Arbutus Biopharma Corporation announced the appointment of Dr. Karen Sims as Chief Medical Officer and Mr. Christopher Naftzger as General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer. Mr. Naftzger succeeds Dr. Elizabeth Howardwho will continue in an advisory role with respect to the on-going patent infringement litigations. Both Dr. Sims and Mr. Naftzger will report directly to William Collier, Arbutus President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

Dr. Karen Sims, MD, PhD, joined Arbutus in April 2017 and has held positions of increasing seniority, including most recently as Vice President, Clinical Development, before being promoted to Chief Medical Officer. Dr. Sims is a board-certified infectious disease physician with more than 12 years of industry experience in conducting and overseeing early stage through global Phase 2 clinical trials. Prior to joining Arbutus, Dr. Sims held multiple positions during her seven-year tenure at Bristol-Myers Squibb.

Most recently she served as Medical Director in the Virology and Immunoscience therapeutic areas where she oversaw Phase 1 and 2 trials in the HCV direct-acting antiviral program and several HIV discovery programs, as well as support for HIV marketed products. Previously, Karen was an Attending Physician and Instructor in Medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, with a focus on solid organ transplant infectious disease, HIV clinical care and translational research in lung transplantation. Dr. Sims obtained her BS in Biological Psychology at Bates College, her PhD in Neuroscience from the University of Pennsylvania, and received her MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Karen completed her Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases training at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. Christopher Naftzger joins Arbutus with more than 25 years of legal experience, including over a decade of experience serving as senior in-house counsel with life science companies. Most recently he served as Interim-CEO, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Nabriva Therapeutics, where over the course of five years he held various roles including Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Assistant Secretary.

Mr. Naftzger has also served as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Krystal Biotech, an emerging-stage, gene therapy company and Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Compliance Officer, and Secretary of Unilife Medical Solutions, a developer and manufacturer of innovative drug delivery systems. He has held senior in-house counsel positions with Chesapeake Corporation and Koch Industries and was a corporate partner with Blank Rome LLP in Washington, DC. Mr. Naftzger obtained his undergraduate degree from Hampden-Sydney College and his law degree from the Willamette University College of Law.