CRISPR Therapeutics (Basel, Switzerland, and Cambridge, MA, USA) has announced the appointments of Samarth Kulkarni (right) as chief business officer and Michael Bruce (below, right) as senior vice president, program portfolio and alliance management. Kulkarni joins the company from McKinsey and Company where he was a partner and had a leading role in the pharmaceutical and medical products practice. Bruce was most recently vice president of development management and business operations for worldwide research & development for Pfizer.

“Dr. Kulkarni and Dr. Bruce both bring significant industry experience that will enable us to maximize the potential of CRISPR-Cas9–based therapies as cures for serious human diseases,” said Rodger Novak, CEO of CRISPR. “Dr. Kulkarni's expertise in strategy and operations related to cutting-edge therapeutic technologies and Dr. Bruce's experience in portfolio and alliance management across therapeutic areas will be instrumental as we expand our portfolio and accelerate our programs toward the clinic.”

Detlef Albrecht has been appointed chief medical officer and head of drug development at Armetheon (Milpitas, CA, USA). He was previously president and CEO of Sorbent Therapeutics.

Molecular diagnostics company Veracyte (S. San Francisco, CA, USA) has named Neil M. Barth chief medical officer. Barth has more than 30 years of experience in healthcare-provider organizations and diagnostics companies. Most recently, he was chief medical officer for Agendia.

Bionomics Limited (Thebarton, Australia) has named Tony Colasin chief business officer. Colasin has over 20 years of experience in business development, product commercialization and corporate finance, most recently serving as vice president of corporate development at Ironwood Pharmaceuticals. He will be based in San Diego.

Tivorsan Pharmaceuticals (Providence, RI, USA) has named James E. Connolly CEO and a member of the board of directors. Connolly previously served as president and CEO of Aeras, a nonprofit global biotechnology organization.

Pamlico BioPharma (Oklahoma City, OK, USA) has elected Mark H.N. Corrigan to its board of directors. Corrigan is the former president and CEO of Zalicus, which in 2014 merged with Eprirus Biopharmaceuticals. He currently serves as chairman of Epirus' board.

Martin Driscoll has been appointed president and CEO of Spring Bank Pharmaceuticals (Milford, MA, USA), succeeding Douglas J. Jensen, who is leaving to pursue other opportunities. Driscoll most recently served as CEO of Asmacure Ltée. Previously he was CEO and a director of Javelin Pharmaceuticals. In addition, Spring Bank announced that Driscoll and Kurt M. Eichler have been elected to the company's board of directors.

VolitionRx (Namur, Belgium) has announced the appointment of David Kratochvil as CFO and treasurer. Kratochvil joins VolitionRx from Euro Pacific Capital, where he served as managing director in the corporate finance department.

Howard Liang has been named CFO and chief strategy officer at cancer treatment developer BeiGene (Beijing). Liang has more than 20 years of experience as a Wall Street analyst and as a scientist in the biopharma industry. He was most recently a managing director and head of biotechnology equity research at Leerink Partners.

Paul J. Merrigan has been appointed chief commercial officer at Catalyst Pharmaceuticals (Coral Gables, FL, USA). He previously served as vice president, global marketing and vice president, commercial strategy and advocacy at Aegerion Pharmaceuticals.

Rene Russo has been appointed chief development officer at monoclonal antibody developer Arsanis (Vienna). She was most recently vice president, global medical affairs at Cubist Pharmaceuticals. Arsanis also announced the appointments of Dan Burgess and Amy Schulman to its board of directors. Burgess is currently a venture partner with SV Life Sciences and was previously founder, president and CEO of Rempex Pharmaceuticals. Schulman is currently a venture partner with Polaris Partners and CEO of Lyndra, Inc. and Arsia Therapeutics.

Vernalis (Winnersh, UK) has announced the appointment of Lisa Amster Schoenberg to its board of directors. Most recently an independent consultant, from 1993 until 2013 Schoenberg was at AstraZeneca in a number of senior marketing positions, culminating as vice president, sales & marketing, growth brands USA.

23andMe (Mountain View, CA, USA) has announced the appointment of Dean Schorno as CFO and head of operations. Schorno most recently served as CFO of Adaptive Biotechnologies. Before that, he held executive leadership positions at Genomic Health.

Sellas Life Sciences Group (Zug, Switzerland) has named Gregory M. Torre as chief regulatory officer and vice president, operations and Martin G. Baum as senior vice president, commercial strategy. Torre has 35 years of executive leadership experience in the pharma and biotech industries, previously serving as vice president, worldwide regulatory strategy global established products at Pfizer. Baum was most recently founding partner and managing director of healthcare consulting firm Komedica. Previously, he founded and served as president and CEO of Vestiq Pharmaceuticals.

Pet therapeutics company Aratana Therapeutics (Kansas City, KS, USA) has named Wendy Yarno as chairman of the board of directors, replacing Jay Lichter, who has resigned from the board. Yarno has been a member of Aratana's board since 2013. She is the former chief marketing officer at Merck & Co. She also currently holds board positions with St. Jude Medical and Medivation.