ROCKVILLE, Md.--Human Genome Sciences announced that Deborah Austin Russell joined the company as director of pharmacology earlier this month. Russell moved from Amgen, in Thousand Oaks, Calif., where she concentrated on the biological effects of novel proteins in model systems. Russell had spent five years at Synergen in Boulder, Colo., before it was acquired by Amgen. William Haseltine, HGS chairman, said Russell's strategic challenge is to link market opportunities to relevant models of disease to enhance the company's ability to move appropriate novel therapeutic protein product candidates through the development process.