Slone Partners Places Chief Medical Officer at Goldfinch Bio

January 15, 2019 – Executive search firm Slone Partners recently placed Frank Czerwiec as chief medical officer at Goldfinch Bio, a Cambridge, MA-based biotechnology company focused on discovering and developing precision medicines for the treatment of genetically-driven kidney diseases.

“Goldfinch Bio is the leading life sciences and precision medicine company working passionately on kidney diseases which now affect over 800 million people worldwide,” said Leslie Loveless, CEO of Slone Partners. “Coupling Dr. Czerwiec’s remarkable kidney-focused experience with Goldfinch now creates brighter possibilities for new targeted drugs which could truly make a difference for a large and underserved patient population.”

Dr. Czerwiec joins Goldfinch Bio from Otsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization Inc. where he was most recently vice president, global clinical development, leading the cardio-renal and metabolic/medicine group. During his 20-year tenure at Otsuka he was a key contributor to multiple drug approvals and led the global Tolvaptan program in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). During his career Dr. Czerwiec has been an active supporter of kidney disease-related research including the Critical-Path’s PKD Outcomes Consortium, Kidney Drug Development Tools Summit and ADPKD Summit. He has contributed to the National Kidney Foundation’s Patient Reported Outcome Initiative and ASN’s Kidney Health Initiative.

Newly Created Role

In this newly created role at Goldfinch Bio, Dr. Czerwiec is responsible for leading all aspects of clinical strategy and clinical development, including biostatistics, pharmacokinetics, pharmacometrics, clinical operations, medical affairs and pharmacovigilance/drug safety. He reports to president and CEO Anthony Johnson.

“Working with Slone Partners was a pleasure,” said Dr. Czerwiec. “Their approach was entirely professional and respectful of all parties involved, and they thoughtfully addressed my concerns and questions. Having been with my previous company for over 20 years, Slone Partners helped make the transition to Goldfinch Bio not only feasible, but exciting.”

Slone Partners is a nationally recognized senior-level recruitment provider that specializes in delivering executive, management and leadership talent for the diagnostic, biopharmaceutical, healthcare information technology and laboratory testing industries. The firm has offices in Boston, New York, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. Recently, Slone Partners was included among Hunt Scanlon Media’s “Top 50 Healthcare & Life Sciences Search Firms.”

Chief Medical Officers

According to recruiters, the role of the chief medical officer has evolved in recent years, and organizations are looking for leaders with broader skill-sets. “Today’s CMO needs to have professional experience gathered from different players in the drug development industry, since he or she needs to understand the objectives of the key players in the field,” said Marc Salzberg, CEO of Airway Therapeutics, that is, academia / clinical practice, the pharma industry, regulatory authorities and third-party vendors, such as contract research organizations, in order to successfully cooperate with those partners.”

Over the past year, numerous healthcare organizations have turned to executive search firms to find new CMOs. Here is a sampling from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

Quick Leonard Kieffer has been selected by Norwegian American Hospital in Chicago to lead its search for a new chief medical officer. Founder and vice chairman Roger Quick is leading the assignment along with principal Lindsey Hochman. Reporting to the president and chief executive officer of the hospital…

Chicago-based executive recruitment firm Carrington & Carrington has been selected by Planned Parenthood Federation of America to find its next chief medical officer. “The CMO serves as a visionary, strategic thinker, and national thought leader on clinical issues, both in the Planned Parenthood setting and the field of women’s health broadly,” said Carrington & Carrington. 

Coulter Partners placed David Michelson as the chief medical officer of Proclara Biosciences in Cambridge, MA. “David is a seasoned leader, with deep research, clinical and regulatory expertise, including significant experience in neurology and I thank the Coulter Partners team for their outstanding work in achieving this high-caliber appointment.”

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media