BURLINGTON, Mass.– Cardurion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (“Cardurion”), a clinical-stage biotechnology company discovering and developing new therapeutic approaches for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, today announced that Karen Lewis has joined the company as Chief People Officer. She joins Cardurion with more than 25 years of experience in human resources helping to build organizations and develop programs that support companies at various stages of growth. She most recently was Chief People Officer at Apellis Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: APLS) during a period of rapid growth, and previously held leadership roles in human resources at Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY).
“We’re delighted to welcome Karen, a highly talented industry veteran, to the Cardurion executive team. She brings extensive expertise as an operational leader in developing strategies to attract top talent and scale the human resources function for rapidly growing companies,” said Peter Lawrence, Chief Executive Officer of Cardurion. “I look forward to Karen’s insights and contributions as we position Cardurion for our next phase of growth, further evolving and strengthening our team and culture to achieve our goals as a cardiovascular innovator advancing drugs in the clinic to address the needs of patients.”
“Investing in developing a people strategy is critical to the success of a rapidly growing biotech company. I look forward to working with the team to create a strategy that attracts, develops and engages employees while creating a culture where all employees can thrive,” said Karen Lewis. “I am honored and excited to build on the company’s foundation of outstanding science, promising drug programs, and a talented team as we move forward and make Cardurion’s vision for cardiovascular innovation a reality for patients.”
Karen Lewis became Chief People Officer of Apellis in 2020 and led the organizational design, culture and human resources strategy to support the launch of two drug products and to scale the company from 200 to over 900 employees globally. She was instrumental in developing a global geographic expansion plan and creating a differentiated approach to talent management that contributed to high employee engagement and retention. Prior to Apellis, she led and built the human resources function for another start-up biotech company, Axcella Health. Previously, Karen held leadership roles with increasing responsibility at Biogen, including as Vice President of Global Talent Acquisition, Head of Human Resources for U.S. commercial, and Head of Human Resources for Asia Pacific and Latin America. Earlier, Karen worked as a global leader of human resources programs at Amazon, and she spent a decade at Bristol-Myers Squibb in leadership roles in talent acquisition, talent management, and as an HR business leader for R&D and commercial functions. Karen holds a B.S. in biology from Rider University and worked as a research scientist at a start-up biotech company before entering a career in human resources.
