Machine-learning drug discovery company Insitro has announced the appointment of Serafim Batzoglou (photo) as chief data officer. Batzoglou brings over 20 years of expertise in machine learning and computational genomics as a former professor of computer science at Stanford University and vice president of applied and computational biology at Illumina.

“Insitro is leveraging predictive models to advance better therapies through a combination of cutting-edge machine learning, cohort-level human genetics and biological data generation at scale,” said Daphne Koller, founder and CEO of Insitro. “Serafim is one of the few individuals who has done leading work in all of these areas. He has demonstrated the ability to do novel research while also bringing research insights into practice within an industry setting. As our first chief data officer, he brings to Insitro a unique combination of expertise that will considerably accelerate our efforts to transform drug discovery and bring new medicines to patients who need them.”

Stephen Hahn was confirmed by the US Senate as commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in a 72–18 vote. A radiation oncology expert who most recently served as chief medical executive of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Hahn succeeds Scott Gottlieb, who resigned in March 2019. Acting FDA Commissioner Ned Sharpless will return to his role as director of the National Cancer Institute.

MBX Biosciences has announced the appointment of Kent Hawryluk to the position of president and CEO. Hawryluk is a cofounder and a member of MBX’s board of directors. Additionally, Greg Davis has been appointed to the position of vice president, product development. Davis has served as chairman of the board of Inotiv since June 2017.

He Jiankui, who gained international notoriety in November 2018 after claiming he had created the world’s first gene-edited babies, has been sentenced to three years in prison and fined $430,000 by the Shenzhen Nanshan District People’s Court. Two of his collaborators were also fined and sentenced to jail.

Brii Biosciences has named John Kraus as senior vice president, neurosciences therapy area. He joins the company from clinical research organization Icon, where he was vice president, drug development services. Previously he was a vice president and medicine development leader at GlaxoSmithKline.

The board of directors of Netherlands-based Merus has announced the nomination of Sven (Bill) Ante Lundberg as president, CEO and principal financial officer, replacing Ton Logtenberg, who stepped down at the end of 2019. Lundberg joined Merus’s board in June 2019. He has over 15 years of experience managing and leading biotech R&D, along with a background as a medical oncologist, previously serving as CSO at CRISPR Therapeutics and as head of translational medicine at Alexion Pharmaceuticals.

Sanofi has announced the retirement of Muzammil Mansuri, executive vice president of strategy and business development and a member of the company’s executive committee. Mansuri joined Sanofi in 2016 from Gilead Sciences, where he was in charge of R&D strategy and corporate development.

Akouos has announced the appointments of Morgan Molloy (photo) as chief corporate development officer and Karoline Shair as senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary. Molloy joins Akouos with more than 25 years of commercial and operational leadership experience in the biopharma industry, most recently as chief commercial officer at Enzyvant. He also held senior roles at Spark Therapeutics, Sanofi-Genzyme and Biogen. Shair brings to Akouos over 20 years of leadership and legal expertise. Most recently, she was the vice president, head counsel intellectual property program portfolio at Biogen.

Alkermes has announced the departure of senior vice president of pharmaceutical and non-clinical development Mark Namchuk. He leaves to head the recently created Harvard Therapeutics Initiative at Harvard Medical School.

AstraZeneca’s Menelas Pangalos has received a knighthood for his services to UK science. Sir Mene joined the British pharma from Pfizer in 2010 and currently serves as executive vice president of biopharmaceuticals R&D. He is a member of the Royal Society’s Science, Industry and Translation committee.

Ian Read will join the board of Viatris, the planned combination of generics companies Mylan and Upjohn, when the deal is completed in mid-2020. Read was formerly chairman and CEO of Pfizer. Also joining Viatris’s board is James Kilts, former CEO of Gillette and vice president at Procter & Gamble; Mylan Chairman Robert Coury; and Upjohn CEO Michael Goettler, who will stay on as Viatris’s CEO.

Five Prime Therapeutics has announced the resignation of founder Lewis T. ‘Rusty’ Williams from its board of directors to focus on his role as CEO of Walking Fish Therapeutics, a startup company that he cofounded, and other activities supporting life science startup companies.

Caraway Therapeutics has named Martin Williams as CEO. Williams previously served as president and CEO of Tokai Pharmaceuticals and chief business officer of Dicerna. Most recently, he was executive chairman of Yuma Therapeutics, where he will remain on the board of directors.