The Ontario Genomics Institute (Toronto) has announced the appointment of Mark J. Poznansky (below, right) as president and CEO, replacing Christian Burks. Poznansky has served on the OGI board of directors since 2004 and has been chairman since 2008. He was previously president, CEO and scientific director of the Robarts Research Institute in London, Ontario, and also served as president and CEO of Viron Therapeutics. For the past two years, he has managed his own consultancy for clients in government, hospitals, universities and the private sector.

“Dr. Poznansky brings a wealth of experience to OGI, in genomics, in business development and in government affairs,” says Mark Lievonen, acting chair of the board of directors. “His knowledge of life sciences and in running institutes and businesses will serve OGI well as it continues its plans to aid the growth of the life sciences sector in Ontario and increase the province's reputation as a world leader in genomics research.”

Advanced Cell Technology (Marlborough, MA, USA) has announced the unexpected passing of its chairman and CEO, William M. Caldwell IV, on December 13, 2010. Caldwell had been CEO since 2005 and chairman since 2006. Gary Rabin, a member of ACT's board since 2007 and managing partner of GR Advisors, has been named as interim chairman and CEO until a permanent replacement is named.

Former OSI Pharmaceuticals CEO Colin Goddard has been appointed to the board of directors of Human Genome Sciences (Rockville, MD, USA). Goddard joined OSI Pharmaceuticals as a scientist in 1989, advancing through its management ranks before being named CEO and a director in 1998 and chairman in 2000.

Receptos (San Diego) has named Faheem Hasnain (right) president, CEO and a member of the board of directors. Hasnain was most recently president and CEO of Facet Biotech. William H. Rastetter has stepped down as interim CEO of Receptos and will continue to serve as chairman of the board.

Pulmatrix (Cambridge, MA, USA) has named Eva Jack chief business officer, a newly created position. She most recently served as managing director at MedImmune Ventures, the corporate venture fund of MedImmune, which included serving as a board member or board observer for several portfolio companies. Previously, she was director of MedImmune's business development group.

John H. Johnson has been named chairman of the board of directors of Tranzyme Pharma (Research Triangle Park, NC, USA). He currently serves as president of Lilly Oncology and senior vice president at Eli Lilly. Previously, Johnson served as CEO of ImClone Systems and was also a member of ImClone's board until the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Lilly in November 2008.

Jeffrey Kindler has resigned as chairman and CEO of Pfizer (New York), a little over a year after the company's $67 billion acquisition of Wyeth. He assumed the CEO post in July 2006. “The combination of meeting the requirements of our many stakeholders around the world and the 24/7 nature of my responsibilities has made this period extremely demanding on me personally,” Kindler said in a statement, citing the need to “recharge [his] batteries.” He is succeeded as chairman by independent director George Lorch and as CEO by Pfizer's global head of pharmaceuticals, Ian Read.

Originally slated to step down from his post on December 17, 2010, Robert Klein has agreed to remain as head of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (San Francisco) until a suitable replacement is found. State officials discovered that the leading candidate, Alan Bernstein, was ineligible because he was not a US citizen. Bernstein, a Canadian national, is executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine Enterprise. Klein says he anticipates leading the agency for no more than 12 months: “Within the year, and hopefully sooner than that, we'll be able to find someone with Dr. Bernstein's tremendous talent who is a US citizen who can fulfill this role.”

Privately held contract research organization WIL Research (Fairfield, NJ, USA) has appointed Howard Moody as chief information officer and Alan Findlater as chief commercial officer. Moody brings more than 20 years of experience in the contract research and laboratory services industries, most recently serving as CIO for MDS Pharma Services. Findlater joins WIL Research from Covance, where he was global vice president of sales and client services for the nonclinical safety assessment and analytical services divisions.

Steve Self, development director at e-Therapeutics (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), has agreed to become an executive director on the company's board. He previously served as group R&D director at Merck Generics and worked for a private equity bank on major US pharmaceutical acquisitions. He currently serves as a director at KMS Therapeutics.

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) has been named chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over FDA operations. Upton, who has served on the committee since 1991, will succeed Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.). Upton plans to make legislation to repeal or restructure the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act a committee priority. His stated positions include supporting federal funding of human embryonic stem cell research, opposing negotiating Medicare Part D drug prices and opposing drug importation.

William Vickery (right) has been named head of corporate and business development of Hybrigenics (Paris), a newly created position. Previously, he served as senior director of business development at ExonHit Therapeutics and as a business development director at Roche Pharmaceuticals.