Dynavax Technologies (Berkeley, CA) has named three new vice presidents: Robert Lee Coffman as vice president and chief scientific officer (CSO); Stephen F. Tuck as vice president, biopharmaceutical development; and Gary Van Nest as vice president, preclinical research. Dr. Coffman was most recently a distinguished research fellow at DNAX Research Institute. Both Dr. Tuck and Dr. Van Nest joined Dynavax in 1997, serving most recently as senior director, biopharmaceutical development and senior director, preclinical development, respectively.

Physiome Sciences (Princeton, NJ) has announced the appointment of Charles DeLisi to its scientific advisory board. Dr. DeLisi is currently director of the All University Program in Bioinformatics at Boston University, a member of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Theory Advisory Committee, and chairman of the board of scientific counselors to the director for the National Center for Biotechnology Information at the National Institutes of Health.

David Duncan, Jr. has been appointed vice president of finance and CFO of Medinox (San Diego, CA). Most recently, Mr. Duncan was vice president and CFO of Tanox.

Axys Pharmaceuticals (S. San Francisco, CA) has named Paul J. Hastings president, CEO, and a director of the company. Most recently, Mr. Hastings was president of Chiron BioPharmaceuticals.

NeoTherapeutics (Irvine, CA) has appointed F. Jacob Huff as vice president, medical director. Dr. Huff spent nine years in the neuroscience division of Hoechst Marion Roussel, most recently as vice president, global therapeutic area neuroscience.

Jerry Karabelas has joined the board of SkyePharma (London) as a non-executive director. He held the position of CEO of Novartis Pharma until July 2000, when he was appointed chairman of the Novartis Venture Fund, with the responsibility of investing $50 million on behalf of Novartis. Additionally, SkyePharma announced that Nigel Wray—a non-executive director since 1995—has stepped down from the board.

Merck & Co. (Whitehouse Station, NJ) has announced the appointment of Peter S. Kim as executive vice president, R&D of the Merck Research Laboratories. Dr. Kim joins Merck from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he served as associate head for the department of biology and professor of biology, and was a member of the Whitehead Institute.

Stephen E. Lincoln has been named senior vice president of life science informatics at InforMax (Rockville, MD). Most recently, he was vice president of bioinformatics R&D at Incyte Genomics.

Ron Lindsay has been appointed vice president of R&D and CSO of diaDexus (Santa Clara, CA), and Bob Wolfert has been named vice president of diagnostics. Dr. Lindsay joins the company from Millennium Pharmaceuticals, where he was senior vice president, biotherapeutics. Dr. Wolfert was previously director of research at Hybritech/Beckman Coulter.

Mark McDade has been named CEO of Signature BioScience (Hayward, CA). Mr. McDade served as chief operating officer (COO) of Boehringer Mannheim Therapeutics, and more recently was a co-founder, president, and COO of Corixa Corp.

Vical (San Diego, CA) has announced the appointment of Vijay B. Samant as president and CEO. From 1998 to mid-2000, Mr. Samant was COO of Merck's Vaccine Division.

GeneSoft (S. San Francisco, CA) has announced that Edward M. Scolnick has joined its board of directors. Dr. Scolnick is currently executive vice president, science and technology, and president of Merck Research Laboratories, as well as a member of the board of directors of Merck & Co.

Andrew C.G. Uprichard has been named COO of Curis (Cambridge, MA). He joins the company from Pfizer Global Research and Development, where he was most recently vice president, drug development. Curis also named Daniel R. Passeri as senior vice president, corporate development and strategic planning. Mr. Passeri was previously senior vice president, corporate development at Gene Logic.

 Chromos Molecular Systems (Burnaby, BC, Canada) has announced the appointment of Joseph Zendegui to the position of vice president, business development. Dr. Zendegui most recently served as director, business development at Valentis.