Changing Faces: Agency, consultancy, and investor hires from February 2024

We had a light month for hires in February in the agency, consultancy, and investor worlds. But we did have a few notable job changes cross the wire.

New leader and board member joins OVID Health. OVID Health, a healthcare communications consultancy whose clients include Roche, GSK, Novo Nordisk, and Janssen, has tapped Cat Barnett as an executive director and leader of international and UK communications and patient advocacy practices. Barnett has a 25-year career in healthcare, most recently as head of PR and patient advocacy at Havas. Previously, she worked at the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal College of Nursing, AstraZeneca, and a number of high-profile agencies.

Fresh off rebrand, Avalere builds up leadership. Avalere Health, formerly known as a Fishawack, has appointed Effie Baoutis as president of medical. Baoutis has a long career that includes stints at Omnicom, McCann Health, Real Chemistry, and the Healthcare Communications Association. She will lead a team of more than 350 scientific communications professionals.

WE focuses on health and tech with new hire. Global communications agency WE Communications has hired Arun Divakaruni as head of North America Scientific Engagement. Divakaruni, a storied scientific communicator who most recently served as chief science and executive officer at Avant Healthcare, will help WE’s North American business expand its capabilities around the intersection of health and technology.

Eurozeo adds MD for Nordics, UK. European investment group Eurozeo, which focuses on healthcare through its Nov Santé fund, has brought in a new managing director on its investor relations team. Katrin Boström will work on the team responsible for the Nordics and the UK. Her previous jobs include roles at Hamilton Lane, Carneo Asset Managers, Aviva Investors, and Goldman Sachs.

Serial entrepreneur joins SmiLe incubator in mentoring role. Swedish start-up incubator SmiLe has tapped serial entrepreneur Kush Punyani as a business coach. Punyani has five start-up launches, two IPOs, and an acquisition under his belt – several of which came through the SmiLe incubator. Punyani was involved in founding Spermosens, Diagonal Bio, Prolevi Bio, Thyrolytics, and Avsalt.

That’s it for this roundup. Remember, if you’ve had a recent appointment and you work in or around the pharma space, we want to hear about it. Please send your press releases to editorial@pharmaphorum.com to be included in future editions of Changing Faces.