Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of hirings, firings and retirings throughout the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Kyle LaHucik, and we will feature it here at the end of each week.
Merck Chief Patient Officer Julie Gerberding, a former CDC director, to retire in May
Merck
Julie Gerberding, M.D., will retire from Merck in May after a 12-year stint with the New Jersey Big Pharma.
Gerberding joined in 2010 as president of the company's vaccines unit and before that was director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She will retire from her CPO and EVP of population health and sustainability posts in May to become CEO of the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The nonprofit helps raise funds and manage public and private partnerships for the NIH. Merck did not immediately name her successor, but the pharma has been promoting from within in recent months for other vacant posts. Fierce Pharma
Former Dermira CEO Thomas Wiggans heads to Pardes Biosciences to steer COVID-19 antiviral maker
Pardes Biosciences
Thomas Wiggans is the new CEO of Pardes, replacing Uri Lopatin, M.D., who transitions to an advisory role.
Wiggans helped found Dermira and sold the chronic skin condition biotech to Eli Lilly for $1.1 billion in 2020. Now, he'll lead Pardes, which has seen its stock crater in the past few weeks as the company looks to push a COVID-19 antiviral beyond phase 1 and into mid- and late-stage trials. The biotech went public just three months ago via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. The blank check deal included backing from Gilead Sciences, maker of pandemic antiviral Veklury. Fierce Biotech
Akari Therapeutics CEO Clive Richardson heads toward exit to make way for Enzyvant CEO Rachelle Jacques
Akari Therapeutics
Rachelle Jacques will become CEO of Akari at the end of this month as Clive Richardson steps down.
Richardson will help with the transition process as Jacques joins the autoimmune and inflammatory disease biotech from Enzyvant Therapeutics, where she was also chief executive of the rare diseases biotech. Prior to that post, Jacques was SVP and global complement franchise head at Alexion Pharmaceuticals. At Akari, she'll also tack on the posts of president and board member. Release
> Seshu Tyagarajan, Ph.D., is the new chief technical and development officer at Candel Therapeutics, focused on viral immunotherapies, after serving as executive director and global head of Novartis' late stage CMC strategy for cell and gene therapies. Release
> Anne Pariser, M.D., is now VP of medical and regulatory affairs at transfer RNA startup Alltrna after holding the post of director of the Office of Rare Diseases Research within the National Institutes of Health. Release
> Immunotherapy-focused biotech Janux Therapeutics named Byron Robinson, Ph.D., chief strategy officer after he served as SVP of clinical development strategy and innovation at Merck KGaA. Release
> OncoMyx Therapeutics named Robert Williamson chief business and financial officer of the immunotherapy biotech after having served as CEO of BioTheryX. Release
> NextRNA named JS Cleiftie its first chief business officer after serving in the same role at Erytech Pharma. Release
> Capricor Therapeutics named Daniel Paulson, M.D., its VP of clinical development after serving as VP of development at Bayer. Release
> Alethia Young is the new CFO at Graphite Bio, focused on gene editing, after serving as a senior biotech analyst and head of research at Cantor Fitzgerald. Release
> Blue Earth Diagnostics promoted David Gauden to CEO, replacing Jonathan Allis, and also named Eugene Teoh to chief medical officer. Release (PDF)
> Ichnos Sciences, focused on oncology and autoimmune diseases, named Eugene Zhukovsky, Ph.D., its new chief scientific officer after serving in the CSO spot at Affimed. Release
> Merck named Aileen Pangan, M.D., a former AbbVie executive medical director for immunology, as its VP and therapeutic area head for immunology global clinical development.
> HeartFlow President John Farquhar named new CEO as John Stevens, M.D., transitions to vice chair of the board. Release
> 4BIO Capital promoted Owen Smith to partner and Vasily Fedorin, Ph.D., to chief operating officer. Release
> Cullinan Oncology named Jeffrey Jones, M.D., its new chief medical officer after having served as VP of global drug development in lymphoma and myeloid diseases at Bristol Myers Squibb. Release
> James Hassard is now chief commercial officer at endocrine biotech Crinetics Pharmaceuticals after serving in the same post at Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals. Release
> Connect Biopharma, focused on chronic inflammatory diseases, named Chin Lee, M.D., its chief medical officer after serving in the same post at Theravance Biopharma. Release
> Margaret Wasilewski, M.D., is the new chief medical officer at Pulmatrix after serving as VP of R&D at Summit Therapeutics. Release
> Quanterix CEO Kevin Hrusovsky will transition to executive chair April 25, and President Masoud Toloue will become chief executive. Release
> Frédérique Brune is the new chief development officer at Mablink Bioscience, focused on antibody-drug conjugates, after holding the VP of development post at Innate Pharma. Release
> Ashvattha Therapeutics named Steve Carlos its VP of manufacturing and Bella Oguno as VP of clinical operations of the biotech focused on neurology, opthalmology and hyperinflammation. Release
> Invectys named Jian Cao, Ph.D., its VP of pharmaceutical development after serving as acting general manager for Alvotech and CCHT Biopharmaceuticals. Release
> PhoreMost promoted COO Neil Torbett to CEO, and Chris Torrance transitions to chair of the board. Release
> EryDel, focused on rare diseases, named Thomas Sabia its chief commercial officer after holding posts at Roche's Spark Therapeutics. Release
> Kate Madigan, M.D., is the new chief medical officer at Syndax Pharmaceuticals, focused on cancer therapies, as she replaces Michael Myers, M.D., Ph.D., who will transition to a consultant for the company. Release
> Xun Liu, Ph.D., is now chief technology officer at Overland Pharmaceuticals and will remain a senior adviser at Hillhouse Investment after having served as VP of Hengrui Medicine and president of its biomedicine division. Release
> Hovione CEO Guy Villax will transition to a member of the board after 25 years at the helm as Jean-Luc Herbeaux takes over the top post at the contract development and manufacturing organization April 1. Release
> Entos Pharmaceuticals named Steve Chen, M.D., its new chief medical officer and Jason Ding its new chief business officer. Chen joined from Cellics Therapeutics, where he held the same post, and Ding joins from Deloitte's investment banking unit, where he was a senior managing director. Release
> Owkin named Vassili Soumelis its chief medical officer and Eric Durand its SVP of data science. Release
> Hutchmed CEO Christian Hogg will retire after 15 years at the helm of the company and will be replaced by Weiguo Su, Ph.D., who was previously chief scientific officer for about 10 years and joined the company in 2005. Release (PDF)