People In The News: Changes At Cardinal, ISPOR, Astellas And More

Cardinal Health gains a new CFO and pharmaceutical segment CEO; Avalere Health brings on two Washington veterans; plus more personnel announcements in this month’s column.

C-Suite Executives

Michael Kaufmann will become Cardinal Health’s chief financial officer, with the upcoming retirement of CFO Jeffrey Henderson. Kaufmann is currently chief executive officer of Cardinal’s pharmaceutical segment. Jon Giacomin, now the company’s president of U.S. pharmaceutical distribution, will take the post when Kaufmann moves to CFO. The transition is effective Nov. 11.

RuiYi Inc.’s new CFO is Mark Saad, moving over from the same position at Cytori Therapeutics … Noxxon Pharma taps Don Munoz as CFO. He most recently headed investment banking at Summer Street Research Partners … Oliver Siegel is the new chief operating officer of AFFiRiS AG. Previously, he was at the Rothschild investment bank in London, serving as head of the European Pharmaceutical Sector.

Avalanche Biotechnologies Inc. selects Roman Rubio, as senior VP and head of Translational Medicine. Rubio spent more than 11 years at Genentech, most recently serving as global head of ophthalmology … Karim Dabbagh is now Second Genome Inc.’s chief scientific officer, having held various positions at Pfizer Inc., Roche and his own start up Modus BioMedicine … Highland Therapeutics Inc. taps Floyd Sallee as chief medical officer. Sallee had been a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati School of Medicine.

Research and Trade Organizations

Nancy Berg is the new CEO and executive director at the International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research. Most recently, Berg was President and CEO of the International Society for Pharmaceutical Engineering. She succeeds ISPOR Founding Executive Director Marilyn Dix Smith, who is retiring.

HDMA elects Dakota Drug Inc., President and CEO Ted Scherr as chairman of its Board of Directors.Cardinal’sJon Giacomin joins the distributors group’s board.

Consultant And Lobbying Groups

Avalere Health brings on board lobbyist and HHS veteran Craig Burton. Burtan previously headed federal policy issues and government relations for both Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, was HHS deputy assistant secretary for legislation during the tenures of Secretaries Tommy Thompson and Michael Leavitt, and had also been a policy advisor for former Sen. William Frist, R-Tenn. Rejoining Avalere is Cara Kelly, who had moved over to the HHS Center Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) in 2010.

New Hires

James Kellerman joins Astellas as VP of intellectual property (IP) in the Americas. Kellerman has worked in IP operations at GlaxoSmithKline in the U.S. as well as China … EMD Serono brings on Drew Young, as senior VP, Neurology and Immunology. Young comes to EMD Serono from Biogen Idec Inc.

Obituary

Reimbursement expert Anne-Mary Lynch passed away Sept. 5 due to cardio-pulmonary complications. She had an eight-year tenure at the medical device association AdvaMed as executive VP of payment and health care delivery and worked for about a year as VP of policy at the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Policy posts included principal deputy assistant secretary for Planning and Evaluation at HHS from 2001 to 2005, staff director of the House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee under then-Subcommittee Chairman Bill Thomas, R-Calif., and an early stint at the agency that is now CMS.

[Editor’s Note: On the first Monday of each month, “The Pink Sheet” chronicles employment changes, professional awards and other news about people in the pharmaceutical industry. Submit announcements to [email protected].]