Anna Protopapas replaces Deborah Dunsire as Millennium oncology head

Welcome to this week's roundup of hirings and firings throughout the industry. Please send the good word (or the bad) from your shop to Michael Gibney (email | Twitter) or Emily Mullin (email | Twitter) and we will feature it here each Friday.

Anna Protopapas replaces Deborah Dunsire as Millennium oncology head

Millennium CEO Deborah Dunsire retired from her position at Takeda's Millennium oncology unit, and Anna Protopapas took her place. Dunsire was a symbol of Takeda's transformation into a global pharma company, and she became the first female board member of Takeda after the company bought Millennium. Protopapas was formerly the business development chief at at the company. More

Takeda Pharmaceutical, Millennium
Anna Protopapas will head Takeda's Millennium oncology business.

Eli Lilly
Derica Rice will temporarily replace CEO John Lechleiter.

Pharma

Eli Lilly ($LLY) Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer John Lechleiter is taking a leave of absence from the company and will be temporarily replaced by Lilly Chief Financial Officer Derica Rice. Item

Biotech

Vivus ($VVUS) has brought on Richard Fante, former U.S. president and CEO North America of AstraZeneca ($AZN), to serve as senior adviser. Release

Danai Brooks will join Dyadic International as executive vice president and chief operating officer in June. Brooks comes to Dyadic from J.P. Morgan, where he served as a vice president in the firm's Investment Bank. Release

Nonprofit biotech Aeras has named Thomas Evans as president and CEO. Evans joined Aeras as chief scientific officer in 2010 and has been acting as interim president and chief scientific officer since early 2013. Release

> Invion appointed Greg Collier as the company's managing director and CEO. News

> Nancy Bryan joined BioFlorida as the company's president and CEO. She was formerly senior vice president of marketing and sales for Indevus Pharmaceuticals. Story

Raafat Fahim and Paul Bell resigned from the board of directors at Biota Pharmaceuticals ($BOTA), and Anne M. VanLent and Michael R. Doherty took their places. Release

Advaxis ($ADXS) bumped Robert Petit and Daniel J. O'Connor up to the positions of chief scientific officer and executive vice president, respectively. Release

Wendy Dixon and David Shenkein joined the board of directors at bluebird bio. Release

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation brought on David E. Wheadon as executive vice president of research and advocacy. Wheadon was previously vice president of scientific and regulatory affairs at Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Release

Russell J. Howard joined Prima Biomed ($PBMD) as the company's nonexecutive director. He was the co-founder and CEO of Maxygen ($MAXY). Release

Aduro BioTech advisory board member Daniel A. Portnoy was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest honors given to a scientist in the United States. Release

Egalet appointed as its CFO Stan Musial, who was vice president of finance and administration, CFO, treasurer and secretary of Prism Pharmaceuticals, sold to Baxter ($BAX) in 2011. Release

Cepheid ($CPHD) brought on Warren C. Kocmond to be the company's executive vice president of global operations. Kocmond comes from Lam Research, where served in the same position. Release

Pacgen Life Science announced that Dr. Ming S. Liu has stepped down as CEO, effective immediately. The company has appointed Mr. Chung-Yu Wang, current chairman and director of Pacgen, as its interim CEO. Release

CROs

Connie Wierman has joined Theorem Clinical Research as the company's new vice president of biopharmaceutical development. Previously, she was vice president of clinical development in oncology for INC Research. Release

Diagnostics

Piramal Imaging has named Dr. Ana M. Catafau as vice president of clinical research and development, neurosciences. Her tenure includes 16 years with the University Hospitals Clinic and Sant Pau in Barcelona, and 8 years at GlaxoSmithKline ($GSK). Most recently, Catafau was the President and CEO of Barcelona Imaging Group. Release