Welcome to this week’s Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Darren Incorvaia or Zoey Becker and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Moderna CMO steps down in leadership mix-up
Moderna
Moderna Chief Medical Officer Jacqueline Miller, M.D., is stepping down after a little more than a year in the role. Miller held the role since November 2024 and will stay on as a consultant “to assist with the transition.” Along with Miller’s departure from the C-suite, a new executive is coming on board; David Berman, M.D., Ph.D., is joining the mRNA outfit from Immunocore, where he led R&D and shepherded T-cell engager Kimmtrak to approval. Berman fills the chief development officer seat most recently held by Melanie Ivarsson, Ph.D., who left the job at the end of 2024 and served as an advisor for Moderna until mid-2025. Story
Novo adds fresh leadership as 2 execs head out
Novo Nordisk
Novo Nordisk will have to navigate what it says will be a lackluster year for revenue growth without the help of two of its key executives, as EVP of U.S. operations Dave Moore and EVP of product and portfolio strategy Ludovic Helfgott hit the exit. Moore’s departure was attributed to “personal reasons” and comes after eight years at the company, where he is credited with creating its global business development function before moving to the U.S. business side early last year. Helfgott, meanwhile, is out after seven years with Novo, most of which was spent in the rare disease sector before pivoting to the broader strategy role in mid-2025. The company has already mapped out a succession plan for the departing executives, both of whom will ensure a “successful transition” to their respective successors through the end of the first quarter.
Coming in to take over for Moore is Jamey Millar, who joins Novo after a stint as the CEO of UnitedHealth Group’s Optum Specialty Holdings, a move that followed a 20-year career with GSK. Helfgott’s role will be filled by Hong Chow, Merck KGaA’s former executive vice president and head of China and international. Story | Release
Pyxis picks interim CEO
Pyxis Oncology
Lara Sullivan, M.D., the president, CEO and chief medical officer of Pyxis Oncology who has been with the company since 2019, is pivoting away from the cancer biotech. Board member and experienced CEO Thomas Civik is stepping in in her stead as interim CEO while a search is conducted for a permanent successor. Civik previously led Five Prime Therapeutics, which was bought by Amgen for $1.9 billion in 2021. Pyxis has winnowed down its workforce and shed most of its pipeline in recent years, putting all its efforts behind solid tumor antibody-drug conjugate micvotabart pelidotin. Release
> Seasoned physician-executive Geoff McDonough, M.D., is heading over to NodThera to take over as CEO as the company approaches key milestones on its way toward phase 3 development. Release
> Bitterroot Bio is sprouting toward discovery biology and translational research in a restructuring that sees the exit of CEO Pavan Cheruvu, M.D., who will soon move on to pursue a new chapter. LinkedIn
> Leonardo Faoro, M.D., is leaving his spot as Quanta Therapeutics’ chief medical officer to take on the same role at precision oncology biotech Alterome Therapeutics. Release
> With IO Biotech shrinking its global workforce under a cost-saving restructuring plan, Chief Medical Officer Qasim Ahmad, M.D., is out, effective Feb. 15. Securities and Exchange Commission filing
> Auro Nair, Ph.D., is moving from the board to the CEO chair at BioIVT, replacing outgoing CEO Richard Haigh, Ph.D., to unlock the company’s next phase of strategic growth. Release
> Bicycle Therapeutics is promoting some of its key spokes, with Chief Accounting Officer Travis Thompson moving up to the chief financial officer role, Head of Clinical Development Michael Method, M.D., taking on the chief medical officer title and current Chief Technology Officer Michael Skynner, Ph.D., climbing ranks to the chief scientific officer role. Release
> AI drug discovery company Valo Health selected 2024 Fiercest Women in Life Sciences honoree Karin Conde-Knape, Ph.D., to join the team as chief scientific officer following her lengthy career at Novo Nordisk. Release
> Clinical research organization MMS is bringing in FDA vet Somya Dunn, M.D., to help bolster its regulatory expertise as senior medical director, safety risk management. Release
> AstraZeneca’s Andy Barnett is taking over as head of the pharma’s Japanese operations, replacing Takashi Horii. Joris Silon, meanwhile, is assuming Barnett’s former title of head of investor relations. Release (Japanese) | Release
> CDR-Life looks to jump-start its pipeline of T-cell engagers with new Chief Medical Officer Dimitrios Chondros, M.D. Release
> Donald Fong, M.D., is now the chief medical officer of siRNA company ADARx Pharmaceuticals, a role he previously held at BioCryst Pharmaceuticals. Release
> Rivus Pharmaceuticals has reined in Stefanie Mason, M.D., as vice president of clinical development to power a phase 2 trial of MASH candidate HU6. LinkedIn
> Natural killer cell therapy biotech Zelluna has promoted Emilie Gauthy, Ph.D., to chief technology officer. Release
> Levicept is looking to new Chief Development Officer James Sandy to advance its lead osteoarthritis candidate. Release
> Experienced oncologist Andrew Sharabi, M.D., Ph.D., is now the top doctor at Primmune Therapeutics, where he’ll oversee clinical development of oral solid tumor candidate PRTX007 as chief medical officer. Release
> Braveheart Bio is bumping Marc Evanchik up to chief scientific officer while also bringing in Brittany de Temple as SVP of development operations. Release
> Joseph Arron, M.D., Ph.D., has split from Sonoma Biotherapeutics and settled down as head of human biology and genetics at Calico Life Sciences, an anti-aging startup launched by Google parent company Alphabet. Release