Senda Biosciences, Inc., a Flagship Pioneering company harnessing nature to enable the world’s first comprehensive programming of medicines, announced the appointment of Igor Matushansky, M.D., Ph.D., as Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Matushansky will also serve as an Oncology Senior Advisor for Pioneering Medicines, a unit within Flagship Pioneering.
“I’m delighted to welcome Igor on board as Senda’s first Chief Medical Officer, as we accelerate our efforts to build out our groundbreaking pipeline of programmable medicines,” said Guillaume Pfefer, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer, Senda Biosciences and CEO-Partner, Flagship Pioneering. “Igor’s significant experience in early clinical strategy and development, as well as his oversight of numerous IND filings and novel clinical trials, will be invaluable to Senda as we work to bring our first wave of targeted, potent, and tunable programmable medicines to the clinic.”
Dr. Matushansky previously served as Chief Medical Officer and Global Head of Research and Development at Hookipa Pharma, where he was responsible for bringing novel arenavirus technology from early preclinical to clinical proof of concept. Prior to this, he was Global Head of Oncology Early Development at Daiichi Sankyo, leading the company’s international research unit, which focused on early oncology therapeutic programs, strategy and development. There, he was also responsible for a range of development activities, clinical trials, and proof-of-concept research. He also worked at Novartis as Global Head of the Gene & Cell Therapy Unit, and as Global Clinical Program Head within the Oncology Translational Medicine Unit.
Also Read: ConcertAI’s TeraRecon Adds Third Party Partner CoLumbo to its Eureka Clinical AI Platform
Dr. Matushansky holds a BA from Columbia University, as well as an MD and a PhD in Molecular Biology from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He performed his internal medicine residency at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center and then completed a fellowship in Medical Oncology, as well as a post-doctoral research fellowship in Cancer Biology, at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. He remains Clinical Assistant Professor of Medical Oncology at Columbia University, where he continues to assist with patient care and educational activities. Additionally, he is currently Chair of Hookipa’s Scientific Advisory Board, member of the Board of Directors at Crescendo Biologics, and an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Columbia Venture Technology Program.
“I’m delighted to join the exceptionally talented team at Senda,” said Dr. Matushansky. “The company’s science is incredibly exciting, with the potential to transform our industry by solving one of the primary challenges that has long faced genetic medicines – getting therapies to the cell of choice. I look forward to playing a role in helping bring fully programmable medicines to the many patients that need them.”
SOURCE: Businesswire