Changing Faces: Board of Directors and Advisory Boards, March 2026

Board‑level appointments this month were thick and fast, with six Boards adding new faces as Chairperson, as well as several notable changes at advisory boards. Read on for the full list.

Veteran drug developer takes the Chair at Lucid Group. Lucid Group, a UK‑ and US‑based healthcare communications and commercialisation firm, appointed Dr Rod MacKenzie as Board Chair. MacKenzie previously served as EVP and chief development officer at Pfizer, where he was involved in the development of the COVID vaccine.

Swarm Oncology names Board Chair with antibody expertise. Cancer immunotherapy company Swarm Oncology, which is advancing novel T‑cell therapies for advanced solid tumours, recruited Bernhard Ehmer as Chair of the Board. His career includes leadership roles in the development and approval of antibody‑based oncology therapeutics, including Erbitux and Removab, during his time at Merck KGaA and as CEO of Fresenius Biotec.

Inceptua Group strengthens Board leadership. Inceptua Group, a global provider of clinical trial services, supplies, and early access programmes, appointed Kurt J Hilzinger as Chair of the Board. Hilzinger previously served as president and chief operating officer of AmerisourceBergen Corp., now Cencora.

Three more firms welcome new Chairs. It was a big month for leadership changes in the boardroom. In addition to the appointments described above:

• Life sciences technology company Abselion, which focuses on simplifying biomolecule quantification, welcomed Dale Gordon as Chair. Gordon most recently served as CEO of Mirus Bio, a provider of transfection technologies used in viral vector production.
• BOOST Pharma, a clinical‑stage biopharmaceutical company developing off‑the‑shelf cell therapies for rare paediatric skeletal diseases, brought on Elaine Jones as Chair of the Board. Jones has served on more than 35 company boards and previously held senior roles across the biotechnology ecosystem, including at Pfizer Ventures and GSK’s venture fund, SR One.
• ReproNovo, a clinical‑stage biopharmaceutical company focused on fertility and women’s health, appointed Mark Altmeyer as Chair of the Board. Altmeyer most recently served as Founder and CEO of Arvelle Therapeutics, leading its rapid growth and $1 billion acquisition by Angelini Pharma, and previously held senior commercial roles at Axovant, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Otsuka.

Other Board appointments. A couple other firms announced notable Board appointments.

• LB Pharmaceuticals, a New York‑based clinical‑stage biopharma developing therapies for neuropsychiatric diseases including schizophrenia, welcomed Dr Robert Lenz to its Board of Directors. He most recently served as executive vice president and head of R&D at Neumora Therapeutics and previously spent more than a decade at Amgen.
• CNX Therapeutics, a London‑based specialty pharmaceutical company focused on improving access to essential medicines, recruited Erin Federman as a non-executive director of the Board. She brings more than two decades of global commercial strategy experience.

Wistar Trustee back for Round Two. The Wistar Institute, the United States’ oldest independent non-profit institution dedicated to biomedical research, welcomed James Lovett back to its Board of Trustees. Lovett previously served on The Wistar Institute Board of Trustees from 2015 to 2022 and currently serves on the boards of Myonex and ChyloMetis.

Advisory Board appointments. A number of biotechs strengthened scientific oversight through advisory appointments:

• Aurion Biotech, an American and Japanese biotech developing an allogeneic cell therapy for corneal endothelial disease, appointed Dr Marjan Farid as Chair of its Medical Advisory Board.
• Outrun Therapeutics, a Scottish biotech developing protein‑stabilising therapeutics using its XL discovery platform, announced a Scientific Advisory Board comprising Prof Glenn Hanna, Prof Kevin Harrington, Prof Gigi Lozano, Dr Donald Ogilvie, and Prof Martin Scheffner, bringing deep expertise in E3 ligase biology.
• Poolbeg Pharma, a clinical‑stage biopharma focused on cancer immunotherapy, welcomed Dr Adrian Kilcoyne to its Scientific Advisory Board. Currently chief medical officer at Cellectis, Kilcoyne was previously CMO and head of research & development at Celularity Inc.
• Wisdom Bioscience, a diagnostics company pioneering non‑invasive oral cancer diagnostics, recruited Drs Giulia Kennedy, Arnold Levine, John Sninsky, Martin Goldberg, and Prof Tin Tin Su to its Scientific Advisory Board, strengthening expertise across cell‑free DNA, oncology screening, and molecular diagnostics.

That’s it for our March Changing Faces editions, but you can send your own future hires and appointments to editorial@pharmaphorum.com for inclusion in this column.