The British Generic Manufacturers Association (BGMA) has appointed Mark Samuels as its new chief executive. He will also oversee the British Biosimilars Association. Mark replaces Warwick Smith, who retires from the role after 25 years leading the organisation. Bringing diverse experience from across the life sciences sector, Mark is a former executive at Roche and co-founded the Medicines Discovery Catapult. He was the founding managing director of the government’s Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure, served for seven years on the chief medical officer for England’s strategy board for health research, and worked with Number 10 to contribute to the Prime Minister’s strategy for life sciences.

Caroline Boulliat has joined KPMG as a partner to lead relationships for pharma clients headquartered in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Caroline has more than 20 years’ experience in the pharma industry, most recently running her own consulting practice after leaving Amgen in 2019. She started her career as a hospital pharmacist before taking a Masters in marketing, then embarking on a global career with a commercial focus on innovative drugs and biosimilar brands.

Global creative communications agency Page & Page has announced the appointment of Charlotte Sale as Senior Account Director. Charlotte will be joining the firm's Client Services team to lead and manage the continued delivery of excellence across both new and existing clients. She brings vast experience from the healthcare industry to Page & Page, having worked for both major pharmaceutical and dental manufacturers for over 14 years, including launching two world-leading products to the UK and Ireland.

Medica Group has announced that Dr Junaid Bajwa has joined the Board as a non-executive director and chair of the Clinical and Risk Committee. Junaid 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. He 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.

I Holland, manufacturers of tablet tooling for the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical markets, has announced a series of appointments to form a new senior management team to lead the company moving forward. David Hinds has handed over the baton of managing director to Javier Raposo (pictured) but will continue to serve on the board as non-executive director. Javier has served as I Holland sales and marketing director for the last five years. Steve Deakin, customer service director, will remain on the board and take up the position of non-executive chairman. Rob Chatwin remains in his position as finance and IT director, with Dan Fitzsimmons continuing as regional managing director of Asia Pacific. Matt Pullen takes up the position of operations director following time spent as director of manufacturing.

Brevia Consulting has appointed Mike Thompson as chairman of Brevia Health and a member of its Advisory Board. Mike brings over 25 years of experience in the life sciences sector including, most recently, as chief executive of the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI) and in senior roles at GSK. He also sits on the Life Sciences Advisory Board of the British Growth Fund. Mike will oversee Brevia Health, a dedicated division of Brevia Consulting, which offers a team of consultants with experience in pharmaceuticals, IT Health, in vitro diagnostics, medical devices and genomics. Mike has worked closely with No 10, the Treasury, DHSC, BEIS and the Office of Life Sciences, including serving on Government/Industry engagement forums with the Health and Business Secretaries.

The Department of Health and Social Care has appointed six new non-executive directors to NICE's Board following their approval by the Secretary of State: Dr Mark Chakravarty, a business leader and a trained physician with 20 years’ experience across organisations including Novartis, Procter & Gamble and the NHS. Most recently he was the global head of Communications and Patient Advocacy at Novartis; Jackie Fielding, who has 30 years' experience in the healthcare industry and for the last decade was vice president of Medtronic UK/Ireland; Professor Gary Ford, a practising clinician and leading figure in stroke care for many years who developed the first thrombolysis protocol for acute stroke in England as well as the Face Arm Speech Test (FAST). Gary is chief executive of the Oxford Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) and is vice chair of the national AHSN Network; Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, currently Chair of the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sir Bruce held the chair of Cardiac Surgery at University College London before being appointed medical director of the NHS and director general in the Department of Health migrating to national medical director of NHS England; Alina Lourie, most recently managing director of the publishing arm of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, who currently also holds a portfolio of Board and advisory positions across a number of professional and academic bodies; and Dr Justin Whatling, currently vice president for International Public Sector Health for Cerner outside of the USA, and a visiting professor in health informatics in the Faculty of Population Health Science and Institute of Digital Health at UCL.