Kathie M. Bishop (photo) has been appointed CSO at RNA-targeting gene therapy company Locana. A neuroscientist with 20 years of pharma industry experience, she will lead all research, preclinical development and clinical development activities for programs addressing significant unmet needs and will play an integral role in overseeing and building collaborations with pharma and academic partners. Bishop joins Locana from Otonomy, where she served as CSO. She previously served in the same capacity at Tioga Pharmaceuticals.

Jeffrey Ostrove, CEO of Locana, said of Bishop: “Her neuroscience background and rare genetic disease experience are highly relevant to Locana’s platform technology. With her stellar track record managing development programs from inception to drug approval, she is an ideal leader to advance Locana’s technology and drug development efforts.”

Vor Biopharma has appointed Robert Ang as CEO. Vor completed a $42 million series A funding in February. Ang joins the company after four years at Neon Therapeutics, where he served as chief business officer.

Wave Life Sciences has named Mark Baldry to the newly created position of chief commercial officer. A nearly 30-year industry veteran, Baldry joins Wave from Amicus Therapeutics, where he was senior vice president, global marketing and commercial operations. Previously, he served in multiple leadership positions at Biogen, including vice president, public affairs and vice president, new product commercialization.

Terry-Ann Burrell (photo) has been named CFO of base-editing company Beam Therapeutics. She joins the company after 11 years at J.P. Morgan, where she was a managing director in the healthcare investment banking group. Prior to J.P. Morgan, Burrell worked in equity research at Citigroup, where she covered specialty pharmaceuticals and generics.

Cleave Therapeutics has named Amy Burroughs as CEO and Scott Harris as chief operating officer. Burroughs most recently served as executive-in-residence at 5AM Ventures and as a strategic commercial adviser to Crinetics Pharmaceuticals. Harris joins Cleave from Navire Pharma, where he was executive vice president of corporate development and operations.

Edward Cox has been appointed vice president of regulatory affairs for Regeneron. He was most recently director of the office of antimicrobial products at the US Food and Drug Administration’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.

Copenhagen-based Zealand Pharma has announced the appointment of Matthew Dallas as senior vice president and CFO. He most recently served as CFO at Aveo Pharmaceuticals and was previously CFO at CoLucid Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Eli Lilly.

Bayer has appointed Marianne De Backer as head of business development and licensing of its pharmaceuticals division. De Backer joins the German drugmaker from Johnson & Johnson, where she most recently held the position of vice president of M&A operations and divestitures for the pharmaceuticals group and led infectious diseases and vaccines business development.

Foundation Medicine has named Priti Hegde as CSO. Hegde spent 12 years at Genentech, where she served most recently as senior director and principal scientist for oncology biomarker development.

GlaxoSmithKline has appointed Maya Martinez-Davis as president of its US pharmaceuticals unit, succeeding Jack Bailey, who is stepping down at the end of the year. Martinez-Davis joins GSK from Merck KGaA, where she served as head of Latin American operations and previously chief of global oncology.

John McHutchison has been appointed CEO of Assembly Biosciences. He most recently served as CSO and executive vice president of R&D at Gilead Sciences.

Clinical-stage Ribon Therapeutics has appointed Sudha Parasuraman to the newly created position of chief medical officer. She previously served in the same role at X4 Pharmaceuticals. In addition, Ribon appointed Edward ‘Tad’ Stewart as chief business officer. He previously served in various roles at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, including leading the company’s business development efforts and heading its commercial business unit.

Machine learning drug discovery startup Insitro has named Mary Rozenman as CFO and chief business officer and Keith James as head of drug discovery. Rozenman joins Insitro from Aimmune, where she served as senior vice president of corporate development and strategy. James previously led discovery research at multiple Pfizer sites in the US and UK and headed the company’s R&D strategy team.

Veteran biopharma analyst Mark Schoenebaum passed away during the last weekend of August at the age of 46. A doctor by training, he spent almost 20 years on Wall Street, most recently at Evercore ISI, and was Institutional Investor’s top biotechnology analyst for more than a decade. The cause of death was not specified.

Alector has announced the addition of Kristine Yaffe to the company’s board of directors. Yaffe is the Scola Endowed Chair; vice chair of research; professor of psychiatry, neurology and epidemiology; and director of the Center for Population Brain Health at the University of California, San Francisco.