Singapore: Sanofi appointed Dr Gary J Nabel as the senior vice president, chief scientific officer and deputy to the president for Global R&D, effective December 3, 2012.

Dr Nabel will report to Dr Elias Zerhouni, president, Global R&D, and will join the group's global leadership team. He will be based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Dr Nabel joins Sanofi from the National Institutes of Health, where he served as director of the Vaccine Research Center (VRC) of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1999. During his tenure at the NIH, Dr Nabel provided overall direction and scientific leadership of the basic, clinical, and translational research activities of the VRC and guides development of novel vaccine strategies against HIV and other emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.

"Dr Nabel's impressive scientific record and experience will be extremely valuable to the group," declared Mr Christopher A Viehbacher, chief executive officer, Sanofi. "I am confident that with his leadership, we can drive R&D further towards tomorrow's breakthrough discoveries."

In his new position, Dr Nabel will be responsible for assessing and coordinating Sanofi's scientific direction for biopharmaceuticals, vaccines and animal health with a focus on improving translational approaches across Sanofi. In his role, he will lead the evaluation of scientific quality of projects and programs across all of R&D, and participate in setting Sanofi's overall strategy. "I am honored and excited to join Dr Zerhouni and the Sanofi team," said Dr Nabel. "By strengthening our scientific base, we hope to accelerate the rational development of innovative treatments that will save lives and improve human health."