Rubius Gains SVP and Business Development Veteran
Kris Elverum joins as Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategy for Rubius, a biopharma company that is generating red blood cells and bioengineering them into an entirely new class of cellular medicines. Elverum will now be responsible for developing the company’s corporate strategy and creating and executing new business development opportunities.
Pablo J. Cagnoni, MD and CEO says, “Kris brings extensive experience in business development, sales and marketing, and global strategy, and we are pleased to have him join the leadership team at Rubius.”
Elverum was previously leading negotiations of the largest strategic partnership in the oncolytic virus field and in-licensed multiple technologies at Turnstone Biologics. He joins Rubius just as it advances its first Red Cell Therapeutic, which is for the potential treatment of phenylketonuria.
Pfizer Exec Joins Nanoparticle Startup
Pharma veteran Geno Germano set his sights on Cornell-backed startup Elucida Oncology, which works on nanoparticle technology with cancer treatment applications. As the company’s new President and CEO, Germano will lead Elucida through trials to use the particles, called C-dots, in precision medicine, targeting and penetrating cancer cells to deliver a range of cancer-killing drugs.
“The background and stature Geno Germano brings to this pivotal role will help our company fulfill its goal to become a leader in the world of precision medicine oncology,” Robert Essner, Executive Chairman, said in a statement.
“Elucida affords an opportunity to explore the world of precision oncology and, perhaps, push the boundaries of its diagnostic and therapeutic applications, Germano says. “I am excited to join this dynamic team.”
AbelsonTaylor
The global health advertising agency, hires Christopher Dimmock as Senior Vice President of Customer Insights and Engagement. With his 28 years of experience, Dimmock will take charge of integrating and elevating AbelsonTaylor’s capabilities in strategic insight, engagement strategy, and predictive performance analytics. His goal is to unite planning and engagement strategy teams for optimal collaboration so that all work aligns with client success metrics at every stage of development and execution.
Arvinas
Oncology biotech Arvinas appoints Ronald Peck, MD to the newly created position of Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Peck is a Bristol-Myers Squibb vet with a strong background in drug development and leading novel cancer therapy programs. He will use his expertise to develop the company’s pipeline and bring its lead drugs, ARV-110 and ARV-47, through Phase I this year.
Ashfield Commercial and Patient Solutions
George Esgro joins the UDG Healthcare agency as President of Global Business Development. The pharma industry veteran most recently served as VP of Strategic Business Development U.S. Commercial for IQVIA. His experience in sales, leadership, training, and marketing roles will help serve the agency as it expands and develops to meet client needs.
Greater Than One
Strategic leader Andrew Bast joins the digital marketing agency as Chief Strategy Officer. An expert in commercialization and brand launching, Bast joins GTO from Concentric Health Experience where he served as Executive Vice President, Director of Strategic Integration. He will now lead the agency and its growing list of clients into a new era of imagination.
Health Union
The company that creates condition-specific online communities names Will Rompala its new Chief Technology Officer. With more than two decades of experience in data science and advertising intelligence experience, Rompala is trusted to provide a strategic roadmap for evolving Health Union’s technological and data capabilities, grow its technology team, and ensure all technology offerings meet the needs of the people participating in the company’s growing portfolio of e-communities.
Klick Health
Daniel Drexler, MD, is appointed Managing Director of the independent agency during its rapid expansion. Dr. Drexler boasts 15 years of health marketing experience across client service, strategy, and general management, most recently serving as the CEO and Founder of “The Neighborhood,” a WPP company. Drexler looks forward to using the company’s empathy and insight, and translating it into motivating and effective action.
Maze Therapeutics
The company focused on genetics in medicine appoints Richard Scheller, PhD, to its Board of Directors. Dr. Scheller was the previous head of therapeutics and CSO at 23andMe and spent 14 years at Genentech prior to this. His broad drug development and early research expertise will serve him as he helps Maze to grow.
Sherlock BioSciences
The Massachusetts-based diagnostics engineering biology company announces Don Haut, PhD, as Chief Business Officer, and William J. Blake, PhD, as Chief Technology Officer. Dr. Blake has 20 years of experience building and leading interdisciplinary teams in biotechnology research. Most recently, he led technical development and translational strategy at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and was on the founding team of GreenLight Biosciences. Dr. Haut brings more than two decades of healthcare experience to Sherlock, previously serving as Chief Business Officer at Histogenics, Inc., where he led all commercial, strategy, and business development activities for the clinical-stage company.
Verastem Oncology
Brian Stuglik, the Eli Lilly veteran who sat on Verastem’s Board of Directors, is appointed CEO of the clinical biopharma company. Stuglik was most recently Global Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Lilly’s Oncology Global Marketing unit. He will be trusted to accelerate the growth of leading drug Copiktra and progress overall company goals.
Verb Surgical
The robotic surgery company born out of Verily and Johnson & Johnson’s collaboration names Kurt Azarbarzin its President and CEO. He will now lead Verb Surgical’s digital surgery platform—a strategic suite which aims to incorporate robotics, visualization, advanced instrumentation, connectivity and machine learning analytics, all into what it describes as “Surgery 4.0.”
Vertex Pharmaceuticals
The company’s CMO since 2017, Reshma Kewalramani, MD, moves into the President and CEO position to lead big changes in strategy and operations. Kewalramani joined Vertex after a 12-year career at Amgen’s Research and Development department and has gained increasing leadership responsibilities in the company since.
