Marc Tessier-Lavigne named Stanford's next president

Chutes and Ladders

Welcome to this week's Chutes and Ladders, our roundup of hirings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word--or the bad--from your shop to Eric Sagonowsky (email) or Amirah Al Idrus (email | Twitter), and we will feature it here at the end of each week.


Marc Tessier-Lavigne named Stanford's next president

Stanford University
Marc Tessier-Lavigne was named president.

Biotech pioneer Marc Tessier-Lavigne will take charge as Stanford University's next president starting September 1. A former Stanford faculty member and currently the president of Rockefeller University and chairman of Denali Therapeutics, Tessier-Lavigne has spent more than 20 years of his career in the Bay Area, starting as a University of California, San Francisco, assistant professor in 1991. Since then, he has worked as a UCSF professor of anatomy, biochemistry and biophysics, an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, a professor of biological sciences at Stanford and in roles of increasing responsibility at Genentech, including CSO and executive vice president of research. Last year, he cofounded San Francisco-based Denali Therapeutics and now serves as chairman. He has served as the president of The Rockefeller University since 2011. At Genentech, he managed 1,400 scientists working in areas such as cancer, immune disorders, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative diseases. As president at Stanford, he'll oversee a research university of 7,000 undergraduates, 9,000 graduate students, 2,100 faculty members at 7 schools and a budget of more than $5.5 billion. Story


Katie Watson promoted to EVP of human resources at Gilead

Gilead Sciences
Katie Watson was named EVP of human resources.

Gilead ($GILD) announced this week that it's promoting Katie Watson to the position of executive vice president of human resources. Since joining Gilead in early 2003, Watson has taken on positions of increasing responsibility within the company's HR structure. Now, during a "period of significant hiring and growth," Watson and her team will "continue to play an invaluable role" at the company, CEO John Martin said in a statement. "During Katie's tenure, Gilead has grown from approximately 1,000 to more than 8,000 dedicated employees. Her understanding of the complexities of Gilead's business has allowed her to contribute significantly to building an organization that today reaches millions of patients around the world." The move comes one week after Martin announced he's transitioning to the executive chairman role; he'll be succeeded by COO John Milligan. Release


Osiris CEO Lode Debrabandere steps down for 'personal reasons'

Osiris Therapeutics
Lode Debrabandere stepped down as CEO.

After 10 years at Columbia, MD-based Osiris Therapeutics ($OSIR), CEO Lode Debrabandere announced this week he's resigning, citing "personal reasons." The company's chief business officer, Dwayne Montgomery, will take over on an interim basis. The move comes as Osiris faces challenges as it transitions from a research to a commercial company, Biospace reports. CFO Phil Jacoby resigned in September, and the company's public accounting firm, BDO USA, resigned in December. Debrabandere has served as CEO since 2013 when his predecessor, Randal Mills, resigned for "personal reasons" of his own. More | Release


Sanofi plans to eliminate more than 500 positions in France. Story

A Teva plant in the U.K. is cutting 80 jobs as the drugmaker looks for higher skilled workers. Story

Piramal plans to invest $10 million and add 40 jobs at its Coldstream Laboratories unit. Release


Biotech

> Lion Biotech named Dr. Steven Fischkoff as chief medical officer. Release

> Oasmia ($OASM) hired Dr. Ulf Jungnelius as senior medical adviser. CFO Anders Lundin will resign effective March 31. Release

> Emmaus Life Sciences promoted Willis Lee to vice-chairman of the board of directors and Peter Ludlum and Lan Tran to be co-presidents of the company. Release

> Human Longevity hired Dr. Kenneth Bloom to head oncology and immunotherapy. Release

> Achillion ($ACHN) appointed Martha Manning as general counsel and Amy Jennings as head of regulatory affairs. Release

> Voyager Therapeutics ($VYGR) promoted Jeff Goater to chief financial officer. Release

> Celyad appointed Richard Mountfield as vice-president of global regulatory affairs. Release

> Patheon appointed Steve Lam as president of the Drug Substance Services segment. Release

> Andrzej Kierzek joined Certara as head of systems modeling in its Simcyp Quantitative Systems Pharmacology Group. Release

> C4 Therapeutics appointed Andrew Phillips as chief scientific officer. Release

> Crescendo Biologics appointed Barbara Fleck as head of intellectual property. Release

Deltanoid Pharmaceuticals appointed Douglas Jermasek as its CEO. Release

Physik Instrumente promoted James Deichmann to head its U.S. western region sales teams. Release

Chris Groppa joined TranS1 as its chief marketing officer and director of reimbursement. Release

Aoxing Pharma named James Chen as chief financial officer. Release

Merial appointed Susan Sholtis as its president in North America. Release

Marie-Louise Bots joined BioPharmX as its senior vice president of corporate development. Release

BioStem Technologies brought on Dr. Dave Woynarowski as its chief medical officer. Release

Med tech

> Corrine Perritano was appointed the president of Beltone North America. Release

Biotech research

> The Howard Hughes Medical Institute named Erin O'Shea its next president. Release