CAMBRIDGE, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Nimbus
Therapeutics, a biotechnology company applying deep computational
expertise throughout drug discovery and development, today announced the
addition of two experts in drug discovery and development to its
leadership team.
Alan Collis, Ph.D., who was formerly Executive Director of DMPK at Forma
Therapeutics, joined the Nimbus team part-time in October 2018 and in
his full-time role will serve as Vice President of Preclinical
Development. Jennifer Rocnik, Ph.D., who has served as Nimbus’ Director
of Oncology Biology since 2015, has been promoted to Vice President,
Biology.
“These additions to Nimbus’ leadership team, as well as the recent
appointment of Peter Tummino as our Chief Scientific Officer, reflect
our ongoing commitment to our pipeline of medicines and to conducting
truly transformative scientific inquiry,” said Jeb Keiper, M.S., MBA,
President and Chief Executive Officer at Nimbus. “Alan and Jenn’s
expertise in drug discovery and development will no doubt accelerate our
momentum toward broadening our pipeline to include new highly
sought-after targets in metabolic disease, cancer and
immune-inflammatory disorders.”
Dr. Alan Collis is an expert in discovery chemistry, candidate selection
and development with over three decades of experience. Prior to joining
Nimbus, he was Executive Director of DMPK at Forma Therapeutics, in
which role he transitioned two projects into Phase II, four through IND
and five through preclinical profiling. Before that, Dr. Collis served
as Novartis’ Executive Director of Scientific and Strategic Planning and
Global Leader of the Metabolism and Pharmacokinetics group. In that
role, he advised on all aspects of project strategy, compound
progression and business planning. Earlier in his career, Dr. Collis
held significant leadership roles in medicinal chemistry in the large
pharma settings of Aventis, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Pfizer. He earned
his Ph.D. and B.Sc. from the University of Manchester Institute of
Science and Technology.
Dr. Jennifer Rocnik joined Nimbus as Director of Oncology Biology in
2015 and has led the company’s programs in oncology and immuno-oncology
as well as efforts to identify new targets across the portfolio. Dr.
Rocnik has more than a dozen years of drug discovery experience in both
biotech and pharma where she has led programs from target identification
to development candidate nomination. Prior to joining Nimbus, Dr. Rocnik
held roles of increasing responsibility in the oncology division of
Sanofi, where she led cross-functional global drug discovery project
teams. Before Sanofi, Dr. Rocnik was at Novartis Institutes for
Biomedical Research, where she led a number of target validation and
early drug discovery programs. Dr. Rocnik received her Ph.D. in
molecular medicine from Boston University School of Medicine and
completed her postdoctoral fellowship at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.