Pharmaceutical Market Europe • September 2024 • 36
APPOINTMENTS
The Francis Crick Institute
Edith Heard
The Francis Crick Institute has appointed Edith Heard as director and chief executive. Heard brings a wealth of strong leadership experience to her new position and is most noted for her studies of X-chromosome inactivation. She currently serves as the director-general of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory. Prior to this, she served as professor of the Collège de France and held the chair of epigenetics and cellular memory. Heard previously set up her own group at the Institut Curie and served as director of the institute’s genetics and developmental biology unit. She also spent nine years serving at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, first as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a permanent researcher. Heard is expected to take up the position in summer 2025 and will succeed Sir Paul Nurse, who will continue to maintain a laboratory at the institute.
AbbVie
Roopal Thakkar
AbbVie has appointed Roopal Thakkar as executive vice president, research and development and chief scientific officer. Thakkar has most recently been serving as senior vice president, chief medical officer, global therapeutics at the company. He first joined Abbott/AbbVie over two decades ago and has since held several positions in clinical development.
Bausch Health
Aimee Lenar
Bausch Health has appointed Aimee Lenar as executive vice president, US pharma. Lenar has over 20 years of industry experience and joins the company from Galderma, where she served as head of US prescription medicine. Prior to this, she was vice president and general manager, US migraine at AbbVie, and held a variety of roles at Allergan.
BridgeBio Pharma
Thomas Trimarchi
BridgeBio Pharma has appointed Thomas Trimarchi as president and chief operating officer. Trimarchi has served in roles of increasing responsibility since joining BridgeBio, most recently as chief product officer. Prior to this, he worked in corporate strategy at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. He is also a board member of ML Bio Solutions.
Aktis Oncology
Akos Czibere
Aktis Oncology has appointed Akos Czibere as chief medical officer. Czibere, who has almost 20 years of experience in drug development for haematologic and solid tumour cancers, most recently served as vice president and therapeutic area head of haematology-oncology at Pfizer. Prior to this, he was vice president, clinical development at Merrimack Pharmaceutical.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Laura Hamill
Jazz Pharmaceuticals has appointed Laura Hamill to its board of directors. Hamill holds over 35 years of industry experience. She most recently served as executive vice president, worldwide commercial operations at Gilead Sciences. Prior to this, she held various executive management positions at Amgen, including senior vice president, US commercial operations.
INOVIO Pharmaceuticals
Steven Egge
INOVIO Pharmaceuticals has appointed Steven Egge as chief commercial officer. Egge joins the company from Sumitomo Pharma, where he served as senior vice president and general manager for women's health. He was also previously senior vice president at Genfit and held a number of senior commercial leadership roles during his two decades at Merck.
Jazz Pharmaceuticals
Samantha Pearce
Jazz Pharmaceuticals has appointed Samantha Pearce as chief commercial officer. Pearce has over 30 years of commercial experience within the industry and has most recently been serving as senior vice president, Europe and international at the company. Prior to this, she held general management positions at Celgene and worked in a number of roles at AstraZeneca.
Macomics
Simon Dew
Macomics has appointed Simon Dew as chief business officer. Dew brings over two decades of pharmaceutical experience to his new position. He most recently served as chief business officer at ReNeuron Group. Prior to this, Dew held several leadership positions at companies including Mereo BioPharma, Evox Therapeutics, Astellas, IQVIA and GSK.
Pharmaceutical Market Europe (PME)
Pharmaceutical industry news, articles, jobs, reports, advice and services