Positioning Yourself For Board Roles and What to Expect as a CMO in Biotech

Dr Aoife Brennan is an experienced physician scientist and drug developer responsible for the successful clinical development and registration of multiple transformative medicines. Dr Brennan has served as Synlogic’s president and chief executive officer since May 2018. She joined Synlogic in September 2016 as chief medical officer. Prior to Synlogic, Dr Brennan spent six years at Biogen, most recently as vice president and head of the Rare Disease Innovation Unit, developing programs from pre-clinical to commercial. She has led programs across multiple therapeutic areas including the successful late phase development & registration of SPINRAZA ® (nusinersen) for spinal muscular atrophy and ALPROLIX ® and ELOCTATE ® for Hemophilia B and Hemophilia A, respectively.Dr Brennan serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Cerevance and Fibrogen, Inc, and previously served on the Board of Directors of Ra Pharmaceuticals until its acquisition by UCB. Earlier in her career, Dr Brennan led clinical development at Tolerx, a start-up biotech company focusing on immunotherapy for Type 1 diabetes.

Julie Hambleton is a senior biotechnology executive with over 20 years of experience in clinical drug development, including pre-clinical through Phase 4 studies, product approval and post-marketing activities, as well as serving on C-Suite executive teams and engaging in private, IPO and follow-on financings. Julie currently serves on the board of directors at Erasca, Inc, IGM Biosciences, Inc and SpringWorks Therapeutics, Inc, publicly traded companies, and Accent Therapeutics, Gennao Bio, and Onc.AI, privately held biotechnology companies. Dr Hambleton also served as interim CEO & Board Director at Arch Oncology, a private company, in 2020-21. Previously, she served as senior vice president, chief medical officer, and head of development at IDEAYA Biosciences. Prior to IDEAYA, she held the positions of vice president and head of US Medical at Bristol-Myers Squibb, overseeing medical & health economic and outcomes research activities for oncology, immuno-oncology, immunoscience and cardiovascular marketed portfolios; executive vice president and chief medical officer at Five Prime Therapeutics; and vice president of clinical development at Clovis Oncology. Dr Hambleton began her industry career at Genentech, most recently as group medical director, global clinical development. She has extensive experience working with regulatory agencies, including the US FDA and the EMA, and in the filings of IND applications, BLAs and SPAs. Dr Hambleton completed her medical and hematology-oncology training at the University of California, San Francisco, where she served on faculty from 1993 to 2003, and was Board-certified in hematology and internal medicine. She received her MD from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and BS from Duke University.

Dr. Jeff Humphrey is an oncologist and physician-scientist with longstanding experience as both CMO and CEO in big and small pharma. Currently, he is founder and CEO of Charged Biotherapeutics. Previously he served as CMO of Constellation, Magenta, and Kyowa Kirin where he also served as Chief Development Officer and President of the US and EU research organization. He previously held executive positions at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer, and Bayer. Dr. Humphrey has 30 years of cancer research and drug discovery experience, with 20 years of experience leading departments and organizations developing cancer drugs from pre-IND to post-launch. Jeff has been involved in numerous IND and NDA/BLA/MAA regulatory submissions in the US and EU leading to FDA and EU approvals from Nexavar® to Poteligeo®, Nourianz®, and Crysvita®. He has published more than 30 peer-reviewed papers in molecular biology and clinical research during his industry and academic career. Dr. Humphrey is a graduate of Harvard and CWRU medical school. He completed his medical residency at The Johns Hopkins Hospital and post-doctoral human genetics and medical oncology fellowships at the US NIH and NCI.

Holly Schachner, M.D., is the Chief Medical Officer, Deerfield Discovery and Development and joined the Firm in 2023. Prior to Deerfield, Dr. Schachner was the Head of Clinical Development at North Sea Therapeutics, B.V. and she was the Chief Medical Officer at Double Rainbow Biosciences. Before these roles, she was the Senior Vice President, Clinical Development and Therapeutic Area and Innovative Trial Design Head for Myokardia-BMS and the Chief Medical Officer, Global Specialty Medicine for Allergan. Dr. Schachner also spent five years at Sanofi in various roles of increasing leadership, six years at Bayer Diabetes Care as Senior Director, Head of Global Medical Affairs, and five years at Pfizer. Prior to industry, Dr. Schachner received her training in pediatric endocrinology at Mount Sinai and led the Pediatric Diabetes program at Columbia University. She holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University Of Michigan and an M.D. from SUNY at Stony Brook School of Medicine.