BioSpace Movers & Shakers, Nov. 8

Executive Silhouette

Neurana Pharmaceuticals – Randall Kaye was named chief medical officer of San Diego-based Neurana. In this new role, Kaye will lead the clinical development of tolperisone, the company’s novel, non-opioid treatment for acute and painful muscle spasms without drowsiness. Kaye was previously CMO of Click Therapeutics where he was involved in the development of software as a prescription medical treatment for a number of conditions, including pain, depression and smoking cessation. Prior to Click, he served as chief scientific officer of SSI Strategy, where he oversaw clinical development, medical affairs and pharmacovigilance. In combination with that role, he also served as CMO of Axsome Therapeutics. Earlier in his career, Kaye held the positions of CMO of Avanir Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and vice president of medical affairs of Scios Inc. and InterMune. He also held clinical development and medical affairs positions for 10 years at Pfizer Inc.

Glympse Bio – Tracey Dawson was tapped to serve as chief commercial officer and head of strategy at Cambridge, Mass.-based Glympse Bio, Inc. Dawson, whose expertise includes commercial and business development for franchise therapies, as well as lifecycle and alliance management, will help advance the company’s growing development pipeline. Dawson joins Glympse from Biogen, where she was vice president of Global Product Development and Commercialization for the Multiple Sclerosis franchise. Previously she was at Shire as group vice president and head of its U.S. genetic diseases franchise. Before that, she spent six years at Genentech in roles of increasing responsibility in marketing, franchise management, new product planning and lifecycle management. She began her career in the UK at Eli Lilly.

Entrada Therapeutics – Boston-based Entrada named Nathan J. Dowden as chief operating officer. He most recently served as head of strategy and corporate development at Rubius Therapeutics. During his tenure at Rubius, Dowden worked to develop and integrate the company's platform, capital formation and communication strategy to support the organization's evolution from an early discovery company into a clinical development organization. Prior to his time with Rubius, Dowden served as managing director at the Huron Consulting Group and before that, he helped lead the Frankel Group, where he worked with biopharmaceutical companies on new venture creation, portfolio management and product commercialization.

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X4 Pharmaceuticals -- Derek Meisner was named general counsel of Cambridge, Mass.-based X4 Pharmaceuticals. Meisner brings more than two decades of experience to the company. Most recently, Meisner held the role of General Counsel at Genocea Biosciences. Prior to Genocea, he served as General Counsel of multiple Boston-based financial services firms, including prominent life science investor RA Capital Management, and he was previously a partner at the international law firm K&L Gates.

Imago Biosciences – San Francisco-based Imago BioSciences named James D. Watson as chief business officer. Watson most recently served as CBO at Sigilon Therapeutics where he closed a $473 million strategic partnership with Eli Lilly for a treatment for Type 1 diabetes. Prior to Sigilon, Watson was CBO for Alvine Pharmaceuticals and led strategy, corporate development, new product planning and finance. Previously, Watson was chief executive officer of a San Francisco-based, boutique investment bank focused on mergers, acquisitions, partnering, and raising capital for life science companies.

Kaleido Biosciences – Massachusetts-based Kaleido named William Duke as chief financial officer. The appointment is effective Nov. 25. Duke joins Kaleido from Pulmatrix, Inc., where he served as CFO where he oversaw the company’s financial strategy, helped negotiate the company’s first product partnership, and led the successful completion of several public offerings. Prior to Pulmatrix, he served as CFO of Valeritas, Inc. Duke also was senior director of finance at Genzyme Corporation, helping in the sale of the company to Sanofi, and director of finance/accounting at Haemonetics Corporation. Earlier in his career he held CFO positions at G8wave, an integrated media company focused on mobile platforms, and OTF Group, Inc. a business strategy consulting firm.

Vericel Corporation – Sean C. Flynn was named general counsel of Cambridge, Mass.-based Vericel Corporation. Prior to Vericel, Flynn held the position of vice president and general counsel of Verastem, Inc., where he was responsible for all legal matters and supported the launch and commercialization of Copiktra. Flynn also held the position of associate general counsel and chief compliance officer for ABIOMED, Inc. Prior to joining ABIOMED, Flynn served for seven years as a federal prosecutor with both the United States Attorney’s Offices for the Eastern District of California and the Eastern District of New York.

Angion Biomedica – New York-based Angion Biomedica has made a number of appointments to its leadership team. Sheryl Bauer was named head of program and alliance management and quality assurance. Also, Shakil Aslam was named vice president of translational research, Deborah Goeuveia was named head of clinical operations, Ruth Turner was named head of global and regulatory affairs and Maureen Curran was named vice president of pharmacovigilance and risk management. Bauer most recently served as acting head of development operations and chief of staff to the CMO at Akcea Therapeutics. Prior to that, Bauer spent over a decade at Biogen where she served in various leadership roles. She also served as the associate director of Vaccine Process Development at Wyeth. Prior to joining Angion, Aslam served as vice president of Fresenius Medical Care North America and acted as senior scientist of global safety at Amgen and as medical director at DaVita. Before Angion, Gouveia served as head of program and alliance management at Stealth BioTherapeutics. She has held leadership positions at Logical Therapeutics, MGI Pharma Biologics, and Bayer. Turner most recently served as Therapeutic Area Lead in Neuroscience and Ophthalmology at Shire. Prior to this, Turner led the pharma regulatory group at Fresenius Medical Care North America. Curran most recently served as head of drug safety and pharmacovigilance at Keryx Biopharmaceuticals. She has held leadership roles at Ariad and Biogen.

TrialSpark -- Quentin Chu and Ken Somberg were named to the leadership team of TrialSpark as president and CFO and CMO, respectively. As CMO, Somberg will be responsible for leading and scaling all of TrialSpark's clinical and medical organization. He spent 12 years at Novartis where he served as the Therapeutic Area Head for Clinical ResearchMost recently, Somberg served as CMO of Nevakar Inc., where he focused on developing innovative products in injectable and ophthalmic therapeutics. As president and CFO, Quentin Chu will lead the company's core business operations along with its supporting functions, including sales and marketing, finance, human resources, legal and investor relations. Prior to joining TrialSpark, Chu was the CFO at CityMD in New York.

Assembly Biosciences -- Luisa Stamm was named CMO of Assembly. Stamm is an infectious disease specialist whose industry career has focused on the development of therapeutics for hepatitis C virus and HIV. Stamm joins Assembly from Gilead where she was a senior member of the HCV and HIV clinical research teams with responsibility for scientific and clinical development activities and overall research strategy.

Vireo Health International – Bruce Linton was named executive chairman of the board of directors of Vireo. Linton is the founder and former CEO of Canopy Growth Corporation and co-founder of Tweed Marijuana Incorporated. Chad Martinson, who has served on the company's board of directors since March 2019, has resigned from the Board in conjunction with Linton's appointment.

Evoke – Karsten Risch was named CMO of Evoke. In the newly established role, Risch will lead the agency's Science & Medicine practice across offices, implementing standard medical approaches, providing strategic value, and scaling best practices across the group's client base. Risch most recently served as CMO at Havas Health & You and previously served in similar strategic medical roles for groups like Greyhealth Group and Lowe Healthcare.

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