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.
AltruBio picks up Chief Medical Officer Jesse Hall from Sublimity after pivot to immunology
AltruBio
Five months after changing its name, focus and board, AltruBio is picking up the new CMO to lead its pivot to immunology. Hall arrives from Sublimity Therapeutics, where he was CMO and executive vice president overseeing clinical development for inflammatory bowel disease programs. Before that, Hall held director-level positions at Ardea Biosciences, Amgen and Abbott. Fierce Biotech
Years after Prime time, Rusty Williams returns to biotech leadership as CEO of Walking Fish
Walking Fish Therapeutics
Rusty Williams, M.D., Ph.D., is the new CEO of Walking Fish Therapeutics.
Williams joined the B-cell therapies biotech four years after leaving Five Prime Therapeutics. That biotech, of which Williams was a founder, exited to Amgen earlier this year for $1.9 billion. Williams joins Walking Fish as it launches with $50 million in series A funds. Fierce Biotech
ViaCyte fills chief scientific officer gap with University of British Columbia academic
ViaCyte
Timothy Kieffer, Ph.D., is the new chief scientific officer of ViaCyte.
Kieffer replaces Kevin D'Amour, Ph.D., who left the stem-cell focused biotech in June. Kieffer joins from University of British Columbia, where he led molecular and cellular medicine labs focusing on cell therapy and novel gene approaches for diabetes. The CSO co-founded enGene, a biotech working on non-viral gene therapies for mucosal tissue. Fierce Biotech
> Quentin Blackford is the new CEO and president of iRhythm Technologies. The cardiac monitor maker lost its former CEO Mike Coyle to an abrupt exit about four months ago. Blackford joins from Dexcom, where he was chief financial officer and then chief operating officer. Fierce Medtech
> As part of a reorganization of its health IT, data management and cybersecurity efforts, the FDA officially named Vid Desai its chief information officer as the Office of Digital Transformation has been formed. Desai was previously the agency's chief technology officer. Fierce Medtech
> Kerstin Westritschnig, M.D., will be chief medical officer of Rational Vaccines, a biotech focused on herpes treatments. She joins from Apeiron Biologics, where she held the same role, and was senior vice president at Valneva prior to that. Release
> DNAtrix, a cancer immunotherapies biotech, named David Liebowitz, M.D., Ph.D., its chief medical officer. Liebowitz joins from Xencor, where he was vice president of clinical oncology, and before that was chief medical officer at Vaxart for six years. Release
> Jay M. Feingold, M.D., Ph.D., will be the chief medical officer of Pyxis Oncology. Feingold joins the cancer biotech from ADC Therapeutics, where he was CMO and senior vice president. Release
> Plus Therapeutics named Norman LaFrance, M.D., its chief medical officer and senior vice president. LaFrance starts at Plus in December after coming from Jubilant Pharma, where he was CMO and SVP. Release
> Autobahn Therapeutics named Gudarz Davar, M.D. as chief medical officer and executive vice president, and promoted Chan Beals, M.D., Ph.D., to senior vice president and chief of translational medicine. Davar was previously head of research and development and executive VP at Acadia Pharmaceuticals and prior to that was head of global neurology clinical development for Eli Lilly. Release
> Michael R. Foley, M.D., will become chief medical officer of Sera Prognostics in January. Foley joins the maternal and neonatal health company from the University of Arizona's College of Medicine Phoenix/Banner Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center, where he was chairman of obstetrics and gynecology. Release
> Alzheon named Adem Albayrak its head of operations and Earvin Liang, Ph.D., its vice president of clinical development. Albayrak joins the Alzheimer's and neurodegenerative biotech from Health Catalyst, where he was senior vice president of technology. Liang was most recently a clinical pharmacology and development consultant and prior to that was a senior director at Elan Pharmaceuticals and Transition Therapeutics. Release
> Theravance is axing 75% of its staff, and the departures include Executive Vice President and General Counsel Braford J. Shafer and Senior Vice President of Technical Operations Vijay Sabesan. SEC filing
> Oncology precision medicine company Lengo Therapeutics named a slate of hires. Paul Pearson, Ph.D., will be chief of development after leading biopharma strategy firm Pearson Pharma Partners for more than a decade and prior to that was vice president of pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism at Amgen. Eric Gruff, Ph.D., will be SVP of chemistry, manufacturing and controls, after 14 years at E4 Pharmaceutical Consulting. And Ingrid Simms joins as SVP and principal accounting officer after serving in the same role at VelosBio until its $2.75 billion exit to Merck. Release
> Sunjeet Sawhney will be CEO of Rappta Therapeutics, an anti-cancer biotech. Sawhney joins from Ipsen, where he was senior vice president and global oncology franchise head. Founding CEO Mikko Mannerkoski moves to the chief financial officer role. Release
> Gene therapy biotech EG 427 named Grzegorz Sarek, Ph.D., as vice president of research. Sarek joins from DiNAQOR, where he was director of gene therapy and translational research for the heart disease biotech. Release
> Aurion Biotech named Tim Largen its vice president of manufacturing. Largen joins the ocular diseases biotech from Lykan Bioscience, a contract development and manufacturing organization. Release
> Jonathan Stein, Ph.D., will be the first chief science officer and medical director of Tesis Labs. Stein joins the genetic sequencing company from Spectracell Laboratories, where he was chief science officer. Release
> Xenter named Mark Turco, M.D., president of its medical technology business unit. Turco joins the company from Sirtex Medical, where he was executive vice president of research and development and global chief medical officer. Release
> Wayne Bowden will be vice president of business development at decentralized clinical trials software company Curebase. Bowden joins from CRO Bioraise, where he was vice president of partnerships and strategy. Release
> Neogene Therapeutics named Han Lee, Ph.D., its chief financial officer. Lee joins the preclinical cancer biotech from Arcellx, where he was CFO and led $200 million in financings. Release
> Patrick Fabbio will be chief financial officer of Rafeal Holdings, which runs Barer Institute and Rafeal Pharmaceuticals. He was previously CFO of WindMIL Therapeutics. Release
> Genomics and precision medicine company Dante Labs snagged three people from Illumina and made multiple other hires. Andre Nel will be chief financial officer; Dalila Rahmani is chief accounting officer; Laura D'Angelo is vice president of investor relations; and Omar Elbakshish will be senior director. Nel, Rahmani and Elbakshish all joined from Illumina. Rachel Haverfield was also named general counsel. Release
> ObvioHealth, a virtual research organization, made a bevvy of management moves. The company promoted Matty Culbreth-Notaro to chief operating officer; named Scott Clark chief commercial officer; Leslie Pascaud will be chief marketing officer; Craig Gravina becomes chief technology officer and Jeff Evitts was named global head of clinical sales and strategy. Release
> Ibex Medical Analytics, an AI cancer diagnostics company, named Douglas Clark, M.D., its chief medical officer for the Americas. Clark was previously CMO at TriCore. Release
> Clinical trial technology company Castor named Kimberly Tableman its chief clinical development officer and Anna Wozniak its chief financial and development officer. Tableman was previously CEO of Medicine X, and Wozniak joins from personalized medicine company BC Platforms, where she was executive vice president of strategy and development. Release
> Rare diseases biotech Saniona named Wendy Dwyer its chief business officer. Dwyer joins from Surface Oncology, where she held the same role and helped secure an $815 million licensing agreement. Release
> Renee Barnett will be chief financial officer of Immunovant starting next month. Barnett spent the previous six years at AbleTo, where she was most recently chief integration officer for the virtual behavioral health company. Release
> Biotech incubator Flagship Pioneering named Kathy Biberstein its general counsel. Biberstein spent the past 15 years at Alkermes, where she held various chief roles, including administrative, compliance, risk and chief legal officer. Release
> RNA biotech GreenLight Biosciences named Jennifer Raymond its senior vice president of CMC and manufacturing. Raymond spent the past six years at GlaxoSmithKline, working on quality and product development. Release
> Genesis Drug Discovery and Development, a CRO unit of Genesis Biotechnology, named Anthony Rohr, as chief operating officer. Rohr is currently CEO of PharmOptima. Laura Sailor was also named director of business development. Release
> Medical device maker Artio Medical named Joe McConnell its vice president of business operations and Irina Galkina as controller. McConnell was previously chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Blooom, and Galkina was previously controller at Aratana Therapeutics. Release
> Medical device company Embody named Tim Meyers its chief financial officer, Matt Havener as director of product development, Vicki Phillos as director of commercial operations, Brianna Schehr as director of regulatory and clinical, Jack Gardella as director of national accounts and Christine Nelson as vice president of manufacturing and quality. Release
> Nicole M. Chieffo will be vice president of clinical operations and Werner Rubas, Ph.D., will be vice president of preclinical development at Sutro Biopharma. Chieffo joins the cancer and autoimmune biotech from Johnson & Johnson's Janssen Pharmaceuticals, where she was senior director and global operations head for oncology. Rubas spent the past nine years at Nektar Therapeutics, including most recently as executive director of non-clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Release
> Doug Sheehy joins Sonoma Biotherapeutics as chief legal officer and secretary. Sheehy comes to the T cell biotech from Aimmune Therapeutics, where he was general counsel and secretary of the publicly traded food allergy biopharma. Release
> Genomics company 54gene made a slate of hires in conjunction with a $25 million series B. Colm O'Dushlaine was named vice president of genomics and data science and joins from Regeneron Genetic Center; Peter Fekkes joins as vice president of drug discovery; Teresia Bost becomes general counsel; and Jude Uzonwanne is the company's chief business officer. Release
> Cell therapy company Kyverna Therapeutics named Karen Walker as chief technology officer and appointed former Genentech CEO Ian Clark as chair of the board. Walker was previously senior advisor for cell and gene therapy manufacturing at Roche's Genentech and prior to that was vice president of global quality at Seattle Genetics. Release
> NASH clinical-stage biotech Inventiva made seven hires. Alice Roudot-Ketelers joins as vice president of clinical operations and pharmaceutical development; Jean-Paul Duterte, M.D., will be head of pharmacovigilance; Sanjay Patel, M.D., as medical director; Gerardo Rodriguez, M.D., Ph.D., as senior medical director; Joseph Covino as senior director of clinical operations; Eric Duranson as general counsel; and Pascaline Clerc, Ph.D., as vice president of global external affairs. Release
> Bio convergence company BICO named Erica Bell its chief people officer. Bell was most recently vice president of human resources at PerkinElmer, where she led HR across biotechnology verticals. Release
> Semi Trotto is the new chief people and experience officer at MOMA Therapeutics. Trotto joins the precision medicine biotech from Thrive Earlier Detection, where she was general manager. Release