Changing Faces – Board of Directors and Advisory Boards – April 2025

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April was a busy month for Boards, with a number of biotechs appointing new Chairs, as well as plenty of other Board seat changes. Read on for the highlights.

Patient-turned-entrepreneur takes helm on Adcendo Board. Laura Shawyer has been named Chair of the Board of Directors at Adcendo ApS, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) targeting cancers with high unmet medical needs. Following her own diagnosis and treatment for ovarian cancer in 2006, Shawyer founded The Clearity Foundation, which merged with the Ovarian Cancer Research Alliance in 2025. She currently serves as president and CEO of Capstan Therapeutics. Additionally, Dr Roy Baynes joined Adcendo’s Board. Baynes, currently chief medical officer at Eikon Therapeutics, was previously CMO and head of clinical development at Merck, where he played a key role in the development of Keytruda.

Oxford spinout names new Chair. There’s a new Board Chair at Dark Blue Therapeutics, a biotech spinout from the University of Oxford focused on precision oncology medicines. Edwin Moses previously built Oxford Asymmetry International and Ablynx NV, leading successful IPOs on the LSE, EuroNext, and NASDAQ, and raised over $500 million in equity and debt financing.

New Board leadership at French cell therapy outfit. The new Chairman of the Board of Directors at Astraveus, a Paris-based life sciences company dedicated to making cell therapies with maximised quality at lower costs, is Jean-Paul Mangeolle. With more than 35 years of experience in life sciences and executive roles at Millipore (now MilliporeSigma) and Danaher, Mangeolle's expertise will be invaluable to Astraveus' mission. Astraveus also made another addition to its Board with David Newble, former CEO of SPT Labtech and TAP Biosystems and founder of Fluidic Sciences.

SynOx taps industry vet to lead Board. SynOx Therapeutics also has a new Board Chair in Philip Astley-Sparke, a life sciences industry veteran with transatlantic late-stage development, regulatory, and commercialisation expertise. Astley-Sparke replaces Ton Logtenberg, who had served as Board Chair since 2021. SynOx is a late-stage clinical biopharmaceutical company developing emactuzumab for the treatment of Tenosynovial Giant Cell Tumour (TGCT) and other CSF-1-related disorders.

More Board of Directors appointments. A number of other pharma and biotech companies filled out their Boards in April.

  • Anne Whitaker joins Telix Pharmaceuticals, a Melbourne-based biopharmaceutical company focused on radiopharmaceuticals. Whitaker was most recently Chair and CEO of Aerami Therapeutics Holdings Inc. She has held senior leadership roles at GSK, Sanofi, and Bausch Health.
  • Dr Laura Sepp-Lorenzino joins the Board at AskBio, a gene therapy-focused subsidiary of Bayer AG. Sepp-Lorenzino, currently a scientific advisor at Intellia Therapeutics, has held R&D roles at Vertex, Alnylam, and Merck & Co.
  • Dr Kiersten Stead joins the Board of Creyon Bio, a California biotech leveraging AI-powered oligonucleotide engineering. Stead, an accomplished scientist investor, is currently co-founder and managing partner at DCVC Bio.
  • Philippe Masset has been appointed to the Board of Directors at Vect-Horus, a French biotech developing vectors for targeting and delivery of therapeutic or imaging agents. Masset, former CEO of Degroof, oversaw a successful merger with Petercam and held senior roles at ING.

Advisory and scientific appointments. Additionally, several companies bolstered their scientific and advisory boards with some high-profile experts.

  • Mark Newsom joins Avalere Health as part of its advisory team. Newsom, the deputy group director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), will serve as a subject matter expert on Medicare Advantage and Part D.
  • Dr Dario A. A. Vignali has been appointed to the scientific advisory board at Secarna Pharmaceuticals. Vignali, Chair and Distinguished Professor of Immunology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, has authored nearly 250 publications and holds 15 patents. He has co-founded multiple biotech companies, including Potenza Therapeutics.
  • Dr Barbara Weber joins the Supervisory Board at ITM, a German biotech focused on radiopharmaceuticals. Weber is president, CEO, and founder of Tango Therapeutics and a venture partner at Third Rock Ventures.
  • Dr Marvin H Caruthers has been appointed to the Advisory Board at Veranova, a Pennsylvania developer and manufacturer of APIs. Caruthers, a distinguished biochemist, pioneered modern DNA and RNA synthesis techniques.
  • Majid Jafar joins the Advisory Council at Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre, a research partnership between the University of Oxford and Harrington Discovery Institute. Jafar is a prominent global rare disease advocate and philanthropist.

Two non-profit appointments. Dr Del Trezise, a former GSK R&D leader, has been appointed Chair of the Board at ELRIG, a UK-based not-for-profit organisation supporting the drug discovery community. Dr Trezise currently holds leadership and advisory roles at Sartorius, Axol Bioscience, Semarion, and Refeyn, bringing a wealth of experience to ELRIG's mission. And Dr Despina Moschu has been named Fellow at EAMBES, a not-for-profit international organisation that seeks to improve the health and wellbeing of European citizens by the application of medical and biological engineering and science. Moschu has filed eight patents relating to Lab-on-Chip technologies and founded two companies, biotIP Ltd and Tesla Diagnostix, which developed VitaLibra, the world’s first device to use patients’ saliva to accurately monitor glucose levels.

That completes our slightly late package of April hires round-ups. Stay tuned for the updates for the month of May.