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People in the News: Jerry Parrott, Jonathan Drachman, Eric Sievers, Christoph Franz, Franz Humer

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BioMarker Strategies has appointed Jerry Parrott as its new president, CEO, and director, effective immediately. Parrott, formerly VP of corporate communications and public policy at Human Genome Sciences, will report to Jack Davis, head of BioMarker Strategies' board of directors.

Parrott also served as chairman and president of the Maryland Health Care Product Development Corporation and held various senior level positions with Bristol-Myers Squibb, American Hospital Supply Corporation, and Walgreen Company.


Seattle Genetics this week announced that Jonathan Drachman has been promoted to chief medical officer and executive VP of research and development. Additionally, Seattle Genetics promoted Eric Sievers to senior VP of clinical development.

Drachman has been a member of Seattle Genetics' management team since joining the company in 2004. Before that he was an associate professor in the hematology division at the University of Washington in Seattle where he still works as a clinical associate professor of medicine.

Sievers came to Seattle Genetics in 2006, and was involved in the clinical development for the drug Adcetris. Previously, Sievers was medical director at Zymogenetics, which was acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb in 2010.


Roche has nominated Christoph Franz to be chairman of the board of directors. He will succeed Franz Humer, who announced that he would not stand for re-election. Franz will not renew his contract as CEO of Lufthansa Group, which expires on May 31, 2014.


Good Start Genetics has appointed Mark Adams to the position of chief information officer. Adams joins Good Start from Bridgewater Associates and was previously a principal with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he developed a biomedical informatics consulting practice. He has also been vice president of bioinformatics at Variagenics, and held positions at Incyte.



Marc Lalande
has been appointed to the new position of executive director of Genomics and Personalized Medicine Programs at the University of Connecticut where he will help lead the development of research and training programs for the Institute of Systems Genomics, as well as direct collaborations with The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, and industry and government partnerships for the planned CT Institute for Medical Innovation and Applied Health Care Economics.

Lalande will maintain his current positions as the Health Net professor and chairman of the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology and director of both the University of Connecticut Stem Cell Institute and the Institute for Systems Genomics. He will step down from his position as senior associate dean for research planning and coordination at the UConn School of Medicine.

The Scan

Positive Framing of Genetic Studies Can Spark Mistrust Among Underrepresented Groups

Researchers in Human Genetics and Genomics Advances report that how researchers describe genomic studies may alienate potential participants.

Small Study of Gene Editing to Treat Sickle Cell Disease

In a Novartis-sponsored study in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers found that a CRISPR-Cas9-based treatment targeting promoters of genes encoding fetal hemoglobin could reduce disease symptoms.

Gut Microbiome Changes Appear in Infants Before They Develop Eczema, Study Finds

Researchers report in mSystems that infants experienced an enrichment in Clostridium sensu stricto 1 and Finegoldia and a depletion of Bacteroides before developing eczema.

Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treatment Specificity Enhanced With Stem Cell Editing

A study in Nature suggests epitope editing in donor stem cells prior to bone marrow transplants can stave off toxicity when targeting acute myeloid leukemia with immunotherapy.