Amy Abernethy
Amy Abernethy, current chief medical officer, CSO, and senior VP of oncology at Flatiron Health, will join the US Food and Drug Administration as principal deputy commissioner, second to the agency's commissioner Scott Gottlieb. She is slated to join the agency in early 2019, pending ethics clearances, and will replace Rachel Sherman, who is retiring as the FDA's current principal deputy commissioner. Patrizia Cavazzoni, who is deputy director for operations at the FDA's drug center, will step in as interim principal deputy commissioner till Abernethy joins.
Abernethy became an executive at cancer-focused health technology firm Flatiron more than four years ago. She currently serves as a member of the board for CareDx, and will step down from that post effective Jan. 31, 2019. She has served as a director on the company's board since July 2018 as chairman of the scientific committee. Abernethy has also worked at Athenahealth and directed the Duke Center for Learning Health Care. In an internal email about Abernethy's hire, the FDA highlighted that she is an internationally recognized expert in clinical trials, cancer outcomes research, health policy, patient-reported outcomes, and patient-centered care, and has authored more than 400 peer-reviewed articles.
The non-profit advocacy organization Personalized Medicine Coalition, where Abernethy serves as a board member, noted in a statement that the agency's decision to hire her reflects its increasing focus on personalized medicine. While Abernethy was at Flatiron, the company struck up a research alliance with the FDA to explore how real-world data, derived from sources outside of the traditional clinical trial setting, could be used to gather evidence on the safety and efficacy of cancer treatments.
Richard Marsh, Benjamin Jackson
Richard Marsh, executive VP of Myriad Genetics, as well as its general counsel and secretary, will retire from the company effective July 1, 2019. After serving as Myriad's general counsel for more than 16 years, Marsh has acceped the job of mission president for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the next three years.
Benjamin Jackson, currently Myriad's VP, assistant general counsel, and assistant secretary, will succeed Marsh. Jackson has been with the company since 2006 and has held positions dealing with commercial operations and intellectual property issues.
Jessica Hassel, Aurélien Marabelle
Protagen has appointed Jessica Hassel and Aurélien Marabelle to the firm's scientific advisory board. The members will support the company in developing and implementing its immuno-profiling technology. Hassel is currently the head of dermato-oncology at Germany's National Center for Tumor Disease. She has worked at the German Cancer Research Center Heidelberg, with a focus on translational oncology. Marabelle is currently the clinical director of the Cancer Immunotherapy Program at Gustave Roussy Cancer Center in Villejuif, France. He works as a senior medical oncologist and an investigator in the center's drug development department.
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