Coulter Partners places Chief Medical Officer at CARsgen Therapeutics
Coulter Partners, the global experts in Executive Search and Leadership Development in Life Sciences, Health, and Tech, recently partnered with CARsgen Therapeutics, a company focused on innovative CAR T cell therapies for the treatment of hematologic malignancies and solid tumors and was pleased to secure the appointment of Dr. Raffaele Baffa as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Baffa will report to Dr. Zonghai Li, Founder, Chairman of the Board, CEO, and CSO of CARsgen Therapeutics Holdings Limited.
"We warmly welcome Dr. Baffa to CARsgen,” said Dr. Zonghai Li. He added: “Dr. Baffa is a medical professional and industry veteran with extensive experience in clinical development and translational sciences in the field of oncology and cellular immunotherapy. He brings a wealth of clinical, medical, and leadership experience from multinational corporations and biotechnology companies. Dr. Baffa joins us at an exciting time as the clinical trials for both CT053 and CT041 are progressing in North America and being explored in other territories. We would like to thank Coulter Partners for their outstanding work in supporting this crucial hire.”
Dr. Baffa has rich experience in the pharmaceutical industry and at research institutes, taking various leadership positions in multi-national corporations and biotech companies. Prior to joining CARsgen, Dr. Baffa served as Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President of Research & Development at Ziopharm Oncology (NASDAQ: ZIOP), which was rebranded as Alaunos Therapeutics in 2 January 2022. (NASDAQ: TCRT). Prior to Alaunos Therapeutics, Dr. Baffa was Head of Research & Development and Chief Medical Officer at Medisix Therapeutics, a company focused on developing novel immune cell therapies.
Dr. Baffa was the Vice President, Therapeutic Area Head of Oncology, Global Clinical Development of Shire Pharmaceuticals, and following the acquisition of the oncology division by Servier Pharmaceuticals, he served as the Chief Medical Officer of Servier Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Baffa has also held leadership positions at well-known pharmaceutical companies, such as Pfizer and Sanofi. Dr. Baffa earned an M.D. from the University of Padova, School of Medicine and a Ph.D. in Biology and Molecular Pathology from the University of Parma in Italy.
"I am very excited to join CARsgen,” Dr. Baffa commented. “As one of the leading global cell therapy companies, CARsgen has developed a rich and differentiated product pipeline and a suite of exciting technology platforms such as THANK-uCAR® for allogeneic CAR T and LADAR® for precise targeting. CARsgen has also shown great ambitions with continuous investment in the global market, such as the establishment of a first-class manufacturing facility in the United States.”
Dr. Baffa will be responsible for overseeing global clinical development strategies and operations for the company's innovative pipeline product candidates.
“I look forward to working closely with colleagues at CARsgen as well as its external partners to accelerate CARsgen's global clinical development and bring more innovative products to cancer patients," said Dr. Baffa.
