Sosei Group has announced the appointment of Rolf Soderstrom as a new board director, and the promotion of Dr Malcolm Weir (pictured) to executive vice chairman. Rolf brings over 30 years’ experience in finance and has extensive strategic, operational and international experience including M&A, fundraisings and disposals. Malcolm, who was previously executive vice president of research and early development, has been internally promoted to the role of executive vice chairman of Sosei Group Corporation, reporting to the president and chief executive.

Intellectual Property law firm EIP has welcomed life sciences specialist Monika Rai to its team, to further enhance its capabilities in this sector. Monika joins the EIP partnership from Mathys & Squire LLP. Her professional experience spans over fifteen years and includes private practice as well as in-house experience with GSK. She has significant experience in opposition proceedings at the EPO often involving multiple parties. Her expertise in the pharmaceutical sector includes representing innovators in the fields of cancer immunotherapy, microbiome therapeutics, gene therapy, nucleotide and peptide vaccines, antibodies, RNAi and diagnostics

Reading Scientific Services (RSSL) has appointed David Ebdon to the newly created role of senior group leader for biological sciences. The move comes at a time of growth and expansion for the consultancy, as it continues to strengthen its position as a provider of analytical services to the pharma industry. Ebdom joins RSSL from Britannia Pharmaceuticals, bringing over twenty years’ leadership experience in contract development and manufacturing. With overall responsibility for both the microbiology and biomolecular analysis teams, he is tasked with driving continued growth of the group in the pharmaceutical, biopharmaceutical and advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMP) sectors.

Sense Biodetection has appointed John Bishop as non-executive director. John was the chief executive of Cepheid from 2002 until its acquisition by Danaher for $4 billion in 2016. As a diagnostics industry leader with more than 50 years of experience in the field, the firm said John will perform a pivotal strategic role at Sense as it "rapidly scales up production and distribution" of its first products, including the COVID-19 test Veros SARS-CoV-2.

Smith & Nephew has appointed Anne-Francoise Nesmes as its chief financial officer, replacing Graham Baker who is leaving at the end of April. Anne-Francoise is currently holding the same role at Merlin Entertainments, the world's second-largest visitor attraction operator, and is also a non-executive director of blue-chip catering firm Compass Group. Before Merlin, Anne-Francoise was chief financial officer at specialist animal health company Dechra Pharmaceuticals and held senior roles at pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline. Smith & Nephew also announced the appointment of Bob White as a non-executive director. Bob has over 25 years' experience in the sector and is currently president at UK firm Minimally Invasive Therapies Group.

Uxbridge, UK-based Immodulon has named Cellia Habita as its new chief medical officer with immediate effect. Cellia has over 25 years’ experience in clinical research and drug development. She most recently led Arianne Clinical Research & International as president and chief executive, which she transformed from a regulatory and clinical development consulting group in 2007, into a full-service Clinical Research Organisation (CRO) with international reach, focusing on emerging and underdeveloped countries. Prior to Arianne, Cellia held various positions within US biotech companies and academic institutions.

Touchlight, a biotech focused on the discovery and development of DNA-based genetic medicines, has named Dr Helen Horton as chief research officer. Helen will be responsible for developing a pipeline of products that leverage Touchlight’s 'doggybone' DNA (dbDNA) platform, both in-house and with partners, for its therapeutic arm Touchlight Genetics. She joins from Johnson & Johnson, where she was senior scientific director.

Medica has named Richard Jones as chief financial officer and an executive director of the board. Richard will succeed Tony Lee, who will step down as finance director after ten years at the company. Following a transition period, Richard will join the Company later in the year at a date to be announced in due course. Richard has 20 years' extensive experience working with and in fast-growing healthcare businesses, nine of which as a proven CFO of two listed healthcare UK companies. Richard is currently CFO at Mereo BioPharma and was previously CFO at Shield Therapeutics. He is also currently a non-executive director and chair of Audit Committee at Alliance Pharma.

PAGB, the consumer healthcare association, has announced the appointment of Michelle Riddalls as its new chief executive. Michelle will succeed John Smith, who has led PAGB since July 2015. The announcement comes in the wake of PAGB’s centenary year and as it embarks on a new five-year strategy focusing on consumer self care and industry self-regulation. Michelle joined PAGB in June 2019 from Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, where she was director of Regulatory Affairs for the Northern European Cluster. She is currently PAGB’s senior director of Regulatory Affairs and Advertising Services and will become chief executive effective from April.

Creative healthcare agency Seven Stones has named Dan Russell as its new managing director. Dan has over ten years’ experience, his most recent role as senior board director at advertising agency AMV BBDO, where he led campaigns that won over fifty creative awards on brands including Snickers and Sainsbury’s. Dan will work alongside the agency’s chief creative officer and founder Alex Perryman to further expand the group's reputation with clients such as Bayer and MSD.