Mersana Therapeutics, Inc. announced the retirement of Anna Protopapas, President, effective September 10, 2023, and the appointment of Martin Huber, M.D., current member of the Board of Directors, as President, effective September 11, 2023. Dr. Huber and Ms. Protopapas will both remain members of Mersana?s Board of Directors following the transition. Dr. Huber has been a member of Mersana?s Board of Directors since 2020 and joins the company from Xilio Therapeutics, Inc., where he most recently served as President, Head of R&D and, prior to that, as Chief Medical Officer.

Before joining Xilio, he served as Chief Medical Officer at TESARO, Inc., and after TESARO?s acquisition by GlaxoSmithKline plc, as Senior Vice President, Clinical. Prior to TESARO, Dr. Huber served as Vice President, Oncology Clinical Research at Merck Research Laboratories. Earlier, he served in roles of increasing responsibility at Schering-Plough, Hoffmann-La Roche and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, where he led teams in the areas of oncology clinical development, drug safety and pharmacovigilance.

His work has contributed to the approval of such oncology medicines as docetaxel, dostarlimab, niraparib, pembrolizumab and trastuzumab. He began his career as an Assistant Professor of Oncology at the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Dr. Huber received his medical degree from Baylor College of Medicine.

Mersana also announced additional changes to the company?s executive team. Brian DeSchuytner, who joined the company in 2019 and has served as Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) since 2021, has been named Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and CFO. He will continue to serve as the company?s principal financial officer while overseeing its finance, investor relations, business development, information technology and human resources functions.

Mohan Bala, Ph.D., who has served as Senior Vice President, Strategic Product Planning & Program Leadership since 2021, has been named Senior Vice President, Chief Development Officer and will lead the company?s clinical and translational medicine, clinical operations, biometrics, product planning and program leadership functions. Additionally, Ashish Mandelia, who joined the company as Vice President, Controller in 2019, has been appointed Vice President, Chief Accounting Officer. In conjunction with these changes, Chief Medical Officer Arvin Yang, M.D., and Chief People Officer Carla Poulson will be departing Mersana, effective September 29, 2023.