October 2023 • PharmaTimes Magazine • 36-37
// YOUR MOVES //
Your Moves
Mover of the Month
GEDi Cube – an AI/ML platform that combines differential molecular capabilities with multi-omic analysis to detect cancer at its earliest stage – announces the appointment of Dr Lester Russell as Chief Medical Officer.
Lester will be responsible for leading on clinician engagement, clinical validation and clinical quality assurance as GEDi Cube transitions to the testing and go-to-market phase for its AI/ML platform.
He brings over 40 years’ experience in clinical medicine and 23 years in digital health with experience ranging from senior roles in technology organisations, the public sector and several successful start-ups.
In his previous role at IBM as Clinical Lead in Health & Life Sciences, Systems AI, he spent two years building a new unit in artificial intelligence that focused on developing pioneering solutions. Other experience includes senior positions in the health and life sciences units at Intel and Fujitsu.
“I am delighted and honoured to be joining the team at GEDi Cube to advance the fight against cancer and other diseases using novel technologies like artificial intelligence and cell-based therapies,” said Lester.
He added: “Improved detection and monitoring of diseases such as cancer is the next major frontier in healthcare and the potential to use techniques such as machine learning to improve survival is hugely exciting.”
Confo Therapeutics has announced the appointment of Stephen Dowd to its executive team as Chief Business Officer.
As part of the executive team, Stephen’s leadership will be key to the next stage of Confo’s corporate growth as it continues to advance its promising pipeline and maximise the value of its proprietary discovery platform.
“We are thrilled to welcome Stephen to Confo and believe his considerable experience will make him an excellent addition to our team,” said Cedric Ververken, CEO at Confo Therapeutics. “Stephen is a seasoned industry expert with 25 years of experience working in biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies and has a proven track record in business development and R&D.”
“With the significant enhancements made to its proven discovery engine and a rapidly evolving pipeline, Confo is well positioned to build upon its recent successes with the potential to produce multiple first-in-class and best-in-class medicines targeting G-protein coupled receptors,” enthused Stephen.
Susan Gibert has been appointed as Sciensus’s new Director of Customer Experience. Susan joins Sciensus having recently stepped down as Chair of the National Homecare Medicines Committee within the NHS, a post that she held for six years.
Susan will bring more than 30 years of hospital and community pharmacist experience to her new role, most recently as Head of Pharmacy Contracting for the Thames Valley and Wessex NHS region. Susan is also a member of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society Hospital Expert Advisory Group and of the RPS Homecare Steering Group.
She began her career in a variety of roles in different specialties, including radio pharmacy, small-scale manufacturing and as an Independent Prescriber in anticoagulation.
“I am delighted to join Sciensus and offer my extensive NHS and patient knowledge and insight to ensure we enhance our customer and patient experience as we look to provide medicine support to patients with long-term conditions, rare diseases and cancer,” Susan reflected.
Ubiquigent has announced the appointment of Dr Rishi Shah as Head of Chemistry. Rishi joins Ubiquigent from GlaxoSmithKline where he led the development of multiple targeted protein degradation (TPD) programmes across a range of therapeutic areas, in addition to the development of an orally bioavailable PROTAC platform, a state-of-the-art bifunctional linker library and the identification of novel E3 ligase ligands for use in TPD applications.
Rishi held a Visiting Scientist position at Imperial College London, collaborating with Professor Ed Tate to merge recent advances in covalent inhibitor technology with PROTACs, and has consulted on multiple TPD programmes.
including deubiquitinase (DUB) and molecular glue-focused projects.
“Ubiquigent is at an exciting stage of its growth, with an evolving focus on DUBTAC design and development through the application of its comprehensive DUB-focused drug discovery platform.” said Dr Rishi.
Dr Adrian Rabe has joined LCP’s growing Health Analytics team as Medical and Scientific Affairs Lead.
Adrian joins LCP from AstraZeneca, where he was Global Medical Affairs Lead, which followed time in consultancy, clinical medicine and academia. Adrian’s work has focused on embedding evidence-based healthcare practice changes with experience across many healthcare systems and markets, including the UK, the US, Europe and the Asia-Pacific.
He also has more than 15 years of experience across life sciences, medical affairs, clinical development, real-world evidence, epidemiology and health policy.
Beginning his career specialising in General Internal Medicine in the Philippines, Adrian has utilised his varied expertise to build data-driven global value dossiers that provide cohesive and compelling propositions for new medicines and innovative policies in health systems and markets.
Celonic Group has appointed Dr Samanta Cimitan as its Chief Executive Officer (CEO).
She succeeds Dr Konstantin Matentzoglu, who will step down after nine years as CEO. Samanta has more than 20 years of experience working, teaching and studying life sciences. Samanta joined Celonic in June 2022 as Chief Business Officer (CBO).
Prior to Celonic, Samanta was with Lonza for nearly 13 years, holding several leadership positions across multiple commercial and strategy roles, including Vice President of Lonza Group Operations Strategy, developing and leading transformational programmes across R&D, Operations and Commercial functions.
Josef Otto Rettenmaier, Chairman of the JRS Group, said: “I am excited to welcome Samanta to the role of CEO. She is a respected leader with an impressive track record. With her expertise, Samanta will help drive accelerated growth and long-term success for Celonic at this pivotal time.”
Samanta Cimitan reflected: “It is an honour to be appointed CEO of the Celonic Group. I am energised to leverage the talent, expertise and passion of the entire Celonic organisation to meet and exceed our customer expectations and bring game-changing technologies to the market”.
Onyx Health has bolstered its team with the appointment of Sarah Seilly as Head of Medical Education.
With Sarah at the helm of Onyx Health’s medical education offering, the agency is poised to pave the way for a more connected and responsive future in healthcare education.
Sarah’s appointment will enable Onyx Health to introduce a new dimension of synergy between educational content delivery and the diverse channels available in today’s digital landscape.
Sarah joins Onyx Health from Olympus Medical where, as Lead Clinical Education Specialist, she oversaw several multi-platform programmes in collaboration with clinicians, optimising patient outcomes through innovative educational initiatives. She began her career as a nurse.
Sarah reflected: “Medical education is an ongoing journey and one that will continue to evolve. To meet the changing needs of a healthcare sector characterised by a reduced workforce and healthcare professionals with limited time, educational content must be accessible 24/7 on multiple platforms to enhance confidence, knowledge, safety and career progression.”
The British Heart Foundation (BHF) has appointed distinguished research leader and NHS Consultant Physician, Professor Bryan Williams, as its first Chief Scientific and Medical Officer.
Bryan will join the charity’s Executive Group in Autumn 2023 and succeed Professor Sir Nilesh Samani (Medical Director) in leading the BHF’s research and medical strategy.
Bryan is recognised as one of the UK’s most influential scientific and clinical leaders. He is Chair of Medicine at University College London (UCL), Director of the NIHR University College London Hospitals Biomedical Research Centre and UCLH Director of Research. In these roles, Bryan oversees one of the largest clinical research portfolios in the UK, with over 1,000 active clinical trials.
Bryan is also an NHS Consultant Physician at UCLH and a Senior Director and Board Member of UCLH NHS Foundation Trust.
Dr Charmaine Griffiths, the BHF’s Chief Executive, said: “Bryan joins us at a moment when BHF has never been more needed, with millions of people turning to us for support through such challenging times.”
Grifols has announced that it has appointed Dr Jörg Schüttrumpf as its Chief Scientific Innovation Officer. As the head of innovation for the entire Grifols Group, Jörg will concentrate on accelerating the development of differentiated plasma and non-plasma medicines in key therapeutic areas, building on Grifols’ solid innovation pipeline.
His scope includes the entire development cycle for new therapies, from discovery to clinical trial programmes, as well as the strategic partnerships and advanced technologies – such as artificial intelligence – needed to achieve the company’s innovation goals.
Since early 2022, Jörg has been Chief Scientific Officer of Biotest AG, where he had been Head of Global Research since 2012 and Head of Research and Development since 2015.
Under his scientific leadership the Biotest team developed therapeutics from human plasma as well as recombinant proteins such as monoclonal antibodies.