Welcome to this week's Chutes & Ladders, our roundup of significant leadership hirings, firings and retirings across the industry. Please send the good word—or the bad—from your shop to Darren Incorvaia or Zoey Becker and it will be featured here at the end of each week.
Prominent vaccine critic ousted from HHS
Department of Health and Human Services
Steven Hatfill, a senior advisor for biosecurity at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has been terminated from HHS “for cause,” an agency spokesperson confirmed to Fierce Biotech. Hatfill was also previously an advisor under the first Trump administration, where he was critical of COVID-19 vaccines and pushed the unproven use of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment. He has continued to disparage mRNA vaccine technology since. In 2001, he became a suspect in the anthrax attacks that followed the Sept. 11 attacks; he was later fully exonerated and compensated for the FBI’s wrongful targeting of him.
According to an HHS official quoted by The New York Times, Hatfill was fired for misrepresenting his position at HHS and “not coordinating policy-making with leadership.” Hatfill himself told the NYT that he was ousted as part of a “coup” to overthrow HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which he claimed was organized by RFK Jr’s chief of staff, Matt Buckham. Report
Organon CEO steps down in sales snafu
Organon
Some four years into its run as an independent women’s health outfit, Organon is parting ways with its first CEO after an internal probe turned up evidence of suspect sales practices at the Merck spinout. Organon’s chief executive Kevin Ali—who had been with the company since its 2021 debut—resigned from his role and exited the company’s board of directors Oct. 26. Joseph Morrissey, executive vice president and head of manufacturing and supply, has stepped up in the interim as the search for a new CEO begins. Ali is out after an investigation by the company’s audit committee revealed Organon asked certain U.S. wholesalers to purchase more of the birth control implant Nexplanon than they otherwise needed over the course of multiple quarters in 2022, 2024 and 2025. Story
Evaxion snatches up seasoned CEO
Evaxion
Seasoned biotech executive Helen Tayton-Martin, Ph.D., has selected her newest haunt in AI vaccine maker Evaxion. Tayton-Martin will step down from the company’s board of directors to take the reins as CEO from Chief Scientific Officer Birgitte Rønø, Ph.D., who had been holding down the fort in an interim role. Evaxion’s CEO seat opened up this summer when former chief Christian Kanstrup hit the exit, setting up the company to now benefit from Tayton-Martin’s three decades of leadership experience. Most notably, the exec co-founded and led oncology-focused Adaptimmune for 17 years, spearheading several Big Pharma collaborations while carving out growth. She hopes to generate similar value at Evaxion through its “extraordinary scientific, medical and commercial potential,” she said. Release
> Palisade Bio’s leadership team has some added inflammatory bowel disease prowess as decorated Pfizer vet Sharon Skare, Ph.D., joins the company as VP and global head of clinical operations. Release
> Brenig Therapeutics is treating itself to a new CEO in Megan McGill, M.D., Ph.D., while David Lucchino steps down a few months after his July appointment. Release
> Industry vet Sophia Randolph, M.D., Ph.D., is set to work her antibody-drug conjugate magic at Kivu Bioscience as chief medical officer. Release
> Karen Smith, M.D., Ph.D., will help keep the pace at Step Pharma, where she starts immediately as chief medical officer to help advance the company’s “pipeline in a product” strategy. Release
> Prominent MAHA figure Calley Means is no longer with the Department of Health and Human Services as an advisor to Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to The New York Times. His sister Casey Means, M.D., is President Donald Trump’s pick to be surgeon general, but her confirmation hearing has been postponed due to her going into labor. Report & Report
> Precision medicine outfit CareDx has tapped transplant clinician Jeffrey John Teuteberg, M.D., as chief medical officer. Release
> With plans to enter the clinic next year, Flagship Pioneering-backed Montai Therapeutics is gearing up with the appointment of Hans Hull as chief operations officer. Release
> Jonathan Licht, M.D., is stepping in to lead the Van Andel Institute, a Michigan-based biomedical research organization, as president and chief scientific officer next year. Release