People spotlight — November 2021

OraSure Technologies, Inc., a medical device company that provides point-of-care and home diagnostic testing, along with sample collection technologies, announced that after almost 21 years of service to the company, Jack E. Jerrett is retiring as the company’s senior vice president, general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary, effective as of Dec. 31, 2021. Agnieszka M. Gallagher, who most recently served as the chief ethics and compliance officer at biopharma firm Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, has been hired by the company to fill Jerrett’s general counsel, chief compliance officer and secretary roles.

Oleksii Kosenko has joined FourKites, a supply chain visibility platform company, as director of carrier network operations, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), to accelerate the company’s growing carrier base in Europe. Before joining FourKites, Kosenko led the carrier sales teams at Uber Freight and sennder Technologies GmbH, and held a senior sales role at C.H. Robinson.

Oleksii Kosenko. Credit: Business Wire

Myovant Sciences, a healthcare company focused on redefining care for women and for men, has appointed Nancy Valente, MD, as an independent member of the company’s board of directors. She will also be chairing the board’s nominating and corporate governance committee, and will be a member of the audit committee. Dr. Valente has knowledge in hematology and oncology drug development, and over 20 years of experience leading global development programs at Genentech/Roche.

Biogen Inc. announced that Alfred W. Sandrock, Jr., MD, PhD, head of research and development, will retire from the company, effective Dec. 31, 2021. A 23-year veteran of Biogen, Dr. Sandrock led the development of many of the biotech firm’s most important therapies in neurological diseases. He served on Biogen’s executive committee since 2015, as head of research and development since October 2019, and as chief medical officer from 2012 to 2020. Priya Singhal, MD, MPH, head of global safety and regulatory sciences, will assume Dr. Sandrock’s duties as head of R&D on an interim basis.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that Marie Owens Thomsen will join the association as its chief economist effective Jan. 4, 2022. Owens Thomsen comes to the IATA team from Lombard Odier, a Swiss private bank that specializes in wealth and asset management, where she has served as head of global trends and sustainability since 2020.

Marie Owens Thomsen. Credit: IATA

MEI Pharma, Inc., a late-stage pharma company focused on advancing new therapies for cancer, announced the appointment of Sujay Kango to its board of directors, effective Nov. 22, 2021. Kango has more than 25 years of experience in the pharma and biotech industries.

H1, a company that provides a global healthcare network that connects healthcare professionals, has added Ziad Ismail to the management team as COO. Ismail will drive the evolution of H1’s product portfolio and strategy across the entire healthcare ecosystem.

Health services company Evernorth has named Christine Gilroy, MD, MSPH, FACP, as chief medical officer of Express Scripts, a pharmacy benefit manager. In her role, Dr. Gilroy will leverage her deep expertise building and managing clinical care programs to increase quality, drive affordability and improve value. She will also serve as a strategic adviser and close partner to Express Scripts clients, providing guidance on plan design decisions.

MMS Holdings, a data-focused contract research organization, has added Kevin Chartier, PhD, to the team as its principal advisor of biostatistics and submissions planning. Dr. Chartier will work with the biostatistics team across MMS global operations to support sponsors with complex studies and submissions.

AGC Biologics, a biopharma contract development and manufacturing organization, announced that Jean-Baptiste Agnus has been appointed as the company’s chief business officer. In this position, he will be responsible for strategic leadership over all aspects of the company’s global business development and sales and marketing teams.