SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — insitro, an AI-driven therapeutics company focused on causal biology, has appointed Joe Hand as chief people officer, tasking him with leading the company’s global talent strategy as it advances its pipeline and expands its integrated AI and biology platform.
Hand will oversee talent acquisition, organizational development, and culture as insitro scales its operations and progresses multiple first-in-class programs toward the clinic.
“insitro was built on the belief that breakthroughs happen at the intersection of exceptional people, technology, and science,” said Daphne Koller, Ph.D., founder and CEO of insitro. “Joe brings deep experience in building and leading people organizations during periods of rapid growth and transformation. His strategic insight and leadership will be vital as we grow our team and strengthen our culture, ensuring our talent strategy is fully aligned with our mission to advance multiple programs toward the clinic and accelerate our unique, AI-driven discovery platforms to bring transformative medicines to patients.”
Hand brings more than two decades of senior leadership experience in the life sciences sector. During nearly 10 years at Celgene, he held several leadership roles, including chief human resources officer, where he oversaw global compensation, talent acquisition, and HR operations during a period of significant expansion. He served on the company’s executive and business development committees and played a key role in employee-related matters tied to major transactions, including Celgene’s $74 billion acquisition by Bristol Myers Squibb, the $13 billion divestiture of Otezla to Amgen, the $9 billion acquisition of Juno, and the $7.2 billion acquisition and integration of Receptos.
Earlier, Hand served as chief of staff to Celgene’s CEO, leading enterprise-wide initiatives across research and development, commercial operations, and corporate functions. He later joined Phathom Pharmaceuticals as chief administrative officer, where he helped build the company’s human resources infrastructure and total rewards framework as it moved toward commercialization.
Hand holds a law degree from New York University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Notre Dame.
“I’m honored to join the insitro team at such a pivotal moment, as the company continues to redefine drug discovery through its integrated machine learning and AI platforms to advance potentially transformational therapies for patients with unmet needs,” said Hand. “The opportunity to help shape the culture and people strategy that will power insitro’s next chapter of growth is both humbling and deeply exciting.”
