SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. & LOS ANGELES & SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Biocom California, the association representing the California life science industry, today announced that it appointed Aliza Apple, Ph.D., a vice president of Catalyze360 AI/ML at Eli Lilly; Carolyn Ng, Ph.D., business unit partner at TPG Life Sciences Innovations; and Nancy Whiting, Pharm.D., president and CEO at Recludix Pharma, to its board of directors. Additionally, Tim Scott has assumed his role as CEO and president of Biocom California, and Sabrina Martucci Johnson, CEO at Daré Biosciences, has been appointed board chair.
“Our new members’ expertise in drug discovery, clinical development and navigating the fundraising environment will complement the diverse perspectives of our current board,” said Tim Scott, president and CEO of Biocom California. “As the life science industry evolves, we continue to rely on the deep industry knowledge and key insights of our board of directors, helping shape our 2025 initiatives and ensure we meet the needs of our member companies and foster innovative progress throughout California.”
Aliza Apple, Ph.D. is a vice president of Catalyze360 AI/ML at Eli Lilly. In this capacity, Dr. Apple leads the strategy, build and launch of Lilly’s external-facing AI/ML efforts for drug discovery. In her previous role at Lilly, Dr. Apple served as the COO and head of Lilly Gateway Labs West Coast, where she supported the local biotech ecosystem through early engagement and providing tailored offerings to meet their needs. Prior to Lilly, Dr. Apple served as a co-founder at Santa Ana Bio, a venture-backed precision biologics company focused on autoimmune disease, and as an advisor to the founders of Firefly Biologics. Prior to biotech, Dr. Apple was a partner in McKinsey & Co’s life sciences practice. During her nine years at McKinsey in New York and San Francisco, she collaborated with leaders from over 20 biopharma companies to develop their corporate and portfolio strategies, evaluate business development opportunities and improve their organizational effectiveness. Dr. Apple completed her Ph.D. in bioengineering at UC Berkeley and UCSF, and holds a bachelor of science in physics from Georgetown University. She completed a postdoctoral fellowship at Cornell Medical College supported by the NIH Kirschtein National Research Service Award.
Carolyn Ng, Ph.D. is a business unit partner at TPG Life Sciences Innovations, where she is one of the founding senior leaders of the investment fund. She has spent the past decade of her career leading investments into transformative companies of early to mid-stage in different therapeutic areas. She currently serves on the board of directors of Adcendo, Mbrace Therapeutics and Bicara Therapeutics. Prior to joining TPG in 2021, Dr. Ng was a managing director at Vertex Ventures HC, a global healthcare and life sciences venture fund, where she co-headed the investment team. Dr. Ng has previously served on the board of directors for other promising public and private life sciences companies including Bicycle Therapeutics PLC, Boundless Bio, Obsidian Therapeutics, 28-7 Therapeutics, Epirium Bio, Nuvaira and a board observer to Visterra (acquired by Otsuka Pharmaceutical). Dr. Ng is a mentor to the Women in Bio Boardroom Ready Program. She also currently serves on the panel of the Singapore Therapeutics Development Review Panel, a funding scheme aimed at identifying high-value drug discovery and development projects from the public research community in Singapore. Prior to her investing career, Carolyn was a consultant at Deallus Consulting, a specialized life sciences strategy consulting firm where she collaborated with leaders of global biopharmaceutical companies. Dr. Ng holds a Ph.D. in cancer molecular biology from the National University of Singapore, where she was the recipient of the prestigious NGS, Integrative Sciences and Technology, Ph.D. scholarship, and patent holder of a novel small molecule nuclear receptor activator indicated for the treatment of neuroblastoma.
Nancy Whiting, Pharm.D. is a president and CEO at Recludix Pharma. Previously, Dr. Whiting was a 15-year veteran of Seagen, formerly Seattle Genetics, and served as the executive vice president of corporate strategy, where she had the broad remit of corporate strategy and planning, strategic alliances and partnerships, investor relations, corporate communications and information technologies. During her tenure, she was also the executive vice president of late-stage development, senior vice president of clinical development and medical affairs, and head of experimental medicine. Dr. Whiting played a central role in the development and regulatory approval of ADCETRIS for lymphoma, PADCEV for bladder cancer, TUKYSA for breast cancer, TIVDAK for cervical cancer and several other pipeline compounds. Prior to transitioning to the pharmaceutical industry, Dr. Whiting practiced as a clinical oncology pharmacist at the Seattle Cancer Care Alliance. She currently serves on the board of directors of Caribou BioSciences and Boundless BioSciences. Dr. Whiting completed her undergraduate training at the University of British Columbia and received her Pharm.D. from the University of Washington. She also completed a residency in clinical pharmacy practice at Vancouver General Hospital.
About Biocom California
Biocom California is the leader and advocate for California’s life science sector. We work on behalf of more than 1,800 members to drive public policy, build an enviable network of industry leaders, create access to capital, introduce cutting-edge STEM education programs and create robust value-driven purchasing programs.
Founded in 1995 in San Diego, Biocom California provides the strongest public voice to research institutions and companies that fuel the local and state-wide economy. Our goal is simple: to help our members produce novel solutions that improve the human condition. In addition to our San Diego headquarters, Biocom California operates core offices in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, with satellite offices in Sacramento, Washington, D.C. and Tokyo. Our broad membership benefits apply to biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical device, genomics and diagnostics companies of all sizes, as well as to research universities and institutes, clinical research organizations, investors and service providers.
For more information on Biocom California, please visit our website at www.biocom.org. Connect with us on LinkedIn, Facebook and X.
