Pliant Therapeutics, Inc. announced the appointment of Ms. Minnie Kuo as chief development officer. Ms. Kuo will oversee all aspects of the company?s nonclinical and clinical development activities. Ms. Kuo is an experienced biotechnology and pharmaceutical executive with more than 20 years of multinational clinical development experience across various therapeutic areas including respiratory, oncology, neurodegenerative and inflammatory.

Prior to joining Pliant, Ms. Kuo held roles of increasing responsibilities at Vir Biotechnology, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Translational and Clinical Development Operations. In this role, Ms. Kuo served as the operational officer to the Chief Medical Officer, overseeing business operations, clinical operations, and organizational planning across the entire clinical portfolio. Prior to Vir, Ms. Kuo held senior clinical operations roles at Nektar Therapeutics and Gilead Sciences.

At Gilead, she oversaw the strategic direction of multiple compounds and indications within the company?s inflammation and hepatic portfolios. Earlier in her career, Ms. Kuo held global project management and clinical study management roles at the clinical research organization ICON and at Roche/Genentech. Ms. Kuo received her Bachelor of Arts degree in biochemistry and healthcare from the University of California, San Diego, and a Master of Science degree in organizational development from the University of San Francisco.