CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Vertex
Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (Nasdaq: VRTX) today announced that
David Altshuler, M.D., Ph.D., joined its board of directors as an
independent director. Dr. Altshuler was appointed to the class of
directors whose term expires in 2015. With the addition of Dr.
Altshuler, the Vertex board consists of 9 members.
Vertex Appoints David Altshuler, M.D., Ph.D., to its Board of Directors (Photo: Business Wire)
"David's unique scientific experience with human genetics coupled with
his background as a practicing physician will provide our board with
strong scientific and medical direction as we both advance our broad
pipeline of later-stage medicines and focus on early-stage research
activities," said Jeffrey Leiden, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, President and
Chief Executive Officer of Vertex. "I welcome David to our board and
look forward to his contributions at this exciting time for our company."
Dr. Altshuler is a Professor of Genetics and Medicine at Harvard Medical
School, where he has served on the faculty since 2000. He is also one of
the four founding members of the Broad Institute of Harvard University
and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Trained as a clinical
endocrinologist and a human geneticist, Dr. Altshuler's clinical work is
focused on characterizing patterns of variation in human genetics and
applying this information to help isolate the genetic contribution to
common diseases, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and
cancer.
Through his work with multiple public-private partnerships, including
the SNP Consortium, the International Haplotype Map Project and the 1000
Genomes Project, Dr. Altshuler has helped further the scientific
community's understanding of DNA sequence variation in the human genome
and its contribution to the development of specific diseases. At the
Broad Institute, he has directed its Program in Medical and Population
Genetics since 2003 and has served as Chief Academic Officer since 2009.
He is also on the faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital's Department
of Molecular Biology, the Diabetes Unit of the Department of Medicine
and the Center for Human Genetic Research.
Dr. Altshuler has received numerous awards for his research and clinical
activities related to human genetics, including the Stephen Krane Award
from Massachusetts General Hospital, which recognized him as the
Department of Medicine's top young investigator, the 2011 Curt Stern
Award of the American Society of Human Genetics given for outstanding
scientific achievements in the last 10 years and the Richard and Susan
Smith Pinnacle Award of the American Diabetes Association, which
recognized his research into the contributing genetic cause of diabetes.
He is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the
Association of American Physicians and the US Institute of Medicine. In
2010, Dr. Altshuler was elected to the Board of Directors of the
American Society of Human Genetics. He has served on advisory boards for
many leading institutions, government organizations and nonprofit
foundations, including The National Institutes of Health, The Doris Duke
Charitable Foundation, The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, The
Wellcome Trust and Merck Research Laboratories.
Dr. Altshuler received his B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, a Ph.D. from Harvard University and his M.D. from Harvard
Medical School. He completed his internship, residency and clinical
fellowship training at Massachusetts General Hospital.
About Vertex
Vertex creates new possibilities in medicine. Our team discovers,
develops and commercializes innovative therapies so people with serious
diseases can lead better lives.
Vertex scientists and our collaborators are working on new medicines to
cure or significantly advance the treatment of hepatitis C, cystic
fibrosis, rheumatoid arthritis, epilepsy and other life-threatening
diseases.
Founded more than 20 years ago in Cambridge, MA, we now have ongoing
worldwide research programs and sites in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
Today, Vertex has more than 2,000 employees around the world, and Science
magazine named Vertex number one on its 2011 list of Top Employers in
the life sciences.
Vertex's press releases are available at www.vrtx.com.
(VRTX-GEN)
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Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
Zachry Barber, 617-444-6470
Source: Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated
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