New hires:
Pfizer hired Andrew Baum, a former executive at Citi, to serve as chief strategy and innovation officer, EVP.
Ipsen appointed Keira Driansky as EVP, president of North America.
Finn Partners, a 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree, named Dr. Richard Levin, former president and CEO of the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, as chief health affairs counselor.
Pharmaceutical Strategies Group welcomed Mike Sackett as SVP of financial analytics, procurement and consulting strategy.
CMR Surgical today appointed Shlomi Cohen as CFO.
CG Life, a 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree, named Jon Sawyer as its chief operating officer.
Virtusan added Artur Zolkiewicz as CEO.
Nimbus Therapeutics appointed Anita Scheuber, MD, PhD as SVP, therapeutic area head of oncology.
Biotech Vivodyne named Julie O’Shaughnessy as chief operating officer.
Obsidian Therapeutics appointed Dana Alexander as chief technical officer.
AdvanCell named Christopher Horvath, MS MBA, as chief commercial officer and chief operating officer while Gary Li, PhD, was tapped as chief strategy officer.
PDS Biotech added Stephan Toutain as chief operating officer.
Life sciences company Cellarity named Christopher Woelk, PhD as VP, head of platform.
Real Chemistry, a 2023 MM+M Agency 100 honoree, added three leaders: former Publicis Health Media exec Eric Solomon will serve as practice leader of paid media, David Ehrlich joins as president of analytics and insights and Carina Whitridge is appointed global client lead.
VantAI named John Cuozzo, a former exec at Relay Therapeutics, as SVP, head of drug discovery.
Atopia Therapeutics changed its name to HpVac and named Dr. Gregoire Chevalier as CEO.
SFA Therapeutics named Stefan C. Weiss, MD, MBA as chief medical officer.
Janus Health named John Garcia as chief product officer.
Executive elevations:
Pharmaceutical Strategies Group also promoted Rebekah Gregg to chief operating officer.
Board appointments:
The 4A’s appointed Dentsu Creative, U.S. CEO Abbey Klaassen as chair and added five leaders to its national board of directors.
GSK appointed Wendy Becker as a member of the corporate responsibility committee.
Iktos named Roman Fleck as chairman of the board.
Edgewise Therapeutics added Arlene Morris to its board of directors.
Palisade Bio named Margery Fischbein to its board of directors.
Eterna Therapeutics appointed Mahendra Rao, PhD to its scientific advisory board.
Departures:
Sanofi‘s chief scientific officer and global head of research Frank Nestle is leaving the drugmaker.
Lexicon Pharmaceuticals CEO Lonnel Coats will retire on July 7.
Peloton CEO Barry McCarthy announced that we would step down.
Arbutus Biopharma said Michael J. Sofia, PhD would retire as chief scientific officer at the end of the year.
Aspira Women’s Health announced that Minh Merchant resigned as general counsel, chief compliance officer and corporate secretary.
Miscellaneous:
Former Spark Therapeutics chief technical officer Cynthia Pussinen alleged in a lawsuit that she experienced discrimination and sexism while working there.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with biotech experts in California after delivering a keynote speech at the RSA Conference.
Former Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes had her federal prison sentence shortened once again.
Independent presidential candidate and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. claimed doctors found a dead worm in his brain.
