BioSpace Movers & Shakers, Dec. 17
As 2021 moves closer to its end, biopharma and life sciences companies from across the globe continue to strengthen their leadership teams and boards with these Movers & Shakers.
NicOx SA – France-based Nicox SA, an ophthalmology company, tapped Doug Hubatsch to lead the company’s non-clinical and clinical development activities. As Chief Scientific Officer, Doug Hubatsch will be responsible for setting the research and development strategy of the company. He will be based in Nicox’s US subsidiary Nicox Ophthalmics Inc., in North Carolina. Hubatsch joins Nicox from Novartis Pharmaceuticals, where he was Global Medical Head for Ocular Surface Disease and Digital Medicines within Global Medical Affairs. He has more than 25 years’ experience in Discovery Research, Development and Medical Affairs in Novartis, Alcon, Roche and AstraZeneca and has been involved with the launch of more than 10 products through his career.
Arcturus Therapeutics – Acceleron Pharma Medical Affairs Director Jing Marantz was appointed to the board of directors of Arcturus Therapeutics. Prior to joining Acceleron in 2020, Marantz was Senior Vice President, Head of Medical Affairs at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Alnylam, she served as Vice President, Global Medical Affairs, Head of U.S. Medical Affairs and interim Head of Latin America Medical Affairs at Alexion Pharmaceuticals. Marantz previously held leadership positions at Biogen, ARIAD, and Millennium Pharmaceuticals across development, medical affairs, and business development. She currently serves on the Board of Directors for Krystal Biotech, Inc.
OneOncology – Andy Corts was named chief technology officer for Tennessee-based OneOncology. Corts previously served as senior vice president of Research and Analytics for SignalPath, a Verily | Alphabet company. Prior to SignalPath, Corts spent 10 years as Chief Information Officer (CIO) at Sarah Cannon, the Cancer Institute of HCA.
DURECT Corporation – Biopharmaceutical industry veteran Peter Garcia was appointed to the board of directors at DURECT Corporation. García has worked as a chief financial officer in the life sciences industry for over 25 years and raised over $2 billion in capital during that period. He is currently the CFO of ALX Oncology Holdings Inc. Prior to ALX Oncology, he served as Vice President and CFO from 2013 until 2019 at PDL BioPharma, Inc. García served as CFO at BioTime, Inc. and previously served as CFO of Marina Biotech, Nanosys, Nuvelo, Novacept, IntraBiotics Pharmaceuticals and Dendreon. Garcia began his life science career at Amgen where he served in a number of financial roles of increasing responsibility.
Remix Therapeutics -- Zaven Kaprielian was named CSO of Remix Therapeutics. Kaprielian joins Remix with more than thirty years of industry and academic experience including corporate leadership and research and development. Prior to Remix, Kaprielian was chief operating officer, project CSO of Dementia Discovery Fund, and a Venture Partner with the DDF. Before that, he was Director of Neuroscience Research at Amgen. Kaprielian previously held numerous academic appointments in neuroscience at Albert Einstein College of Medicine.
Cue Biopharma – Patricia Nasshorn was named chief business officer of Massachusetts-based Cue. Most recently, Nasshorn served as a business development consultant for several pharmaceutical companies, including Cue Biopharma. Previously, Nasshorn served as the business development executive in residence at venture capital firm, Care Capital, LLC. for 10 years. Nasshorn’s first 20 years of her career included multiple executive, business development and marketing positions at leading healthcare companies, including Merck and Company Inc., Johnson & Johnson and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Surface Oncology – Also based in Massachusetts, Surface Oncology appointed Denice Torres to the position of chair of the board of directors and Ben Hickey was named a board director. Torres has been a member of the Surface board of directors since July 2021. She is currently chief executive officer of
Orna Therapeutics – Robert Mabry was named CSO and Nishla Keiser was named chief legal and strategy officer of Orna Therapeutics. Mabry most recently served as Head of Global Biologics at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Prior to Takeda, Mabry served as Vice President, Protein Sciences for Cogen Therapeutics, now Repertoire Immune Medicines. Mabry has also held positions at Jounce Therapeutics, Adimab, ZymoGenetics, and ImClone Systems. Keiser most recently served as Senior Vice President, Deputy General Counsel at Intellia Therapeutics. Prior to Intellia, she focused on patent litigation and intellectual property counseling for branded and innovative biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies at Finnegan, Henderson, Farabow, Garrett and Dunner.
Cue Health, Inc. -- Nitin Duggal was named chief marketing officer of San Diego-based Cue Health. Nitin joins Cue from Abbott Diabetes Care, where he spent 10 years in a number of leadership positions. Most recently, he served as Senior Commercial Director in Abbott’s Biowearables group. Prior to Abbott, Nitin was a consultant at McKinsey & Co and focused on the healthcare industry.
Rigel Pharmaceuticals – Kamil Ali-Jackson was appointed to the company's Board of Directors. Ali-Jackson co-founded and served as chief legal officer, chief compliance officer, and general counsel for several private biopharmaceutical or specialty pharmaceutical companies, including Ceptaris Therapeutics, Inc. and Ception Therapeutics, Inc. She is currently a member of the board of directors, audit and compensation committees, and is the chair of the nominating and corporate governance committee of PDS Biotechnology Corporation.