Changing Faces

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors witnessed significant leadership changes this month, with numerous high-profile appointments spanning from established commercial-stage companies to innovative start-ups pioneering breakthrough therapies.

BMS veteran strengthens Syndax Pharmaceuticals leadership team. Commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company Syndax Pharmaceuticals made a major addition to its executive team by appointing Dr Nicholas Botwood as head of research and development and chief medical officer. Dr Botwood brought over 25 years of industry experience from his most recent role as head of worldwide medical oncology at Bristol Myers Squibb, where he oversaw all medical activities in the company's oncology portfolio, including new asset launches, data generation, medical education, and commercial strategy.

Galapagos announces leadership transition. European biotechnology company Galapagos completed a significant leadership transition with the appointment of Mr Henry Gosebruch as CEO, succeeding Dr Paul Stoffels who announced his retirement in April 2025.

Acadia Pharmaceuticals expands rare disease focus. Acadia Pharmaceuticals, known for developing the first and only FDA-approved drug to treat hallucinations and delusions associated with Parkinson's disease psychosis, appointed Allyson McMillan-Youngblood as senior vice president, rare disease franchise. McMillan-Youngblood brought more than 20 years of global pharmaceutical experience, most recently serving as senior vice president and business unit head, US oncology at Bristol Myers Squibb, where she provided strategic oversight for two major acquisitions in rare tumours, resulting in successful product launches and significant market share growth.

Multiple CEO appointments drive innovation across biotech sector. Several biotechnology companies welcomed new chief executives this month:

Ted Myles joined Cellarity as CEO, bringing extensive experience from Scholar Rock where he served as chief financial officer and chief operating officer, leading the company through its evolution from early development-stage through a successful Phase 3 registrational study and raising more than $1 billion in capital. Cellarity, founded by Flagship Pioneering in 2019, is redefining how medicines are created by starting with an understanding of the cellular dysfunction that drives disease.
Kate Woolland was promoted to CEO at Closed Loop Medicine (CLM), having previously served as the company's chief operating officer. She will lead CLM as it moves into a new phase focused on enabling partner-led deployment and market scale.
Laurent Claisse took the helm at Clean Biologics, bringing significant international leadership experience from his role as senior vice-president of operations at Sartorius in the Washington DC-Baltimore region. Clean Biologics provides services to the biopharmaceutical industry, including quality control and manufacturing of biological starting materials through its subsidiaries Clean Cells, Naobios, and Karyologic.

Swiss Rockets Group builds leadership bench. The Swiss Rockets Group, an innovative umbrella company with a portfolio of several niche-leading biotech companies, made three key appointments:

Dr Carlo Durrer joined as chief quality officer, bringing experience from 2010 to 2023 at Roche, including head of global CDMO quality, as well as previous roles leading quality operations at Sandoz in Turkey and serving as COO at Deva Holding.
Dr Claudia Bernoulli was appointed head of quality assurance, bringing deep expertise in manufacturing and quality requirements.
Dr Patrick Schnider became head of research & development, bringing distinguished credentials as the inventor and co-inventor of seven drugs that entered clinical development, including the marketed neurokinin 1 receptor antagonist netupitant for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting.

Chief medical officer appointments across therapeutic areas. Dr Atif Abbas joined STORM Therapeutics as chief medical officer, bringing experience from his most recent role as VP at Servier Pharmaceuticals and multiple roles in clinical development at MSD (Merck in the US), Abbvie, Astellas, and Boehringer Ingelheim. STORM Therapeutics is pioneering cellular reprogramming through RNA modifications to treat disease.

Dr Jens Hasskarl was appointed chief medical officer at Priothera, bringing over two decades of international leadership experience in clinical development, translational science, and medical affairs. He most recently served as CMO at Advesya AG, where he led the strategic development of novel immunotherapies in haemato-oncology and autoimmunity, and was previously involved in the development and global approval of multiple cellular therapies, including Breyanzi, Abecma, and Kymriah.

Nicole Davarpanah joined Cidara Therapeutics as chief medical officer, bringing over a decade of clinical development and translational medicine experience from six years in rising roles of leadership at Genentech/Roche, where she served most recently as a clinical and translational lead responsible for the evaluation and advancement of early-stage molecules.

Senior commercial and operating leadership changes. Maria Törnsén was appointed chief operating officer and President US at Hansa Biopharma, bringing experience from her most recent position as president North America at Calliditas Therapeutics, where she was responsible for the US commercial and medical affairs organisation until it was acquired by Asahi Kasei Corporation of Japan in September 2024.

Gordon McCall was promoted to chief operating officer at Sapio Sciences, having served as the company's chief financial officer since 2022. Sapio Sciences provides cloud-based solutions including LIMS, ELN, and Scientific Data Cloud unified on a flexible, configurable, and AI-native informatics platform.

Dr Bee Koen Low joined Kelso Pharma as chief operating officer, bringing over 20 years' experience in the pharmaceutical industry with extensive scientific expertise in M&A due diligence and integrations, technology transfers, supply chain strategy, and pipeline development.

CFO and business development leadership. Donato Spota was appointed CFO at Eleva, bringing experience from his previous position as CFO of Hansa Biopharma, where he supported the progress of the company's R&D pipeline and its transformation to a commercial-stage company, securing growth financing in excess of USD 200 million.

Bhavna Hunjan joined Nucleome Therapeutics as chief business officer, having previously served as chief business officer and Board Director at C4X Discovery where she played a critical role in a series of successful licensing deals and partnerships.

Stacey Davis was appointed chief business officer & chief financial officer at Enara Bio, bringing over 25 years of experience in delivering growth, innovation, and strategic transformation in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries, most recently serving as CBO at Xilio Therapeutics.

Research and development leadership. Rick Austin joined VERAXA Biotech as chief scientific officer, bringing experience from his previous role as vice president, research at Harpoon Therapeutics, which was acquired by MSD (Merck) in 2024, where he led tumour immunology projects using BiTE technology.

Xavier Jacq was appointed CSO at MitoRx, bringing experience from his most recent role as CSO at Moa Technologies in Oxford, as well as scientific leadership positions at Almac and Mission Therapeutics.

Ed Savory joined Slingshot Therapeutics as head of chemistry, bringing more than 22 years' experience advancing drug development programmes, most recently as senior vice president, drug discovery at BenevolentAI.

Multiple sclerosis specialist appointments. Octave Bioscience made several key appointments to strengthen its neurodegenerative disease focus:

Darin Okuda, Professor of Neurology at The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center specialising in multiple sclerosis and related disorders, joined as senior medical advisor.
Jennifer Graves, Professor of Neurosciences and Vice Chair of Human Clinical Research at UC San Diego and division chief of neuroimmunology, was appointed senior medical director.
Terrie Livingston was promoted from within the company to vice president, medical affairs.

Commercial leadership appointments. Duncan Ferguson joined Essential Pharma as vice president, commercial, bringing experience from his recent role as head of partner markets at Jazz Pharmaceuticals.

Corrina Pavetto was appointed SVP, clinical development at Cidara Therapeutics, bringing over 25 years of experience in clinical research and regulatory affairs with specialised focus on infectious disease, including previous support for influenza antiviral and vaccine development at the US Government Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority.

Advisory and strategic appointments. Sir Tony Kouzarides joined Shift Bioscience as scientific advisor, bringing distinguished credentials as an esteemed academic and entrepreneur who has played a major role in the Cambridge life sciences ecosystem, having co-founded both the Milner Therapeutics Institute and Abcam.

Jama Pitman was appointed strategic advisor at Rose Hill Life Sciences, bringing deep expertise from the biotech and pharmaceutical sectors, having previously served as a senior executive at Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, where she was instrumental in the company's evolution from a private biotech to a publicly traded, global enterprise acquired for $2.4 billion.

That’s it for our pharma and biotech hires for May, but stay tuned for our other hires round-ups. And remember, you can send your own hires to editorial@pharmaphorum.com for inclusion in this column.