Spyros Artavanis-Tsakonas, Ph.D., has been named chief scientific officer at Biogen Idec, after serving in the position on an interim basis. He will lead the company’s research strategy, capabilities and discovery platforms, and report to Doug Williams, executive vice president of R&D. He will also continue to serve as a professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School, where he was the founding director of the Developmental and Regenerative Biology graduate program.

Dr. Artavanis-Tsakonas has been a professor of Cell Biology at Harvard Medical School since 1999. Prior to that, he was professor at Collège de France, serving as chair of Biology and Genetics of Development, and was also the K.J. Isselbacher- P. Schwartz Professor at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and director of Developmental Biology and Cancer at the Harvard Medical School.

“It’s with great excitement that we welcome Spyros to Biogen Idec as our Chief Scientific Officer,” said Mr. Williams. “He will continue what he has successfully started at Biogen Idec—attracting and encouraging exceptional scientific talent, enhancing our existing early discovery programs, establishing extensive academic collaborations and leading our drug discovery strategy.”