ASCO, AACR praise Biden’s pick of Monica Bertagnolli to lead NCI 

The American Association for Cancer Research and American Society of Clinical Oncology applauded President Joe Biden’s selection of Monica Bertagnolli as Ned Sharpless’ successor as director of the  National Cancer Institute. Bertagnolli is chief of the division of surgical oncology, Brigham & Women’s Hospital at Dana-Farber Cancer Center. She would be the first woman to lead the institute since its founding in 1937. Bertagnolli served as president of ASCO during 2018-19, and has been an AACR member since 1996. The White House has yet to make a formal announcement. Dana-Farber and NCI did not respond to requests for comment in time for publication. NCI’s previous director, Ned Sharpless, left in April. 

Simos Simeonidis has joined  Ally Bridge Group as co-CEO, co-CIO and portfolio manager for the investment firm’s public equity strategy. Simeonidis, who will be based in New York and oversee the firm’s biotech portfolio, was partner, senior managing director, co-head of research and portfolio manager at Sarissa Capital Management. Before Sarissa, Simeonidis was managing director and senior biotech analyst at Royal Bank of Canada and spent more than a decade covering biopharma at investment banks such as Cowen and Morgan Stanley. Frank Yu, who founded Ally Bridge nearly a decade ago, becomes co-CEO and co-CEO and continues to lead the firm’s private investment business...