Wellcome Sanger Institute: Matt Hurles
Matt Hurles has been appointed as director of the Wellcome Sanger Institute, effective later this year. He will succeed Mike Stratton, who will stay on for a transition period. Hurles has been head of the institute's human genetics program since 2017, focusing on genetic causes of severe developmental disorders. He is also a fellow of the UK Academy of Medical Sciences and a fellow of the Royal Society.
Boston Children's Hospital: Wendy Chung
Wendy Chung has been appointed as chief of the department of pediatrics at Boston Children's Hospital. She will also become a professor at Harvard Medical School and president of Children's Hospital Pediatric Associates. Chung joins Boston Children's from Columbia University Irving Medical Center/NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital, where she was chief of the division of clinical genetics in the department of pediatrics, as well as associate director for education at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, medical director for the Columbia genetic counseling graduate program, and precision medicine resource leader at the Irving Institute. In addition, she was a professor of pediatrics and medicine and led a laboratory at Columbia University Medical Center. Chung also currently serves as director of clinical research at the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative. She holds a B.A. in biochemistry and economics from Cornell University, an M.D. from Cornell University Medical College, and a Ph.D. in genetics from Rockefeller University.
Arima Genomics: Aaron Viny
Aaron Viny has been appointed to Arima Genomics' scientific advisory board. Viny is an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, where he specializes in the care of patients with hematological malignancies, including myelodysplastic syndrome and acute leukemia. Viny received his M.D. from Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University. He completed his residency in internal medicine at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical College and his fellowship in hematology and medical oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.
Mercy BioAnalytics: Dawn Mattoon, Paul Blavin
Mercy BioAnalytics, a Boston-area company developing cancer detection tests based on extracellular vesicle analyses, said that Dawn Mattoon has assumed the role of CEO and become a member of the board of directors, transitioning from her prior role as chief operating officer. Previous CEO Paul Blavin has transitioned to vice chairman of the board. Mattoon joined Mercy as chief operating officer in 2022. Over a nearly 20-year career, she has led research and development, strategy, commercialization, and general management for a broad range of companies including Quanterix, Invitrogen, Life Technologies, Thermo Fisher Scientific, and Cell Signaling Technologies. She holds a Ph.D. in molecular genetics from Yale University, where she also completed her postdoctoral fellowship.
Blavin, Mercy's cofounder, served as its CEO from March 2020 through February 2023. Prior to Mercy, his career in finance included tenures as president of insurance holding company First Mercury Financial; cofounder of PWB Value Partners; and investment banker with Citibank and with Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a B.A. in accounting from the University of Michigan.
Delfi Diagnostics: Lee-Ann Smith-Freeman
Delfi Diagnostics has hired Lee-Ann Smith-Freeman as its first VP of legal. Smith-Freeman most recently served as associate general counsel at Twist Bioscience, handling intellectual property and commercial, marketing, and procurement legal matters. Prior to that, she specialized in patent preparation, prosecution, and strategy in the biotech, biopharma, medical device, computer, and chemical fields as a patent attorney at Sheppard, Mullin, Richeter & Hampton and at Zilka-Kotab. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and her J.D. from the Santa Clara University School of Law.
Metagenomi: Sarah Noonberg
Sarah Noonberg has been appointed as chief medical officer of gene editing company Metagenomi. Previously, she was CMO at Maze Therapeutics, and before that, CMO at Nohla Therapeutics. Noonberg holds an M.D. from the University of California, San Francisco, a Ph.D. in bioengineering from the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in engineering science from Dartmouth College.
GeneDx: Michael Pellini
Michael Pellini has resigned from the board of GeneDx. According to a regulatory filing, Pellini wants to devote more of his time to venture capital firm Section 32, where he is a managing partner. GeneDx said that the resignation "did not result from any disagreements" with the company or any other board members. Pellini is a former chairman and CEO of Foundation Medicine.
For additional recent items on executive appointments, promotions, and departures in the omics and molecular diagnostics space, please see the People in the News page on our website.