Atlas Venture (Boston, MA) has announced the appointment of Peter Barrett as an investment principal. Dr. Barrett co-founded Celera Genomics in 1998, and most recently held the position of executive vice president and chief business officer. He joined Perkin-Elmer in 1979 and, as vice president of its life science division, was responsible for the acquisition of Applied Biosystems in 1993.

David S. Block has been appointed executive vice president of Celera Genomics (Rockville, MD) and chief operating officer of Celera's therapeutics business. Dr. Block has been with DuPont Pharmaceuticals for the past 12 years, most recently as executive vice president for international operations.

ActivX Biosciences (La Jolla, CA) has announced that Nancy K. Dahl has joined the company as vice president and general counsel. Ms. Dahl most recently served in the same capacity at Amylin Pharmaceuticals, after having practiced law with the firms Lyon & Lyon and Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison.

Emisphere Technologies (Tarrytown, NY) has appointed Alan William Dunton to the newly created position of president and chief operating officer. Dr. Dunton joins the company from Johnson & Johnson, where he served most recently as president of the Janssen Research Foundation and managing director of Janssen Pharmaceutica.

Paradigm Genetics (Research Triangle Park, NC) has named Leroy E. Hood to its board of directors. Dr. Hood is founder, president, and director of the Institute for Systems Biology in Seattle, professor at large for the Keck Graduate Institute of Applied Life Sciences, and an affiliate professor of the University of Washington's bioengineering, computer science, and immunology departments.

Jerry Karabelas, formerly head of health care and CEO of worldwide pharmaceuticals for Novartis, has been appointed to the board of directors of NitroMed (Bedford, MA). Dr. Karabelas is currently a partner of Care Capital LLC.

Stephen J. McAndrew has been named vice president of pharmaceutical business development by Lexicon Genetics (The Woodlands, TX). Dr. McAndrew was most recently director of biotechnology licensing at the Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharmaceutical Research Institute.

ACLARA BioSciences (Mountain View, CA) has named Alfred G. Merriweather as its new vice president of finance and CFO. He joins the company from Citadon, a privately held software company. Additionally, Herbert Hooper has been elected to ACLARA's board of directors. One of the company's co-founders, Dr. Hooper is leaving his position as the company's chief technology officer to become a partner in Ampersand Ventures. Dr. Hooper will also serve as chairman of the company's scientific advisory board.

Maxim Pharmaceuticals (San Diego, CA) has named Philippe G. Prokocimer vice president, drug development. Dr. Prokocimer joins Maxim from Aventis Pharmaceuticals, where he most recently served as vice president, clinical development, regulatory affairs and operations.

Amgen (Thousand Oaks, CA) has announced the elections of Patricia Sueltz and Frank Biondi to its board of directors. Ms. Sueltz is executive vice president and general manager of the software systems group of Sun Microsystems, and Mr. Biondi is senior managing director of WaterView Advisors, a private equity fund specializing in media stocks. He was formerly CEO of Universal Studios from 1996 to 1998, and of Viacom from 1987 to 1996.

Applied Molecular Evolution (San Diego, CA) has announced the promotions of Jeffry Watkins to the position of chief scientific officer and Keith S. Manchester to the position of vice president of business development. Dr. Watkins joined the company in June 1998 as vice president of research, and Dr. Manchester was appointed AME's director of business development in March 2000. From 1999 to 2000, Dr. Manchester was an associate at Vestar Capital Partners.

Frank E. Young has been appointed to the board of directors at Panacea Pharmaceuticals (Rockville, MD). Dr. Young served as commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration from 1984 to 1989, and is also a member of the board of directors for EluSys Therapeutics, LearnWright, KM Biotech, CanGen, and Sensatex.

Ronald C. Griffith has joined Genelabs Technologies (Redwood City, CA) as vice president of research. He was most recently vice president of medicinal chemistry at Isis Pharmaceuticals.