Biogen Idec has boosted its senior neuroscience research team with the addition of two university professors.
Dr Christopher Henderson (top right) joins from Columbia University as vice president, neurology and Dr Richard Ransohoff (bottom right) arrives from the Cleveland Clinic as senior research fellow, neuroimmunology.
The two will help lead Biogen Idec’s research efforts across neurodegenerative and neuroimmune diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and multiple sclerosis (MS).
Both will report directly to Dr Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas, Biogen Idec’s chief scientific officer, who also joined Biogen Idec directly from an academic role.
Dr Henderson was most recently Gurewitsch and Vidda Foundation professor of Rehabilitation and Regenerative Medicine at Columbia University in New York City. He also currently leads Target ALS, a privately-funded collaborative consortium focused on seeding ALS drug development programmes through the discovery and validation of novel therapeutic targets.
Dr Ransohoff served as director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center in the Department of Neurosciences of the Lerner Research Institute at the Clevelnad Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio.
He was also professor of Molecular Medicine at the Lerner College of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University and staff neurologist at the Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis Treatment and Research
“We are bringing together some of the brightest minds in research to create new ways of looking at devastating neurological diseases where there are few, if any, effective therapies,” said Dr Artavanis-Tsakonas. “Chris and Richard will help accelerate our efforts to bring innovative new medicines to patients who desperately need them.”