Sernova Corp. announced that its Board of Directors has appointed Cynthia Pussinen as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Philip Toleikis, who has led the company since 2009 as President and CEO will serve as Chief Technology Officer.

Ms. Pussinen?s expertise spans the drug development continuum from research through commercialization. She has led the development, licensure, commercialization and/or subsequent delivery to patients, of more than fifteen new medical therapies for patients globally, including Obizur® (Antihemophilic Factor (Recombinant), Porcine Sequence), Eraxis® (anidulafungin), Zmax® (azithromycin extended-release) and LUXTURNA® (voretigene neparvovec-rzyl), the first gene therapy approved in both the United States and the European Union. Most recently, Ms. Pussinen was the Chief Technical Officer for Spark Therapeutics Inc., a fully integrated, commercial gene therapy company, and a member of the Roche Group.

Prior to joining Spark in 2021, Ms. Pussinen?s leadership roles include 6 years with Ipsen Biomeasure and Ipsen Biosciences, U.S. R&D focused subsidiaries of Ipsen, where she served as President and CEO. She was instrumental in leading and executing the divestiture of Obizur® and its associated manufacturing physical infrastructure to Baxter. Ms. Pussinen was also the Executive Vice President, Technical Development, Operations & Supply Chain for Actinium Pharmaceuticals Inc. and the Global Vice President and General Manager, Life Sciences and Specialty Chemicals for Honeywell International.

Early in her career Ms. Pussinen spent more than 18 years at Pfizer in a variety of increasingly responsible leadership roles across various functional areas. Ms. Pussinen also served on the Drexel University Solutions Advisory Board, as a Board Director for Spark Therapeutics UK Ltd. and Spark Therapeutics Ireland Ltd. and is a member of an early-stage biotech company?s scientific and technical advisory board. Ms. Pussinen earned a Master of Science in R&D management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and a Bachelor of Science in chemistry, with a minor in engineering from the University of Connecticut.

She is lean six sigma certified, is recognized as a mentor through the Healthcare Businesswomen?s Association (HBA) and was honored by WEST (Women in the Enterprise of Science and Technology) as a recipient of their Giving Back award.