Coulter Partners Recruits Chief Scientific Officer and Chief People Officer for Totus Medicines
March 23, 2022 – Life science organizations have been turning to executive search firms more than ever to acquire world-class leadership. Life sciences recruiting specialist Coulter Partners recently assisted in the recruitment of Wei Chen and Daisy Chhokar as the first chief scientific officer and chief people officer, respectively, at drug discovery company Totus Medicines. “The next few years will be pivotal for Totus Medicines as we progress our mission of creating treatments for the world’s most intractable diseases,” said Neil Dhawan, co-founder and CEO of Totus Medicines. “We are thrilled to welcome Daisy and Wei to the team and know their counsel will be invaluable as we continue to grow and scale our team, the company, and our drug discovery platform in 2022 and beyond. We are thankful to Coulter Partners for their outstanding support and professionalism in securing these appointments.”
Dr. Chen brings over 20 years of medicinal chemistry and drug discovery experience. He previously served as a senior leader at both Pharmacyclics/AbbVie and CuraSen Therapeutics, where he built high-performance drug discovery teams and led the efforts resulting in first-in-human clinical trials.
In Dr. Chen’s new position, he will be tasked with utilizing his expertise to further develop Totus’ vision, managing the company’s strategic initiatives and planning, and optimizing partnerships and investments to ensure the Totus mission of treating all disease is accomplished. Dr. Chen will help Totus Medicines advance its first drug program – TOS-358, a revolutionary breakthrough in cancer treatment – to the clinic in 2022.
“I have tremendous respect for Neil and the mission of Totus Medicines,” said Dr. Chen. “To be able to utilize Totus’ peerless platform to develop drug candidates that can treat our world’s most threatening diseases is a very exciting prospect, and I look forward to helping lead Totus toward our first round of clinical trials.”
Ms. Chhokar brings nearly 20 years of human resources experience to Totus, where she will be responsible for leading the company’s people and culture strategy. Prior to Totus, she served as the vice president and head of human resources at Nurix Therapeutics, and director of human resources at InterMune.
“Totus Medicines is on a path of rapid growth as we continue to scale our drug discovery platform,” said Ms. Chhokar. “Assembling the right team, including the world’s leading data scientists, biologists, chemists, and more, will be critical to our successful expansion. I am looking forward to working with Neil and the Totus team to make this vision of treating the untreatable a reality.”
Related: Coulter Partners Recruits Chief Medical Officer for Memo Therapeutics
Founded in 2019, Totus Medicines uses chemical biology to create life-changing therapies to treat previously untreatable diseases across the entire human genome. Totus is based in Cambridge, MA.
Life Sciences Focused Recruiters
Coulter Partners is a board- and senior-level global executive search specialist focused exclusively on life sciences. The firm works closely with those at the cutting edge of innovation in the industry to understand their challenges. With an extensive global network and expertise gained over 25 years in the sector, Coulter Partners have become trusted advisers on leadership in the pharmaceuticals, biotechnology, medical technology, diagnostics, health tech, CRO and services sectors. The firm also works closely with the global investor community, hiring for their own teams as well as building the boards and executive leadership teams of their portfolio companies. Its team of 95 completes over 260 assignments a year working from 14 offices across the U.K., EMEA, the U.S., and APAC.
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With the integration of technology into all facets of everyday life, the life sciences and healthcare industry is hardly alone in facing technology-related issues. These take on increased importance when they impact health, disease diagnosis, treatment and, ultimately, human longevity. Having the right leaders in place to sort through these complex challenges, say recruiters serving the sector, is critical — especially those with vision and transformational skills.
Bianca Coulter founded Coulter Partners in 2003 and has 25 years’ experience of board and C-level global search, building the leadership teams of early stage, mid-cap and global multinationals in over 20 countries. Through appointing leadership, Ms. Coulter channels her judgement and expertise to impact patient benefit and assist those at the cutting edge of life science to achieve their goals.
Related: Coulter Partners Recruits Chair and Non-Executive Director for 2N Pharma
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; and Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media
