44-45 - Appointments

Dr Anne Beal is joining GlaxoSmithKline's board as a non-executive director and member of the Corporate Responsibility Committee, which provides important oversight of the company’s Trust agenda including policies towards access to medicines, global health, inclusion and diversity and environmental sustainability. She will succeed Lynn Elsenhans as chair of the Committee after the 2022 Annual General Meeting. Ms Elsenhans has agreed to remain on the board for a further year to facilitate an orderly transition to Anne's leadership of the Committee. Anne will bring to GSK extensive healthcare experience as a physician and entrepreneur combined with a passion for patient advocacy. She is a recognised health policy expert in the development of global and national programmes for improving healthcare access for all patient groups and in ensuring the voice of patients is reflected in research programmes.

Evonetix, a synthetic biology company developing a desktop platform for scalable, high-fidelity and rapid gene synthesis, has appointed Michael Daniels as head of Product Management. In this role, Michael will be focused on the development and introduction of Evonetix’ first product, a DNA desktop writer. He brings with him over 15 years’ experience of marketing and product management across the biotechnology sector. His previous roles include director of Marketing and Product Management at Arcis Biotechnology, senior manager of Marketing and Business Development at Cancer Research UK, and director of Marketing and Product Management at Thermo Fisher Scientific.

Pharma Integrity has announced the appointment of Laragh de Bhulbh as healthcare compliance consultant. After gaining her BSc in Pharmacology and her PhD in Molecular Medicine, both with University College Dublin, Laragh has held a number of in-house medical roles with UCB, AbbVie and Roche over the past eleven years. During this time Laragh graduated from Trinity College Dublin with a Masters in Pharmaceutical Medicine. Laragh’s in-house experience covers a number of diverse and specialist therapy areas including epilepsy, immunology and oncology.

Data insights firm Talking Medicines, specialist in ‘social intelligence’ for the pharmaceutical industry, has appointed Donna Lawson to the position of head of Data Quality. Donna brings with her over two decades’ experience within clinical data management. Donna joined the company from IQVIA Biotech, where she was director of Data Management, and was previously global head of UK Data Management at ClinTec International. Areas of specialism have included data quality, overseeing the use of client data, strategic planning and implementing data protection and quality improvement. Talking Medicines' chief executive Jo Halliday said: “We’re exceptionally pleased to be welcoming Donna to the team and we’ve been impressed with her passion for data, particularly the use of data within the pharmaceutical industry. Donna has managed many project teams from database development/implementation to final submissions to regulatory authorities and will play an important part in ensuring the data quality standard of our PatientMetRx product." Her appointment follows three other senior appointments at the firm this year.

James Devine will be joining the NHS Confederation as programme director, Acute Care, departing his role as chief Executive of Medway NHS Foundation Trust. This is a new role that will further develop the representation and support that the NHS Confederation offers to its acute and integrated provider members. James brings more than 20 years’ experience of working in the NHS. Over the past five years, James has been a regular speaker in the UK and internationally on leadership, improvement and employee engagement. He has a passion for leadership development, and the evidence-based link between an engaged and valued workforce and better patient outcomes.

Life sciences marketing and PR specialist Biostrata has appointed four new team members to meet growing demand and the changing requirements of clients within life sciences: Lauren Heap, an experienced Inbound Marketing specialist, joins as marketing account director, bringing more than 17 years’ experience within the marketing industry; Fred Schwaller has been appointed as a science writer, further expanding the content team. Prior to becoming a writer, he spent almost a decade in neuroscience research during his PhD and postdoctorate studies; Lea Vitezic joins the public relations team as PR account executive. Having recently graduated with first class BA (Hons) in Journalism and an MA in Media and Communications, Lea has PR agency experience and more recently, has focused on pharmaceutical PR; and with more than 20 years' experience in overseeing and streamlining the administrative activities, Debbie Lee joins the team as office manager.

The Department of Health & Social Care has appointed six non-executive directors to NICE's board: Dr Mark Chakravarty, most recently global head of Communications and Patient Advocacy at Novartis, and a member of the NICE Appeal Panel; Jackie Fielding, who has been in the healthcare industry for around 30 years and for the last decade was vice president of Medtronic UK/Ireland; Professor Gary Ford, a practising clinician who developed the first thrombolysis protocol for acute stroke in England and the Face Arm Speech Test (FAST). He was appointed chief executive of the Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) in 2013, and is vice chair of the national AHSN Network; Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, previously NHS England's national medical director and current chair of the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust; Alina Lourie, who has had a long career in publishing and information in the private sector, and latterly as managing director of the publishing arm of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society; and Dr Justin Whatling, who has over 20 years’ experience in using technology and informatics to transform outcomes for patients, and is currently vice president for International Public Sector Health for Cerner outside of the USA.

Havas Just:: has hired Corin Baird as head of digital to boost the agency’s digital capability and support its recent growth. He has a varied background in digital marketing including head of creative Solutions at Buzzfeed, Huffington Post and The Guardian as well as leadership roles at Nitro and Sudler. Corin is supported by Florence Chinn, previously digital communications manager at AbbVie in the UK, who took a permanent position at Havas Just:: in April. Florence brings brand communications and corporate communications experience to the agency as well as the ability to demonstrate the value of digital communications across multiple internal stakeholders.

Babraham Bioscience Technologies Ltd (BBT), the organisation which oversees the development and day-to-day management of the Babraham Research Campus, has confirmed Jo Parfrey as the new BBT board chair. Jo has been a non-executive director on the BBT Board for over four years and has chaired the company’s Audit Committee. She follows on from Dr Andy Richards who has formally stood down from the role after many years’ service. Jo has over twenty years investment experience, ten of which were in the private equity industry. A qualified accountant by training, but with a science background, she has worked in the corporate finance departments of FTSE 100 and FTSE 250 companies.

Pharma and biotech product development consultancy Boyds has announced the appointment of Neil Chakrabarti as chief financial officer. Neil is an experienced financial leader and has worked with a number of businesses across the sector including biotech start-up Autolus Therapeutics plc, pharma business Vectura Group plc, leading multinational medical device manufacturer Medtronic plc and private equity backed business Independent Clinical Services. “His expertise, challenge and focus will add value to the business as a whole, whilst helping us to build robust systems and processes which will support activities across the entire business,” said president and chief executive Alan Boyd.

EUSA Pharma UK, a global biopharma focused on oncology and rare disease, has named Carsten Thiel as chief executive with immediate effect, succeeding Lee Morley, who is stepping down after six years in the role. Carsten has led EUSA’s Europe Region and Global Marketing over the past two years. Prior to joining the firm in 2019, he gained 27 years of experience in a variety of international roles in the pharmaceutical industry. Previously he served as chief commercial officer at Alexion Pharmaceuticals after a 14-year stint at Amgen, where he held multiple roles. Carsten holds a PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the Max Planck Institute in Germany.

Medica Group Plc, a provider of teleradiology services in the UK and Ireland, has announced that Dr Junaid Bajwa will join the board as a non-executive director and chair of the Clinical and Risk Committee. Junaid brings a wealth of experience to the firm; he is a practising physician in the NHS and currently occupies the roles of chief medical scientist at Microsoft Research, and as a non-executive director at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. He was previously the global lead for Strategic Alliances and Solutions for the Global Digital Centre of Excellence at MSD and also has experience in the academic world, where he is a clinical associate professor at University College London (UCL), and a visiting scientist at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Appointments

Mover of the Month