Up and Coming

April 27, 2020

This feature highlights changes in clinical trial organizations’ personnel.

BARDA

Gary Disbrow, deputy director of HHS’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), will take on the role of acting director following the move of former director Rick Bright. Bright will now lead a COVID-19 diagnostics initiative at the National Institutes of Health.

BlueWillow Biologics

Chad Costley has assumed the position of chief medical officer at BlueWillow Biologics. Costley has practiced primary care medicine for more than 10 years and is the founder, owner and lead physician of Ponce Primary Care.

GTX Medical BV

GTX Medical BV has hired John Murphy to take on the role of chief technology officer. Murphy recently served as chief technical officer and vice president of research and development at LivaNova.

ICER

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER) has appointed Yvette Venable to the role of vice president of patient engagement. Venable previously held the role of global head of public affairs at Kyowa Kirin International.

Immunic

Following the departure of chief financial officer Sanjay Patel, Immunic has promoted Glenn Whaley from the position of principal accounting officer and controller to vice president of finance.

Magenta Therapeutics

John Davis has been named head of research and development of Magenta Therapeutics. Davis will continue in his role as chief medical officer, a position he assumed at Magenta in 2018.

MindMed

Jeanne Bonelle has been promoted to the role of executive vice president of technical operations at Mind Medicine (MindMed), a psychedelic pharmaceutical company. Bonelle most recently held the position of executive vice president of global quality at MindMed.

Ohana Biosciences

Ramiro Castro-Santamaria has been appointed to the role of chief medical officer of Ohana Biosciences. Prior to this appointment, Castro-Santamaria was vice president of clinical sciences and head of rheumatology at GlaxoSmithKline.

PTC Therapeutics

PTC Therapeutics has named Matthew Klein to the role of chief development officer. Prior to joining PTC Therapeutics, Klein was CEO and chief medical officer of BioElectron Technology. PTC Therapeutics also named Eric Pauwels chief business officer. Pauwels was most recently senior vice president and general manager of the Americas at PTC Therapeutics.

Rockwell Medical

Biopharmaceutical company Rockwell Medical has appointed Russell Ellison to the role of president and CEO. Prior to this appointment, Ellison was CEO of biotechnology company Promedior.

Sangamo Therapeutics

D. Mark McClung has been named executive vice president and chief business officer of Sangamo Therapeutics. McClung recently served as vice president and general manager of global oncology commercial at Amgen.

Shield Therapeutics

Tim Watts has been appointed CEO of Shield Therapeutics, a promotion from his previous role as chief financial officer at the company.

Silverback Therapeutics

Serial biotech entrepreneur Laura Shawver has joined Silverback Therapeutics as the company’s president and CEO. Shawver was recently the president and CEO of biotechnology company Synthorx.

STipe Therapeutics

Richard Bethell has been named chief development officer of STipe Therapeutics. Previously, Bethell held the position of chief scientific officer at Medivir.