Pharmaceutical Market Europe • July/August 2023 • 46-48
APPOINTMENTS
Lundbeck
Charl van Zyl
Lundbeck has appointed Charl van Zyl as president and chief executive officer. Zyl holds over two decades' worth of experience in the pharmaceutical industry and joins the company from UCB, where he has been serving as executive vice president of neurology and head of Europe and international markets. During his time here, he has overseen the growth of the epilepsy business while building up the company’s new rare disease assets and integrating activities from both Ra Pharma and Zogenix. Prior to joining UCB, Zyl held various positions across the full healthcare value chain, including business development and licensing, manufacturing, marketing and sales, and research and clinical development. He has previously worked for BSN medical, Bausch + Lomb, Novartis and Eli Lilly, and has been based in South Africa, US, Japan and Switzerland.
Destiny Pharma
Debra Barker
Destiny Pharma has appointed Debra Barker as interim chief executive officer. Barker, who is currently the company’s non-executive director, has extensive experience as a senior executive and board director in life sciences companies. Prior to joining Destiny, she was senior independent director at Arix Bioscience, and has also held key roles at Novartis, Polyphor, Roche and GSK.
Eli Lilly
Rachel Batterham
Eli Lilly has appointed Rachel Batterham as senior vice president for international medical affairs and environmental shaping in obesity. She joins the company from the department of medicine at University College London, where she held a faculty position from 2003. She also established and formerly led the Bariatric Centre for Weight Management and Metabolic Surgery at UCL Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
Eli Lilly
Emily Pegg
Eli Lilly has appointed Emily Pegg as associate vice president, medical for Northern Europe, covering the UK, Republic of Ireland and Nordic countries. Pegg has over a decade of experience and joins Lilly from Takeda UK and Ireland, where she has been serving as associate medical director. Prior to Takeda, she held both UK and regional positions within Novartis’ neuroscience franchise.
ICER
Sarah Emond
The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review has appointed Sarah Emond as president-elect. Emond, who originally joined the ICER in 2009 as its first chief operating officer and third employee, has been leading the organisation’s strategic operations and working to improve access and affordability to high-value care. She most recently served as its executive vice president and chief operating officer.
Sobi
Lydia Abad-Franch
Sobi has appointed Lydia Abad-Franch as acting chief medical officer. Abad-Franch brings substantial experience and knowledge from previous positions within the global pharmaceutical industry, including senior roles at Takeda, Shire and Baxalta, as well as from being a practising medical doctor. She moves from her most recent position of vice president head of global medical affairs and clinical science at Sobi.
Richmond Research Institute
James Rickard
The Richmond Research Institute has appointed James Rickard as chief scientific officer. Rickard brings extensive experience to the role and joins the institute from Biotherapy Services, where he was also serving as chief scientific officer. He is currently a senior visiting lecturer at King’s College London in the Institute of Pharmaceutics Science, and a member of the British Pharmacopoeia Commission.
SpliceBio
David Favre
SpliceBio has appointed David Favre as chief development officer. Favre brings more than 25 years of experience in gene therapy, immunology and drug development to the role. He joins from InnoSkel, where he served as chief scientific officer. Prior to that, he was vice president of translational medicine at Asklepios Biopharmaceutical, and has also served as the director of HIV biology at GSK.
STADA
Christos Gallis
STADA has appointed Christos Gallis as head of Eastern Europe. Gallis, who currently heads the company’s South-Eastern and Eastern Europe cluster, brings extensive experience to the role and has worked in several countries. Before joining STADA, he spent nearly a decade at Sandoz, having previously worked at Johnson & Johnson in several leading country head and sales and marketing roles.
LEO Pharma UK and Ireland
Leanne Walsh
LEO Pharma has appointed Leanne Walsh as general manager and vice president for the UK and Ireland. Walsh has over 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry at a global, European and affiliate level and joins the company from Aimmune Therapeutics, where she has been serving as general manager for Northern Europe. Prior to this, she was Aimmune’s general manager for the UK and Ireland. Over the course of her career, Walsh has worked on and led various launches of novel therapies in competitive spaces for complex, niche and specialist markets. She has held a variety of roles at STEM Healthcare, MAP BioPharma, and Intercept Pharmaceuticals, and has also served in roles of increasing responsibility for nearly a decade at Gilead Sciences, including HIV brand manager and HCV brand lead.
Vaxxas
Rochelle Chaiken
Vaxxas has appointed Rochelle Chaiken as chief medical officer. Chaiken has extensive experience with late-stage clinical trials and launching new products in markets. She joins Vaxxas from Pfizer, where she has spent the past 23 years of her career. She held a number of senior executive roles during her time at the company including, for the past five years, chief medical officer for its Biopharmaceutical Group for Emerging Markets.
Adcendo
Lone Ottesen
Adcendo has appointed Lone Ottesen as chief medical officer. Ottesen has substantial global clinical development experience across oncology and immuno-oncology and joins the company from Circio, where she was chief medical officer. Prior to this, she was global clinical head in late-stage clinical development at AstraZeneca, and has also held roles in global oncology development at GSK and Eisai.
Tiziana Life Sciences
Matthew Davis
Tiziana Life Sciences has appointed Matthew Davis as chief operating officer. Davis, who will be taking on the role alongside his current position as chief medical officer, has over 15 years’ experience within the industry. Prior to joining Tiziana, he was chief medical and scientific officer at Endo International, and has held senior positions at Eisai, URL Pharma and Lupin Pharmaceuticals.
Metrion Biosciences
Steve Jenkinson
Metrion Biosciences has appointed Steve Jenkinson as vice president of drug discovery and safety assessment. Jenkinson has spent more than 25 years in leadership positions driving drug discovery projects for GSK and Tanabe Research Laboratories. He joins Metrion from Pfizer where, as senior director, he established, developed and led the secondary pharmacology and high throughput screening team.
Reata Pharmaceuticals
Rajiv Patni
Reata Pharmaceuticals has appointed Rajiv Patni as executive vice president and chief research and development officer. Patni brings over 23 years of global product development experience to the role and joins Reata from Global Blood Therapeutics, where he has been serving as chief medical officer. Prior to this, he was chief medical officer at Portola Pharmaceuticals and Adamas Pharmaceuticals.
NHS England
John Quinn
NHS England has appointed John Quinn as chief information officer. Quinn has been filling the role on a temporary basis since the beginning of this year and was previously the executive director of IT operations and enterprise services at NHS Digital. He also spent eight years in leadership roles at the MHRA, including as the executive director for technology, digital data and delivery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
UK Dementia Research Institute
Siddharthan Chandran
The UK Dementia Research Institute has appointed Siddharthan Chandran as director. Chandran, a clinician-scientist, is recognised for his research in motor neurone and neurodegenerative disease. He is currently dean of clinical medicine and a group leader at the UK DRI at the university of Edinburgh, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh and the Academy of Medical Sciences.
Abivax
Ida Hatoum
Abivax has appointed Ida Hatoum as chief people officer. Hatoum brings over 15 years of experience to her new role, having held a range of people operations leadership roles in the pharma and biotech industries. She joins Abivax from her most recent role as senior vice president and head of people, talent and culture at CinCor Pharma. Prior to this, she was head of organisational development and training at BioDelivery Sciences.
Inizio
Shauna Aherne
Inizio has appointed Shauna Aherne as president of medical excellence. Aherne has two decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including several senior leadership roles. She previously served as director of market strategy at Artcraft Health, before moving to Medisys Health Communications, where she was senior director of client services and then vice president of strategic accounts.
OPEN Health
Richard Jones
OPEN Health has appointed Richard Jones as president of the evidence and access practice. Jones has more than 25 years of experience in conducting patient-centred research for clients in the biopharma sector, the past ten of which have been spent at OPEN Health. He has worked in a variety of roles during his time at the agency, most recently serving as vice president of European operations, evidence and access.
Fishawack Health
Ryan Mason
Fishawack Health has appointed Ryan Mason as chief marketing and creative officer. Mason brings extensive experience to the position, having previously held a range of roles at closerlook, including chief creative officer and chief strategy officer. He moves from his most recent position as chief digital officer at Fishawack, and will now work to unite the creative, brand, and engagement strategy and media and analytics teams at the agency.
Fishawack Health
Jeffrey Erb
Fishawack Health has appointed Jeffrey Erb as chief media officer. Erb has more than two decades of experience leading start-up, growth and turnaround companies. He joins Fishawack from Doceree, where he has been serving as strategic advisor. Prior to this, he spent a decade at Interpublic Group, first as president and founder, Healix, and then as president, McCann health engagement. He also co-founded Populus Media.
Fishawack Health
Harriet Shurville
Fishawack Health has appointed Harriet Shurville as chief people officer. Shurville brings a wealth of knowledge in HR business partnering to her new role and joins Fishawack from creative and strategy company Iris Worldwide, where she has been leading the global people function. Prior to this, she held a number of roles of increasing responsbility at McCann Worldgroup, including head of people and people director.
VMLY&R Health
Natxo Diaz
VMLY&R Health has appointed Natxo Diaz as global head of health craft. Diaz brings extensive industry experience to the role, having worked across a diverse range of therapeutic areas. He was most recently chief creative officer for VMLY&R Health Spain. He began in consumer, digital, e-commerce and commerce, CRM and advertising, before moving into the health space eight years ago as creative director, also for Ogilvy Health Spain.
Virgo Health
George Pearson
Virgo Health has appointed George Pearson as vice president, creative director for Virgo Health US. Having already worked at Virgo Health earlier in his career, Pearson brings to the post years of experience in implementing design-led, multichannel programmes for blockbuster therapies across a wide range of therapeutic areas. He has also spent four years with Bluedog as client solutions director.
BCW
Thomas Gelin
BCW has appointed Thomas Gelin as head of health public affairs, Europe. Gelin has substantial experience leading multi-market teams and delivering campaigns. He joined the agency in 2021 as senior director, head of healthcare and food, following a decade in consulting and industry. He was previously Porter Novelli’s Europe health policy lead and a member of Sanofi’s international public affairs team in Washington, DC, US.
Ogilvy Health UK
John McPartland
Ogilvy Health UK has appointed John McPartland as executive creative director. McPartland has specialised in the healthcare sector for over a decade and brings with him an expertise refined from both network and independent creative agencies. He joins Ogilvy from Leith, where he has been serving as creative director. Prior to this, he held roles of increasing seniority at Havas Lynx Group, including creative director.
GCI Health
Victoria Bramham
GCI Health has appointed Victoria Bramham as executive director. Bramham brings more than 20 years of experience in healthcare communications to the role. She joins the agency from Edelman, where she was head of client services, health. Bramham has also held senior roles at agencies including Weber Shandwick and Virgo Health, and has led disease awareness and therapy launch campaigns.
GCI Health
Emma Coughlan
GCI Health has appointed Emma Coughlan as director. Coughlan brings more than 17 years’ industry experience to the role, having most recently served as director at Edelham. She has supported large global pharma clients with integrated omnichannel campaigns, patient advocacy programmes and disease awareness, and has also held roles at Galliard Healthcare Communications, Fleishman Hillard and Tonic Life Communications.
SAY
Melissa Kerschen
SAY has appointed Melissa Kerschen as account director. Kerschen bring over 20 years of experience in communications to the role. Earlier in her career, she worked as a science journalist and editor, and more recently developed PR and digital marketing campaigns for a variety of healthcare clients. Kerschen joins SAY from SCIAD Communications, where she served as senior account manager.