Alain D. Baron has joined Amylin Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA) as vice president, clinical research. Dr. Baron joins the company from Indiana University School of Medicine, where he served as professor of medicine and director of the division of endocrinology and metabolism.

IGT Pharma (Vancouver, BC, Canada) has announced the promotions of Ken Curry, vice president, R&D, to the position of chief scientific officer, and Daniel Bong to the position of director of technology development.

R. Gordon Douglas, Jr. has been appointed to the position of chairman of the board of directors of Vical (San Diego, CA). Dr. Douglas joined the board in May 1999 following his retirement from Merck Vaccines, where he had been president since 1991.

Genome Therapeutics (Waltham, MA) has named Richard Gill president and COO, succeeding Robert Hennessey, who remains chairman and chief executive. Mr. Gill was most recently a senior vice president and general manager with BTG International.

Questcor Pharmaceuticals (Hayward, CA) has named Jonathan C. Goldsmith vice president, clinical research and regulatory affairs. Dr. Goldsmith joins the company from Centeon, where he directed various research programs. Questcor also announced the appointment of Hans P. Schmid as vice president, finance and administration, and CFO. Previously, Mr. Schmid was senior vice president, international business development and site manager for Oread.

Dendreon (Seattle, WA) has named Vulcan Ventures biotechnology portfolio manager Ruth B. Kunath to its board of directors. In addition, the company named T. Dennis George senior vice president, corporate affairs and general counsel, and promoted Madhusdan V. Peshwa to vice president of process science. Dr. Peshwa joined Dendreon in 1994, and was most recently director of cell processing. Mr. George joins Dendreon from private legal practice in Seattle.

Genset (Paris) has announced the appointment of James S. Kuo as vice president, worldwide business development. Dr. Kuo joins the company from Myriad Genetics, where he served as vice president of business development Additionally, Genset announced the nomination of Audrey Keane as vice president, licensing. Ms. Keane also retains her position as COO of Genset's US subsidiary.

Xcyte Therapies (Seattle, WA) has named Peter J. Langecker to its board of directors. Dr. Langecker recently assumed the position of chief medical officer and vice president of medical affairs at BioMedicines, and prior to that, was vice president, clinical affairs at Sugen.

Orchid Biocomputer (Princeton, NJ) has announced that Michael C. Pirrung has joined the company as its first President's Fellow. Dr. Pirrung will focus on advanced technology development in the design and application of Orchid's microfluidic chip technologies. Dr. Pirrung will retain his full-time faculty position at Duke University, where he is currently director of its Biotechnology for Business Program, director of the Program in Biological Chemistry and a professor of chemistry. Dr. Pirrung was also a founder and former senior scientist at Affymax Research Institute.

George Poste has been named nonexecutive chairman of the board of Structural GenomiX (San Diego, CA). From 1992 to 1999, Dr. Poste was president, R&D and chief science and technology officer at SmithKline Beecham, and a member of the board of directors.

INSMED Pharmaceuticals (Richmond, VA) has named Alan D. Rogol principal clinical scientist. Dr. Rogol is professor of pediatrics and pharmacology and a member of the division of endocrinology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine.

Craig A. Rosen has been promoted to executive vice president, R&D of Human Genome Sciences (Rockville, MD). He will also continue to serve as a member of the board of directors. In addition, HGS announced three other promotions: Fazal R. Khan has been named vice president, operations; Alain D. Cappeluti has been promoted to vice president and controller; and Indrajit Sanyal has been named director, high-throughput biological screening.

Sangamo BioSciences (Point Richmond, CA) has appointed William J. Rutter to its board of directors. Dr. Rutter co-founded Chiron in 1981 and served as its chairman until last year.