PPD Inc. this week announced it has appointed Dr. Lee E. Babiss, as executive vice president of global laboratory services. He will provide strategic direction and additional scientific leadership to the company’s bioanalytical, cGMP and global central laboratories, vaccines and biologics operations and to BioDuro, the China-based drug discovery services company PPD acquired last year, according to a press release from the company.

“Dr. Babiss brings more than 21 years of experience developing and leading research and development laboratories,” said William Sharbaugh, chief operating officer of PPD in the release. “His strategic leadership will be valuable as we continue to deliver exceptional scientific expertise across our global labs and expand our state-of-the-art facilities to meet growing client demand. I am pleased to have a leader and scientist of Lee’s caliber join our team.”

Babiss most recently served as president and director of pharmaceutical research for F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd., in Basel, Switzerland. His responsibilities included leading global laboratory functions in chemistry, discovery technologies, therapeutic proteins, RNA-based therapeutics, non-clinical safety, technical sciences and informatics. He supported drug discovery efforts in oncology, neurosciences, inflammation, virology and metabolism and was a member of the company's pharma executive and strategic portfolio committees, according to the release.

Prior to joining Hoffmann-La Roche, Babiss spent seven years with Glaxo Inc., now GlaxoSmithKline, where he was promoted to positions of increasing responsibility, including vice president of biological sciences and genetics. In this role, he had global accountability for developing and implementing the company’s corporate genetics strategy and oncology research efforts focused on the cell cycle, according to the release.