Aura Biosciences Expands Leadership Team
Aura Biosciences announced the appointments of Jill Hopkins, MD, as Chief Medical Officer, President of Research & Development; and Mark Plavsic, PhD, as Chief Technology Officer. The company also announced that Cadmus Rich, MD, will step down as Chief Medical Officer and assume a new role with the company as Senior Clinical Advisor.
“Jill and Mark’s appointments come at an important time in Aura’s evolution as a late stage clinical development company,” Elisabet de los Pinos, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Aura, said in a company news release. “We have built our leadership team with experienced industry leaders who have proven track records of success with multiple drug approvals. With bel-sar commencing in a global phase 3 trial, the organization is now positioned for its next phase of growth, with the goal of bringing the first vision-preserving targeted therapy for patients with early-stage choroidal melanoma to market.”
Dr. Hopkins brings more than 30 years of cross-sector experience in ophthalmology, spanning clinical care, academia, education, industry, advocacy and innovation. Prior to joining Aura, Dr. Hopkins served as Senior Vice President, Global Head of Ophthalmology and Exploratory Development at Novartis; and Chief Executive Officer of Gyroscope Therapeutics, a Novartis company, where she was responsible for the global ophthalmic pipeline and portfolio of medicines, gene therapy, devices and digital solutions to impact eye disease and reduce visual impairment globally. Previously, Dr. Hopkins spent over a decade at Roche-Genentech in roles of increasing responsibility, most recently as Global Head Ophthalmology Personalized Health Care.
Dr. Plavsic brings 30 years of global biopharmaceutical experience, including end-to-end technical operations in the United States, Europe, and Australasia, and successful translation and scale-up of complex biologics from preclinical development through commercial launch and distribution. Previously, Dr. Plavsic served as Chief Technology Officer at Fate Therapeutics, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to bringing a first-in-class pipeline of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cellular immunotherapies to patients with cancer and autoimmune disorders, and was previously Chief Technical Officer at Lysogene, a late-stage gene therapy company focused on the treatment of orphan diseases of the central nervous system.