KaloBios Pharmaceuticals (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has announced the election of Robert A. Baffi (right) to its board of directors. Baffi currently serves as executive vice president of technical operations at BioMarin Pharmaceutical, which he joined in 2000.

“Robert Baffi is a long-time veteran of the biotech industry who has contributed to more than 20 regulatory submissions for product approvals in the United States and Europe and to more than 20 regulatory submissions for investigational new drug testing,” says KaloBios president and CEO David Pritchard. “His extensive knowledge and experience in the process development, manufacturing and quality assurance and control of biopharmaceuticals make Robert an excellent resource for KaloBios as we prepare to advance our lead products into pivotal clinical studies.”

Vertex Pharmaceuticals (Cambridge, MA, USA) has named David Altshuler executive vice president of global research and CSO. Altshuler is a co-founder of the Broad Institute at Harvard University and serves as deputy director and chief academic officer, as well as professor of genetics and medicine at Harvard Medical School. He joined the board of Vertex in May 2014.

Novadip Biosciences (Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium) has named Gil Beyen as an independent director. Beyen is currently chairman and CEO of ERYtech Pharma. Previously, he was a co-founder and CEO of TiGenix.

Gilead Biosciences (Foster City, CA, USA) has appointed Philippe Bishop as senior vice president of hematology and oncology therapeutics. Bishop had served as vice president of product development for oncology at Genentech since 2007.

Abcam (Cambridge, UK) has appointed Yvonne Chien chief digital officer. Chien joins the company from Getty Images, where she previously held the role of senior vice president of marketing. She succeeds Ed Ralph, who has been appointed as chief marketing officer at Axol Biosciences. In addition, Abcam has announced the appointment of Sue Harris as nonexecutive director to the Abcam board. Harris is at Lloyds Banking Group where she is group audit director.

Incoming European Commission (EC) president Jean-Claude Juncker has announced that he will not re-appoint Anne Glover as chief scientific advisor to the president of the EC in 2015, and in addition has abolished the post of chief scientific advisor altogether. Several environmental groups, including Greenpeace, had sought Glover's dismissal since July of last year after she stated at a conference that there was “not a single piece of scientific evidence” to support claims that food produced from genetically modified organisms was less safe than conventionally grown food. Glover, a professor of molecular biology and cell biology at the University of Aberdeen, was appointed to the newly created post of chief scientific advisor in 2012 by Juncker's predecessor as EC president, José Manuel Barroso.

Stephen D. Harrison has joined Relypsa (Redwood City, CA, USA) as senior vice president and CSO. Harrison was most recently vice president, research biology at Nektar Therapeutics. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president, research at KAI Pharmaceuticals.

Applied Proteomics (San Diego) has named Steve R. Martin as CFO. He was formerly CFO of Apricus Biosciences and CFO and interim CEO of BakBone Software.

Paolo Paoletti has been named to the board of directors of NuCana BioMed (Edinburgh). He currently serves as president of oncology at GlaxoSmithKline. Previously, he was vice president of clinical development for Lilly Oncology.

Erich M. Platzer has been appointed to the board of directors of Aptose Biosciences (San Diego and Toronto). He was previously business director of oncology, global strategic marketing and therapeutic area head of oncology at Roche, Basel, where he also served as medical director in oncology and global development project leader. He co-founded and currently serves as an investment advisor to healthcare investing firm HBM Partners. Aptose also announced that Brian Underdown, managing director of Lumira Capital, has resigned his seat on the board of directors.

Genentech (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) head of research Richard Schellar has announced his retirement, effective at the end of 2014. His successor is Michael Varney, who previously ran Genentech's small-molecule drug discovery unit. Schellar joined Genentech in 2001 as senior vice president, research and was named executive vice president of research in September 2003. He was appointed CSO in 2008. After Roche acquired Genentech in 2009, Schellar became executive vice president of research and early development. Varney started at Genentech in June 2005 as vice president, small-molecule drug discovery. He also managed the research budget and was co-chair of the early-stage portfolio committee.

Promethera Biosciences (Mont-Saint-Guibert, Belgium) has named John Tchelingerian as chairman of the board. Tchelingerian co-founded and managed several biotech companies including Neurotech, Key-Obs and Diatos.

Spark Therapeutics (Philadelphia) has announced the appointment of Rogerio Vivaldi as its first chief commercial officer. Vivaldi is the former head of rare diseases at Genzyme and the former CEO of Minerva Neurosciences. He was appointed to the board of directors at Spark in April 2014.

International life sciences and healthcare investment group Abingworth (London) has announced the appointment of Kurt von Emster as a partner based in Menlo Park, California. He brings 25 years of experience in the life sciences sector as an analyst and portfolio manager at Franklin Templeton, general partner at MPM Capital and co-founder and partner of healthcare investment firm venBio.