Sana Biotechnology, Inc. announced the appointments of two senior leaders to its research and development organization, Douglas E. Williams, Ph.D., as President of Research and Development, and Gary Meininger, M.D., as Chief Medical Officer. In a planned transition, Sunil Agarwal, M.D., Chief Medical Officer, will leave the company after helping onboard these new executives. Dr. Williams has over three decades of experience leading R&D organizations and companies, including at Biogen, ZymoGenetics, Seattle Genetics, Amgen, and Immunex, and most recently he was CEO of Codiak BioSciences.

In his career, he has participated in the development of over a dozen approved medicines across multiple therapeutic areas, including multiple blockbusters. Dr. Meininger has over two decades of experience in drug development leadership, most recently at Vertex and previously at both Janssen and Merck. He is currently the industry representative to the FDA's Endocrine and Metabolic Drug Advisory Committee.

Dr. Williams was most recently the President and CEO of Codiak BioSciences. From January 2011 to July 2015, he was the Executive Vice President of Research and Development at Biogen. He joined Biogen from ZymoGenetics, where he was most recently CEO and member of the board of directors, during which time, the company was purchased for $985M by Bristol Myers Squibb.

Previous leadership positions include Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Vice President of Research and Development at Seattle Genetics, Senior Vice President and Washington Site Leader at Amgen, and Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at Immunex. During his biotechnology career spanning over 30 years, he has played a role in the development of multiple novel drugs, including Enbrel®, Tecfidera®, and Spinraza®. He has served on the board of numerous biotechnology companies and is currently Chairman of the Board of AC Immune and a Director for Panacea II and Codiak.

Dr. Williams obtained a B.S. from the University of Massachusetts Lowell and a Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Buffalo. Dr. Meininger was previously at Vertex as Senior Vice President, Head of Clinical Development for Vertex Cell and Genetic Therapies (VCGT), overseeing all aspects of clinical development for VCGT. Prior to Vertex, Dr. Meininger spent more than eight years at Janssen where, as Vice President, Franchise Medical Leader in the Cardiovascular-Metabolism Therapeutic Area, he oversaw the clinical and regulatory advancement of various products including Invokana® (canagliflozin) and Invokamet® (canagliflozin/metformin).

Prior to joining Janssen, Dr. Meininger worked at Merck Research Laboratories for eight years where he was a core member of the Januvia® (sitagliptin) and Janumet® (sitagliptin/metformin) programs. Dr. Meininger is the industry representative to the FDA's Endocrine and Metabolic Drug Advisory Committee. For over 16 years, Dr. Meininger maintained an endocrine clinical practice at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. He received a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Binghamton University and an M.D. degree from New York University School of Medicine.

Dr. Meininger completed his residency in Internal Medicine at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and his fellowship in Endocrinology at the Massachusetts General Hospital.