Officer at the company, which he joined in 2019. Additionally, Jeffrey Freedman has joined the company as President of blulava, EHG’s innovation lab. Freedman has more than 25 years of digital and healthcare marketing experience with a strong track record of fostering an environment of innovation.
Ipsen
The global oncology, rare diseases, and neuroscience company tapped Novartis veteran Mari Scheiffele as an Executive VP and its new President of International Specialty Care. With 20 years of experience, Scheiffele held varying leadership roles in Novartis and will now work to grow Ipsen in more than 115 countries worldwide excluding North America.
Lengo Therapeutics
Brion Murray, PhD, joins the San-Diego-based biotech as its SVP of Research to help guide its R&D for driver mutations across several cancers. Dr. Murray once served as a research fellow in Pfizer where he helped in developing six of the biggest FDA-approved oncology drugs: Inyta, Bosulif, Xalkori, Vizimpro, Ibrance, and Sutent.
MaxCyte, Inc.
The commercial cell-engineering company appointed Richard Douglas, PhD, as Chair of the Board of Directors. Having been a board member since 2018, Dr. Douglas was elected due to his veteran experience, previously serving as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Corporate Officer at Genzyme Corporation.
MicroMass
Noah Lowenthal was named the new Executive Creative Director of the full-service health communications agency. With over 20 years of experience in leading the creation of award-winning solutions and campaigns, Lowenthal will be responsible for defining and driving the creative vision and strategy for the agency. He will help evolve and elevate the agency’s creative services, building upon the Human Dynamics Approach MicroMass developed to help clients align with the ever-evolving needs of today’s patients.
Nitrase Therapeutics
The Bristol Myers Squibb backed biotech tapped Nurix executive, Pierre Beaurang, PhD, as its new CEO. Dr. Beaurang will help the company solidify its work on nitrases, a family of enzymes that Nitrase believes can slow or even stop the progression of Parkinson’s disease and other related conditions. With new funding from companies like AbbVie and Celgene, Dr. Beaurang will set his sights on Parkinson’s, then oncology, and eventually fibrotic diseases.
Rezilient Health
Gil Bashe, Global Health Chair, FINN Partners, has been appointed to Rezilient’s corporate strategic advisory board to guide its communication efforts. Bashe will help Rezilient executives as they expand public health efforts, partnerships, and brand-building. He will be a major asset as Rezilient builds a distributed primary care delivery model with doctors videoing into CloudClinics where nursing care assists on-site during the patient appointment.
