Shakers Spotlight
Pioneering the Telehealth Industry
InteractiveMD, provider of a consumer telehealth retail model and customized telehealth solutions, has named Gary Wald as Chief Operating Officer. In his new role, Wald will oversee all aspects of daily operations, growth strategies and forging of strategic alliances while drawing on his extensive career history in telehealth, telecommunications, medical devices and advertising. Wald’s career spans over 30 years working for Fortune 100 employers and industry leaders including Teladoc, Medtronic GTE/Verizon and NBC. Prior to joining InteractiveMD, Wald co-founded Teladoc, the first telehealth medical consultations provider in the nation, and led the company in subscribing over one million members to the service—making it the largest telehealth provider in the nation since 2002. InteractiveMD offers customized telehealth solutions for government, pharmaceutical and medical device companies, hospitals, managed care, and other intermediaries.
New Pharma CEO
Savient Pharmaceuticals, a specialty biopharmaceutical company in East Brunswick, NJ, appointed Louis Ferrari to the role of President and Chief Executive Officer. He was formerly the company’s Executive VP, President North American Commercial Operations and succeeded Savient’s interim CEO, David Norton. Ferrari will now lead Savient’s initiatives and efforts to advance the development and commercialization of Krystexxa (a compound used to treat chronic gout in adult patients), and strategies to drive global growth. Additionally, Ferrari will lead the company’s efforts to improve operational efficiencies, which include restructuring its sales force and its internal work force. Ferrari joined the company in February 2011 and has over 30 years of experience in pharma, including expertise in product launches, new product development, international marketing, sales training and management, licensing and acquisitions, and clinical trials.
MOVERS & SHAKERS
AbelsonTaylor
Appointed Scott Bernover to Director of Digital Sales and promoted Ben Murphy to Associate Director of Technology. Tony Adams also joins the team while Chris Mauck and Jeff Borders were promoted. All three now hold the title of Senior Interactive Developer. These changes were made to enhance the agency’s capabilities and expertise in interactive and digital marketing and advertising via mediums such as web and mobile/iPad technologies.
Appature
The Seattle-based cloud-based software company specifically tailored to the life sciences industry appointed Bob Harrell as their new Vice President of Marketing, Healthcare. He recently held the position of Director of Integrated Marketing at Shire Pharmaceuticals. Harrell will lead marketing efforts for Appature’s services and solutions to their pharma and medical device clients.
Array BioPharma
Appointed Andrew Robbins to the newly created position of Senior Vice President of Commercial Operations. Robbins will work with the company’s R&D teams to refine strategy, prioritize portfolio investments and support collaborations with strategic partners. He will also develop launch plans and sales and marketing teams as products move closer to market. Robbins brings 15 years of strategic leadership experience from the pharma industry, specifically in the areas of oncology and hematology.
Bell, Falla and Associates
The marketing research and consulting company specializing in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries appointed Paul Kirnos as Senior Statistician. Kirnos brings over 10 years of analytic experience with a specialty in advanced quantitative methods including conjoint/choice modeling, segmentation, forecasting, and pricing research. He can also apply these methodologies to address marketing issues throughout the product life cycle across many therapeutic categories.
ImpactRx
The consultative and analytics-based solution to the healthcare industry hired Adi Asavaid as Senior Vice President, Solutions Design and Implementation. This appointment comes after their acquisition by Symphony Technology Group in May 2012 to form Symphony Health Solutions, which also combines TargetRx, AlphaDetail and Source Healthcare Analytics. Asavaid will lead the design and development of innovative solutions for ImpactRx’s clients. He brings nearly 25 years of experience in solution development, consultation and analytics.
Intouch Solutions
Bunny Ellerin was appointed to Senior Vice President. Ellerin will focus on enhancing and evolving the firm’s healthcare professional-directed offerings as well as directly advising clients. She brings more than 20 years of healthcare communication experience. Prior to joining Intouch, Ellerin was CEO of Ellerin Health Media, where she shaped digital, social and mobile strategies to communicate with physicians and other HCPs.
Jennerex
Appointed Laurent Fischer, MD to the positions of President, Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of the clinical-stage biotherapeutics company focused on developing and commercializing oncology products. Fischer has 20 years of drug development and commercialization experience in biopharma. He recently served as President and CEO of Ocera Therapeutics and has held senior management positions at various biopharma companies. His specialties include gastrointestinal disorders, oncology, virology and liver disease.
MediScripts
The point-of-prescription advertising company, named Jim Pantaleo, Executive Vice President, Sales and Marketing. Pantaleo will oversee the development and implementation of brand awareness strategies and plans targeted to their database of 150,000 prescribers, as well as direct day-to-day sales and business activities for the organization. Pantaleo joins Mediscripts with more than 20 years of experience, which covers numerous specialties including primary care, urology, long-term care, pharmacy, hematology and oncology.
OneWorld Health
The biopharmaceutical company that discovers and develops treatments for diseases in developing nations named Ponni Subbiah, MD, its new global program leader making her responsible for the company’s drug development portfolio. She spent the last 15 years at Pfizer, where her most recent position was Vice President, Global Access, Emerging Markets Business Unit.
Onyx Pharmaceuticals
The global biopharmaceutical company in San Francisco appointed John E. Osborn as Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs. He is responsible for managing the public and government affairs, as well as stakeholder relationship activities of the company. Osborn brings many years of experience in these areas and has held faculty positions at Oxford, Princeton and the University of Washington.
Pacific Communications
The California-based agency added Shelley Snow as Vice President, Management Supervisor, to the Botox Therapeutic account team. She will provide strategic oversight across indications for conventions and conferences, advisory boards, sales training and KOL engagement. Eric Schramm was appointed to the position of Account Group Supervisor, and joins the Juvéderm account team.
Siren Interactive
The digital relationship marketing agency has expanded its creative team with Margaret McIntyre and Heather Briddick. Serving as Vice President & Creative Director, McIntyre will manage the development of innovative and creative ideas for Siren’s biopharma clients to engage and build trust among patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals. Briddick will report to McIntyre as a Senior Content Strategist. She is responsible for gathering intelligence data and insights that will be used to develop regulatory-compliant engagement strategies.
