Changing Faces: Board appointments in March 2025

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One area in which March proved to be a busy month was in Board appointments, where both Boards of Directors and Advisory Boards saw a number of interesting additions. Here’s a round-up of the highlights.

Ascend bolsters leadership with two Catalent vets. Maryland-based gene to GMP advanced therapy development partner Ascend Advanced Therapies has strengthened its leadership team with two significant appointments. John Chiminski, who served 13 years as CEO of CDMO Catalent, is in as Chair of the Board. Meanwhile, Karen Flynn, who previously held C-Suite roles at Catalent and West Pharmaceutical Services, has joined the company's Board of Directors.

iOnctura names former G1 Therapeutics CEO as Board Chair. Amsterdam clinical-stage precision oncology company iOnctura has appointed Dr Mark Velleca as Board Chair. Velleca brings extensive experience as CEO and Board Chair of Black Diamond Therapeutics, Board Chair of Myeloid Therapeutics, and former CEO of G1 Therapeutics. He also co-founded CGI Pharmaceuticals, which was later acquired by Gilead. iOnctura focuses on combating neglected and hard-to-treat cancers with a pipeline of first-in-class small molecules.

Ex Pfizer R&D chief joins Immunai Board. Dr Mikael Dolsten, former Pfizer chief scientific officer and R&D head, has joined the Board of Directors at Immunai. Dolsten's 15-year stint at Pfizer included overseeing the creation of the company's COVID-19 vaccine. Immunai is a New York City-based artificial intelligence biotech company specialising in mapping the human immune system. Dolsten also joined the supervisory board at FairJourney Biologics this month (see below).

CAMP4 therapeutics taps two big pharma alums. Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech CAMP4 Therapeutics, which uses targeted protein upregulation to develop treatments for genetic diseases, has expanded its Board of Directors with two key appointments: Doug E Williams, former CEO of Codiak Biosciences and ex-EVP of R&D at Biogen and Dr Murray Stewart, former chief medical officer at Rhythm Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline.

Infinitopes adds two directors with strong industry experience. UK-based precision immuno-oncology company Infinitopes, supported by Cancer Research UK and the University of Oxford, has appointed two new non-executive directors. Dan Menichella previously held CEO and CBO roles at CureVac's US subsidiary and was CBO of Bamboo Therapeutics, while Jo Brewer is CSO at Adaptimmune, where she helped bring Tecelra, the first engineered T-TCR therapy for solid tumours, to market.

Two long-serving directors retire at HUTCHMED. Two non-executive directors are stepping down from the Board of HUTCHMED, a biopharma focused on targeted therapies and immunotherapies with offices in Hong Kong and New Jersey, after eight years of service. Paul Rutherford Carter is former Chair of the Remuneration Committee and Graeme Allan Jack, former Chair of the Audit Committee.

Four more biotechs add prominent Board members. A number of additional pharma companies announced experienced Board appointments this month.

  • PE-backed specialty pharma company Kelso Pharma, which recently acquired Italian medical device and pharma company Velit Biopharma, has appointed Graeme Duncan as non-executive director. Duncan is an experienced pharma executive and former ADVANZ PHARMA CEO.
  • Dr Mark W Frohlich joined the Board of Directors at Rigel Pharmaceuticals, a biotechnology company dedicated to discovering, developing, and providing novel therapies for patients with haematologic disorders and cancer. A medical oncologist, Frohlich brings 25 years of experience developing cellular immunotherapies to treat cancer and is the current CEO of Indapta Therapeutics.
  • PureTech spin-out Seaport Therapeutics, which is working on novel neuropsychiatric medicines, has appointed Robert J Hombach as Audit Committee Chair and a member of the Board. Hombach previously served as the Executive Vice President, CFO, and COO of Baxalta, a $6 billion global biopharmaceutical company, until it was acquired by Shire plc in 2016.
  • UK biotech Shift Bioscience, which harnesses AI-powered virtual cells with the goal of reversing age-driven diseases, has appointed Laurence Reid as non-executive director. Reid is a 30-year biotech veteran who previously served as CEO for Decibel Therapeutics and Warp Drive Bio.

FairJourney Biologics strengthens Supervisory Board. Portuguese biologics CRO FairJourney Biologics, which offers end-to-end antibody services to the global biopharma industry, has expanded its Supervisory Board with three key appointments:

  • Dr Werner Lanthaler, CEO of the investment firm Wlanholding, former CEO of Evotec, and former CFO at Intercell.
  • Dr Tariq Ghayur, a biologics expert who previously held senior leadership positions at BASF Pharma, Abbott Laboratories, and most recently as Distinguished Research Fellow and Head of Foundational Immunology Department at AbbVie.
  • Dr Mikael Dolsten, who brings 25 years' experience leading cross-functional research and development programmes and advancing innovative therapeutic solutions across diverse organisations, including as chief scientific officer at Pfizer.

Renowned cancer expert joins TOLREMO’s Scientific Advisory Board. Switzerland-based biotech TOLREMO, which focuses on preventing non-genetic cancer drug resistance, has appointed Dr Pasi A Jänne to its Scientific Advisory Board. Dr Jänne is a globally recognised expert in drug-resistant lung cancer and is the current SVP for translational medicine at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Dutch Medtech Xeltis expands Medical Advisory Board. Xeltis, a Dutch clinical medtech company developing implants that encourage the regeneration of patient tissue, has added two experts to its Medical Advisory Board: Dr An De Vriese, head of the Division of Nephrology and Infectious Disease in AZ Sint-Jan Brugge and Guest Professor at Ghent University, and Dr Haimanot Wasse, Interim Chair of the Department of Internal Medicine, and the chief of nephrology and director of interventional nephrology at the Rush University Medical Center.

Shift Bioscience brings on translation advisor. UK biotech Shift Bioscience has appointed Jill Reckless as translation advisor. Reckless is CEO and co-founder of RxCelerate, where she has supported the company from start-up to establishing it as a leading provider of drug discovery and development services. Shift Bioscience harnesses AI-powered virtual cells with the goal of reversing age-driven diseases.

That’s it for this month’s Changing Faces. We’ll see you again in May and, remember, you can send your own hires to editorial@pharmaphorum.com for inclusion in this column.