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.
Biden nominates Robert Califf to head the FDA after he helmed the agency in Obama admin's last year
U.S. Food & Drug Administration
Robert Califf, M.D., emerged as President Joe Biden's long-awaited nominee to lead the FDA.
The official nomination came at the eleventh hour, as Biden was required by law to name somebody by Nov. 15. The choice came 10 months after Biden's inauguration and follows many months of calls from the industry to nominate somebody, including a letter cosigned by Califf himself. That was all the way back in April. Califf would take the post from Janet Woodcock, M.D., who has been acting commissioner for almost all of 2021. Fierce Biotech
Biogen R&D chief Al Sandrock takes the exit ramp as the company struggles with Aduhelm approval fallout
Biogen
Al Sandrock, M.D., Ph.D., is out the door of Biogen after a 23-year career at the biopharma.
Sandrock is retiring from his chief R&D post as Biogen reels from the controversial development and approval of Alzheimer's drug Aduhelm as well as commercialization hurdles since then. With more than two decades at the biotech, Sandrock's legacy is clouded by the Aduhelm spotlight. It was unclear why the longtime leader is departing as well as why he's leaving before a permanent successor is put in place. Fierce Biotech
Pfizer's chief financial officer to retire, becoming 3rd exec at the Big Pharma to announce exit plans this year
Pfizer
Frank D'Amelio is retiring from Pfizer as chief financial officer and EVP of global supply and will stay as a consultant through the transition.
D'Amelio ends a nearly 15-year stint at the Big Pharma and has added nearly $150 billion in market cap growth to the company since taking the CFO post. Taking over his global supply officer duties is Pfizer president of global supply Mike McDermott. D'Amelio becomes the third major executive at Pfizer to announce retirement plans in recent months. M&A leader John Young and Chief Development Officer Rod MacKenzie, Ph.D., are also headed for the exit. Fierce Pharma
> Provention Bio hired Jan Hillson, M.D., as senior VP of clinical development after she held the same post at Alpine Immune Sciences. Hillson is the third leadership hire this month as the company awaits a Type A meeting with the FDA about its rejected Type 1 diabetes drug. Fierce Biotech
> Another bluebird bio VP is headed to AavantiBio as the biotech poached Jenny Marlowe, Ph.D., as chief scientific officer. Marlowe is the sixth executive hire this year at the one-year-old startup. Fierce Biotech
> 15-year Seagen executive Nancy Whiting is now the CEO of new biotech Recludix Pharma. Fierce Biotech
> Medtronic named four new hires starting between now and the early days of 2022. Bob Hopkins as head of global strategy; Mei Jiang, as the new global digital innovation leader; Harry "Skip" Kiil as president of the Cranial and Spinal Technologies unit; and Mira Sahney, president of the Pelvic Health unit. Fierce MedTech
> IN8bio hired Gilead VP of Clinical Development Trishna Goswami, M.D., as chief medical officer. Release
> Teri Loxam is the new chief operating and financial officer of Kira Pharmaceuticals and replaces interim CFO Matt Gorman. Loxam joins from SQZ Biotechnologies, where she was CFO. Release
> Ram Yeleswarapu joins Indegene as a senior vice president after serving as president of CRO Navitas Life Sciences. Release
> Memic Innovative Surgery named Chad Zaring its chief commercial officer, Duncan Moffat its EVP of corporate operations and Stavit Cohen as VP of R&D. Release
> Kathryn Corzo is the new chief operating officer of cell coding company bit.bio after serving as a partner at Takeda Ventures and previously head of oncology cell therapy development at the Big Pharma. Release
> Memgen named Kevin Coveney its chief financial officer after serving in the same post at Q-State Biosciences. Release
> Immunitas Therapeutics selected co-founder Amanda Wagner as its next CEO as current leader Jeffrey Goldberg remains in an advisory role through the end of the year. Release
> Robert Shaw is the new CEO of Polypeptide Therapeutics Solutions after holding the executive director of standards coordinating body perch at Regenerative Medicine. Release
> SpyBiotech named Simon Jones its VP of finance and operations and takes the post from interim finance director Vien Phan. Release
> Pamela James, Ph.D., was promoted to VP of product at Vector Laboratories. Release
> Recently combined Insightful Science and Dotmatics named Rebeca Sanchez Sarmiento as CFO after she held the same post at InvestCloud and ATTOM Data Solutions. Release
> David Sherris, Ph.D., joins Penrose TherapeuTx as president and CEO after serving in the same posts at GenAdam Therapeutics, Paloma Pharmaceuticals and VasculoMedics. Release
> Cedilla Therapeutics named Joshua Murtie, Ph.D., as VP of biology after holding a senior director post at Servier Pharmaceuticals, and Chris Lindblom as VP of finance after holding the same post at IFM Therapeutics. Release
> Heidi Hagen is the new chief technical officer of Sonoma Biotherapeutics after serving as the interim CEO of Ziopharm Oncology and prior to that co-founding software company Vineti. Release
> Sylvaine Cases, Ph.D., is the first chief business officer of Lynx Biosciences after she was VP of oncology strategic partnering at Johnson & Johnson. Release
> Puneet Arora, M.D., is the new chief medical officer of Lassen Therapeutics after serving as head of clinical for inflammation and immunology at Sanofi's Principia Biopharma. Release
> Sanjay Aggarwal, is the new chief medical officer at Apollo Therapeutics after holding the same post at Angiocrine Bioscience. Release
> Blade Therapeutics named Bassem Elmankabadi, M.D., as SVP of clinical development after a post at FibroGen as an executive medical director overseeing clinical development of fibrosis and oncology programs. Release