→ A Big Pharma vet has joined Cambridge, MA upstart Vedanta Biosciences to help develop and expand on its microbiome-derived bacteria portfolio.

Jeffrey Silber signed on as CMO of Vedanta after 4 years at EMD Serono as their SVP, global clinical development. Silber worked his way through the ranks at Merck in the late 1990s, eventually becoming their VP and therapeutic area head, vaccine clinical research. And after 16 years at the pharma giant, Silber moved on to AbbVie to be their VP, strategic portfolio development.

→ Vijay Reddy was seeking a return to the US when he left his role as CMO at London-based Autolus this summer. Philadelphia is that landing spot, as the T cell immunotherapy player Tmunity has put him in charge of R&D.

Reddy arrives at the Penn spinout with plenty of Big Pharma bona fides after developing the CAR-T cell clinical program at Autolus. Tmunity’s new chief R&D officer was a senior director and led early clinical development at J&J subsidiary Janssen from 2013-16, and from 2009-13, he was GSK’s medical director, cancer research and clinical development.

→ The Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa has found its next president and CEO after the imbroglio surrounding the departure of Alan List.

Patrick Hwu, the head of cancer medicine at MD Anderson Cancer Center, has been tapped to lead Moffitt almost exactly 8 months following the mass resignations of List, center director Thomas Sellers and 4 other researchers for conflict of interest regarding their work in China, one of several high-profile examples that include Harvard professor Charles Lieber.

→ PIC Therapeutics hasn’t raised much money, yet. But the fledgling biotech has attracted a high-profile player to the helm.

The Boston-based biotech has handed the reins to Katherine Bowdish as its president and CEO. Bowdish will also join the board of directors of PIC. Bowdish joins from Sanofi where she served as VP and head of R&D strategy, as well as helping launch and lead Sanofi Sunrise, a venture investment and partnering vehicle at Sanofi. Before that, Bowdish held several exec roles at Permeon Biologics, Anaphore, Alexion Pharmaceuticals and Prolifaron (acquired by Alexion).

→ Alexion has carved out a new position for chief diversity officer and filled it with an inside promotion.

Uzair Qadeer will now be responsible for their “diversity, inclusion and belonging” strategy, looking to reshape the biotech’s corporate culture. A veteran of Deloitte and Bristol Myers Squibb, Qadeer was working on executive coaching and helping create the diversity program he now leads.

→ As La Jolla Pharmaceutical closed on their acquisition of Tetraphase on Wednesday, the San Diego biotech also announced that they’re taking the president and CEO right along with them as Larry Edwards steps in. Edwards, who had a 15-year run at Merck and was a global marketing director for the pharma giant, spent the last year at the helm at Tetraphase and 5 years overall in other roles.

Last November, George Tidmarsh walked away as La Jolla’s top exec “to pursue other interests” after their drug LJPC-401 flamed out for beta thalassemia patients and the study (LJ401-BT01) was summarily scrapped.