Changing Faces

There was plenty of personnel action in August and September among pharmaceutical suppliers, particularly in the clinical trial technology sector.

Digital and diagnostic firms also made some notable appointments, as did a number of CROs and CDMOs. Check out the full list below.

Nucleus Radiotherapeutics appoints former FDA Commissioner as CEO. Taking the helm at Nucleus Radiotherapeutics is Dr Stephen Hahn, a seasoned oncologist and cancer researcher who previously served as FDA Commissioner. Since leaving the agency in 2021, Hahn has held leadership roles at Flagship Pioneering and Harbinger Health, where he remains an advisor. Nucleus, founded by Eclipse and the Mayo Clinic, is building a network of advanced radiopharmaceutical manufacturing facilities.

Harbinger Health Welcomes Ajit Singh as CEO. Filling Hahn’s old post at Harbinger Health is Ajit Singh, whose career spans leadership at Siemens Healthcare and BioImagene, a digital pathology firm acquired by Roche. Most recently an investor at Artiman Ventures, Singh brings deep expertise in medical informatics and diagnostics to the Flagship Pioneering-backed company focused on early cancer detection.

Four more CEO hires at research and manufacturing organisations. Nucleus wasn’t the only CDMO to change up its top leadership in August or September.

At San Diego-based CDMO and CRO Abzena, Geoffrey M Glass has stepped into the CEO role. Glass has served as Chairman of the Board since 2022 and brings experience from EY Consulting, Bausch Health, and Patheon (Thermo Fisher).
A promotion from within has placed John Jordon at the top of advanco, a supply chain management firm specialising in track and trace solutions. Jordon previously served as chief customer officer and led Vantage Solutions before its acquisition by advanco.
Bringing extensive CRO experience, Bassem Saleh has been named CEO of Julius Clinical. He previously led TFS HealthScience and has held senior roles at both large and mid-sized contract research organisations. Julius Clinical is based in the Netherlands and focuses on CNS and cardiometabolic research.
Joining Aragen Life Sciences as CEO of development and manufacturing solutions, Aniel Khubchandani brings leadership experience from Sekhmet Pharmaventures and Jubilant Ingrevia. The Hyderabad-based company provides R&D and manufacturing services to global life sciences firms.

Ledger Run rounds out its C-Suite. North Carolina-based clinical trial tech company Ledger Run has made three key executive appointments:

Jody Quint, the company’s new chief commercial officer, brings strategic expertise from IQVIA, Optum, and Clarify Health.
Dennis Morgan joins as chief financial officer, having previously served in the same role at Buddy Media, SHYFT Analytics, and Ellevation Education.
Patrick Mizer, appointed chief technology officer, has led technology and product development at several high-growth companies, including Storable.

Slew of hires at clinical trial tech firms. A sextet of companies providing technological support for clinical trials made hire announcements these past two months.

With over two decades of experience in device portfolio strategy, Danny Marshall has joined Inventus as chief product officer. His background includes leadership roles at BT, EE, T-Mobile, and Panasonic. Inventus provides global tech solutions for clinical trials.
A new chief strategy officer has been named at Medidata: Lisa Moneymaker, who previously led strategic customer engagement at the company. With nearly 25 years of experience across pharma, biotech, and medtech, Moneymaker will guide the NYC-based firm’s clinical trial software strategy.
Bringing more than 20 years of healthcare tech experience, Brian Hart has joined Advarra as chief technology officer. Hart previously served as CTO at Covera Health and held leadership roles at IBM Watson Health. Advarra provides clinical research technology from its base in Columbia, Maryland.
Joining OptymEdge as senior director of project delivery & transformation, Amy Del Medico brings 17 years of experience from IQVIA and most recently led clinical operations at Vial. The company specialises in ophthalmology-focused clinical trial technology.
Unlearn has brought on Dr Robert Lenz as strategic advisor. With over 20 years of R&D leadership at Amgen, AbbVie, and Neumora, Lenz will support Unlearn’s mission to improve trials using artificial intelligence.
AI platform developer Qureight has named Craig Rhodes as head of partnerships. Rhodes previously served as EMEA director of healthcare and life sciences at NVIDIA, bringing deep expertise in AI and clinical trial design.

Cleanroom specialistChrysalis names new COO. A new chief operating officer has joined Chrysalis: Adam Bartley, whose career includes leadership roles at Wyeth, Shire, and Sanofi. Chrysalis provides GMP cleanroom hosting and support services for advanced therapy and biopharma innovators.

Komodo Health gains new COO through promotion. Following his tenure as chief revenue officer, Miles Ennis has been promoted to chief operating officer at Komodo Health. Ennis has 20 years of experience scaling global teams and driving digital transformation at companies like IBM, Cisco, and Talkdesk.

Envirotainer expands regional leadership. Two regional presidents have been appointed at cold chain logistics leader Envirotainer. Barbara Morgan, now regional president Americas, previously held senior roles at Kerry Group and Lubrizol, while Kuntal Baveja, named regional president Asia Pacific, brings 20 years of pharma experience, including leadership roles at Novartis.

Voice biomarker start-up taps new CMO. Canary Speech, a Utah-based company that uses AI-powered voice biomarkers to screen for mental health and neurological conditions, has hired Dr Kang Hsu Jr as its new chief medical officer. Hsu is a board-certified internist and clinical informaticist with leadership experience at Providence, St. Joseph Health, and MEDITECH.

Arcinova names new managing director. Following the retirement of co-founder Paul Ryan, Dr Christian Dowdeswell has stepped in as managing director of Arcinova. With over 25 years of experience at Lonza and Siegfried AG, Dowdeswell will lead the UK-based CRDMO, a division of Quotient Sciences.

McAvoy creates new pharmaceutical strategy role. Stepping into a newly created role at McAvoy, Andy Myers will lead pharmaceutical strategy. Myers brings more than 15 years of experience across the pharma and healthcare sectors. McAvoy is a leader in modular building solutions across the UK and Ireland.

CMO hires certification professional. Symbiosis Pharmaceutical Services has appointed Wendy Cook as a qualified person, an EU role responsible for certifying batches of medicinal products. She brings over 20 years of quality assurance experience across GLP, GCP, and GMP environments. Symbiosis is a Scotland-based CMO specialising in sterile GMP manufacture.

That’s it for our digital and supplier hires, but stay tuned for our other personnel round-ups and, remember, you can send your own appointment news to editorial@pharmaphorum.com for inclusion in this column.