People Spotlight — June 2022

Annaliesa Anderson, PhD, has been appointed senior vice president and head of the Pfizer’s vaccine research & development (R&D) organization effective Aug. 1, succeeding Kathrin U. Jansen, PhD, who will be retiring from the company. With more than two decades of biopharma R&D experience, Dr. Anderson most recently served as VP and chief scientific officer for bacterial research and hospital within the vaccine R&D organization.

Piramal Pharma Solutions (PPS), a contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) and part of Piramal Pharma Limited, has appointed Herve Berdou as chief operating officer. Berdou joins PPS from Lonza, where he was the global head of operations, cell and gene technologies. He has more than two decades of experience across global supply chain, procurement, and operations, including manufacturing and site head positions at both small and large facilities.

Herve Berdou

Delpharm, a CDMO, has appointed Alain Kirchmeyer as managing director. With 30 years of experience in the B2B markets, including 20 based outside France, he was previously managing director for the French manufacturer Unither Pharmaceuticals. Kirchmeyer will oversee the group’s management, with the goal of enabling Delpharm to accelerate its performance in Europe and North America and will report to Sebastien Aguettant, who remains president of Delpharm.

Medcura, Inc., a commercial-stage life science and medical device company, has appointed James (Jim) Buck as CEO. Buck has been serving as director at Medcura since 2018 and now fully steps into the CEO role with more than 25 years of highly relevant career experiences.

The Health System Owned Specialty Pharmacy Alliance (HOSP), a non-profit trade association for integrated specialty pharmacies, expanded its board of directors while accepting six new members and five partners to the organization last month. Desi Kotis, PharmD, FASHP, chief pharmacy executive, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Health and associate dean and clinical professor, UCSF School of Pharmacy and Kyle Skiermont, vice president, pharmacy and therapeutics, Nebraska Medicine, College of Pharmacy University of Nebraska Medical Center, accepted seats on the board of directors, increasing the board total to 10 members. The six new HOSP members are: Avera Health, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco and UCLA. HOSP added five new partners including: BeiGene, Eisai, EMD Serono, JB Consulting, Moderna, and URAC.

Scorpion Biological Services, a biopharma contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), has appointed Stephan Kutzer, PhD, as its interim CEO. Dr. Kutzer currently serves on Scorpion’s advisory board. He brings more than 25 years of experience in the pharma and biotech industries, managing successful CDMOs. He previously served as president and CEO of Alcami Corporation, a provider of development, analytical testing, and manufacturing services to the pharma and biotech sectors.

Desi Kotis, PharmD, FASHP

Stacey Ma, PhD, will be joining Gilead Sciences, Inc. as executive vice president, pharmaceutical development and manufacturing, and will become a member of the company’s senior leadership team, reporting to chairman and CEO Daniel O’Day. Dr. Ma will assume responsibility for Gilead’s pharmaceutical development and manufacturing organization effective July 18, 2022. She will succeed Taiyin Yang, PhD, who is retiring from Gilead after nearly three decades. Dr. Ma brings to her new role more than 25 years of experience in process, pharma and analytical development, quality, technical product and supply chain management, as well as global manufacturing operations.

The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has appointed Dr. Xie Xingquan as its regional vice president for North Asia, effective immediately. Reporting to Conrad Clifford, IATA’s senior vice president and deputy director general, Dr. Xie will lead IATA’s activities across the aforementioned region, one that is home to 40 IATA member airlines.

Athenex, Inc., a global biopharma company whose objective is the discovery, development, and commercialization of novel therapies for the treatment of cancer and related conditions, announced Darrel P. Cohen, MD, PhD, as its chief medical officer of cell therapy to lead its clinical development, clinical operations, and regulatory affairs functions. He will be replacing Kurt Gunter, MD, who has decided to pursue other opportunities outside of cell therapy.

MEI Pharma, Inc., a late-stage pharma company focused on advancing new therapies for cancer, announced that Anne Frese, an experienced industry executive, has joined MEI as chief people officer, a role reporting to Daniel P. Gold, CEO. Her appointment is effective immediately. She will be responsible for the strategy and processes related to building and retaining an exceptional team of professionals. Frese joins MEI with over 30 years of human resource experience across a variety of industries, including biotech, consulting, hospitality, and engineering.