People, October, 2011

Swiss biopharma company Actelion has made Jean-Pierre Garnier chairman of its board of directors. Robert Cawthorn, who has been chairman since the inception of the company, will stay on the board until the 2012 annual general meeting. From 2001 to 2008, Garnier was the first CEO of GlaxoSmithKline, assuming the role on the merger of SmithKline Beecham and Glaxo Wellcome. He joined SmithKline Beecham in 1990 as president of its pharmaceutical business in North America and served as chairman, pharmaceuticals from 1994 until his appointment as COO in 1995. He was elected to the company's board in 1992. He became CEO of SmithKline Beecham in April 2000. Prior to SmithKline Beecham, Garnier was president of Schering-Plough's US business. From 2008 to 2010, he was CEO of Pierre Fabre Labs. Garnier holds a PhD in pharmacology and an MSc in pharmaceutical science from the University Louis Pasteur of Strasbourg in France. 

Spain-based Almirall has appointed Alfredo Barón as area director for Southern and Eastern Europe to head commercial operations there. He joined Almirall in 2000 as product manager in marketing and has been head of marketing, director of sales and commercial director, managing the product portfolio in the cardiovascular, urology and diabetes fields.

For the second consecutive year Ornella Barra, chief executive of Alliance Boots' pharmaceutical wholesale division, has been ranked in the top 10 of global leaders outside the US of Fortune magazine's '50 most powerful international women in business'. Barra is a pharmacist and founded the European Pharmacists' Forum over ten years ago to support pharmacists in the delivery of healthcare.

Dr Trevor Mundel, current global head of development for Novartis, has been named president of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Global Health Programme. In this position, he will oversee the foundation's global health grant portfolio, which, to date, includes more than $14.7bn in grants and lead efforts to develop and deliver drugs, vaccines and other tools to fight developing-world diseases including HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria as well as eradicating polio. Since 2003, Mundel has been a senior executive and scientist at Novartis, most recently as global head of development. He starts at the foundation on December 1.

Premier Research Group has appointed Tilly Beazeley as senior director, business development, covering the UK and Scandinavia. She has 15 years of sales and operations experience in international pharmaceutical development, healthcare services, educational services and paediatric health.

Bronwen Kaye, former senior director of government relations for Pfizer, has joined APCO as a senior advisor to the company's healthcare practice. She has more than 25 years of executive-level experience in government relations for the healthcare sector, having led numerous legislative advancements in immunisation, biotechnology, medical research and other areas of medicine. Prior to her role at Pfizer, she was senior director of government relations for Wyeth (now part of Pfizer). She was also director of government relations for Lederle Laboratories, the pharmaceutical division of American Cyanamid.

Former Red Consultancy health MD Pat Pearson has joined ex-colleague Paul Davies to set up a new healthcare offering at firstlight, based in the UK. Pearson and Davies will split the MD role. Davies launched the agency in 2009, having been head of corporate communications at Red. Pearson described the agency as a 'breakaway' rather than a 'start-up'. Pearson is a former deputy MD at Ruder Finn and media adviser at the Department of Health. 

The MSI Consultancy has appointed Cassandra Rix as head of market access. She has been with MSI since April, when the firm merged with red kite consulting group, where she worked in the market access division from 2005. Prior to this she spent a decade in the pharmaceutical industry.