Valo Elevates Brett Blackman to Chief Operating Officer and Appoints Travis Wilson to its Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. , Nov. 13, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company, and Valo Health today announced that industry leader Brian M. Alexander, M.D., M.P.H. has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of Valo Health and CEO-Partner of Flagship Pioneering. Dr. Alexander brings two decades of biotechnology, biopharma, and medical leadership, most recently as SVP, Research & Development and Head of Boston Roche Innovation Center (BRIC), for Roche/Genentech and previously as CEO of Foundation Medicine. Valo also announced the appointments of Brett Blackman, Ph.D., as Chief Operating Officer and Travis Wilson as a member of its Board of Directors.

Dr. Alexander has a stellar record of successful leadership in healthcare innovation across a wide range of different companies and organizations. His appointment as CEO of Valo Health builds on his expertise leveraging cutting-edge technologies to accelerate drug discovery and deliver transformative medicines to patients worldwide. As CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering, he will contribute to advancing Flagship's pioneering ventures and unlocking new opportunities for growth and impact.

"I am delighted to welcome Brian Alexander as the CEO of Valo Health and a Flagship Pioneering CEO-Partner," said Paul Biondi, Executive Chair, Valo and Flagship Pioneering General Partner and President, Pioneering Medicines. "Brian's proven leadership across biotechnology makes him well-positioned to guide Valo into its next chapter of growth, as it harnesses AI-driven technology and high-quality patient data to discover and develop life-changing medicines."

"I am deeply honored to join Flagship Pioneering and Valo Health at such a pivotal time for the company," said Dr. Alexander. "Our mission at Valo is to accelerate the discovery and development of better medicines for patients by fundamentally changing the traditional discovery paradigm, and I am excited to lead and work with the amazing talent at Valo to deliver meaningful advancements for patients using the power of AI and human-centric data."

About Brian Alexander

Brian Alexander, M.D., M.P.H., most recently was an SVP for R&D at Roche/Genentech, where he worked to leverage data science and AI/ML approaches for novel clinical development strategies. Previously, he led Foundation Medicine as CEO, serving the mission to transform cancer care by leveraging molecular information to improve clinical decision making and therapeutic development. 

Dr. Alexander previously co-founded the Global Coalition for Adaptive Research, to speed the discovery and development of treatments for patients with rare and deadly diseases through pioneering, patient-centric clinical trial designs. He was also the founding director of the Harvard/MIT Center for Regulatory Science.

Dr. Alexander previously served as an Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School and as a radiation oncologist at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women's Hospital. He received his MD from the University of Michigan, MPH from the Harvard School of Public Health, and served as a White House Fellow in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.

Brett Blackman Elevated to Chief Operating Officer

As the newly appointed Chief Operating Officer of Valo, Brett Blackman is responsible for corporate operations and strategy, business development, and alliance management. Blackman, on the founding team of Valo, most recently served as Chief Business Officer and Chief Innovation Officer. Prior to joining Valo, Blackman worked for Flagship Pioneering and served on the founding teams and as operational Chief Scientific Officer and strategic research advisor for several Flagship Pioneering ecosystem companies including companies that are now Repertoire Immune Medicines, Omega Therapeutics (OMGA) and Sail Biomedicines. Read Brett's full bio here.

"Brett has been a key member of the Valo team since its earliest days and has been instrumental in its growth," said Biondi. "Brett's strategic and operational expertise will be critical as we focus on executing our strategy and scaling our platform to achieve impactful results for patients."

Travis Wilson Appointed to Board of Directors

Travis Wilson brings more than 20 years of life sciences investing and executive experience to his role as Board Director. He has served in roles at private and growth equity firms and was previously the President and CEO of Stealth BioTherapeutics, a mitochondrial focused company developing a therapeutic platform to treat common and rare diseases. Travis has also served as a board director for nonclinical, late-stage clinical, and commercial life sciences companies, providing operational and management support across a broad spectrum of therapeutic areas, including orphan diseases, oncology, immunology, cardio-renal disorders, neurology, and ophthalmology. Read Travis' full bio here.

"With a track record of steering high-growth companies through complex innovations and market landscapes, Travis' insights will be invaluable in guiding Valo Health's strategic direction and fostering sustainable growth," said Biondi. "We are thrilled to welcome Travis to the board, and we look forward to tapping into his strategic acumen and deep industry knowledge as we propel Valo's growth and impact."

About Flagship Pioneering

Flagship Pioneering invents and builds bioplatform companies, each with the potential for multiple products that transform human health or sustainability. Since its launch in 2000, Flagship has originated and fostered more than 100 scientific ventures, resulting in more than $75 billion in aggregate value. Flagship is operating with $14 billion of assets under management as of its latest capital raise, announced in July 2024. The current Flagship ecosystem comprises 43 companies, including Foghorn Therapeutics (NASDAQ: FHTX), Moderna (NASDAQ: MRNA), Omega Therapeutics (NASDAQ: OMGA), Sana Biotechnology (NASDAQ: SANA), Generate Biomedicines, Inari, Indigo Agriculture, and Tessera Therapeutics.

About Valo Health

Valo Health, Inc is a biotechnology company focused on utilizing large scale data and AI-driven computation to discover and develop therapeutics. Valo aims to fully integrate human-centric data across the entire drug development life cycle into a single unified architecture, thereby accelerating the discovery and development of life-changing drugs while simultaneously reducing costs, time, and failure rates. The company's Opal Computational Platform^™ is an end-to-end drug discovery and development platform with a unified architecture designed to transform data into valuable insights that may accelerate discoveries and enable Valo to advance a robust pipeline of programs, initially focused on cardiovascular metabolic diseases. Founded by Flagship Pioneering and headquartered in Lexington, MA, Valo also has offices in New York, NY and Tel Aviv, Israel. To learn more, visit valohealth.com.

Media Contact

press@flagshippioneering.com

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SOURCE Flagship Pioneering