OREANDA-NEWS. PureTech Health plc ("PureTech" or the "Company", LSE: PRTC), a cross-disciplinary biotech company developing novel medicines at the interface of the gut, brain and immune system, today announced the appointment of Feng Zhang, Ph.D.  to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB). The Company has also appointed Jeff Stevens, as Vice President of Growth Strategy & Operations and has expanded its team of senior advisors to include Meghan Fitzgerald, DrPH, Executive Vice President of Corporate Strategy, M&A and Health Policy at Cardinal Health; Atul Pande, M.D., Former Senior Vice President and Head of Neurosciences at GlaxoSmithKline; and Philip J. Larsen, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head of Diabetes Research & Development at Sanofi.

"We are very pleased to add these accomplished leaders to our team and advisory group of distinguished scientists and clinicians," said Daphne Zohar, Chief Executive Officer of PureTech Health. "Insights from this group will further add to the intellectual capital resident at PureTech as we advance and enhance our pipeline."

 Meghan Fitzgerald, DrPH, will join PureTech as a senior advisor. She is the Executive Vice President of Strategy, M&A and Health Policy at Cardinal Health and is a member of Cardinal Health's executive committee. She is an expert on a wide array of healthcare topics and trends, including specialty healthcare and healthcare policy. Dr. Fitzgerald leads Cardinal Health's Corporate Strategy team and previously was the President of Cardinal Health Specialty Solutions, a specialty healthcare business that offers services for healthcare providers, payers, and pharmaceutical and biotech industries. Specialty Solutions is one of the fastest growing businesses at Cardinal Health. Prior to joining Cardinal Health, she was Senior Vice President of New Markets International Division and Business Development at Medco Health Solutions, Inc., where she was responsible for leading business development efforts in the U.S. and internationally. She previously held positions of increasing responsibility at Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals, where she supported business strategies and operations, including the implementation of ten-year lifecycle plans for various pharmaceutical products such as Celebrex. Dr. Fitzgerald serves on the Board of Directors for SeniorLink, a model of in-home care for elders as well as Concert Pharmaceuticals. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's Global Agenda Council on Aging and also serves as a member of the adjunct faculty at Columbia University in New York, teaching The Business of Healthcare and Strategy.

In addition to its group of esteemed Senior Advisors who are working with PureTech on specific projects or products, PureTech's Scientific Advisory Board is focused on identifying "what's next" for PureTech. This group is chaired by H. Robert Horvitz, Ph.D., PureTech Board Advisor and SAB Chair, Nobel Laureate and David H. Koch Professor at MIT. Members of the SAB include Dennis A. Ausiello, M.D., Chief Emeritus of Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital and Jackson Distinguished Professor of Clinical Medicine at Harvard Medical School; Edward Boyden, Ph.D., optogenetics pioneer, professor of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute; James J. Collins, Ph.D., Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering and Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT; Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, M.D., Ph.D., Ludwig Professor and Chair, Department of Radiology and Director of the Molecular Imaging Program at Stanford University; Raju Kucherlapati, Ph.D., PureTech Board member, Paul C. Cabot Professor of Genetics and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Robert Langer, Sc.D., PureTech Co-founder and Board member, David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT; and Feng Zhang, Ph.D., W.M. Keck Career Development Professor of Biomedical Engineering in the departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering at MIT and Core Member at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard.

PureTech Health (PureTech Health plc, PRTC.L) is a cross-disciplinary biotech company focused on areas of growing scientific and technical insights that are at an important inflection point, including the central nervous, gastro-intestinal and immune systems, and the interactions and signalling between them. PureTech has approximately 20 clinical studies across its pipeline targeting multi-billion dollar market opportunities, including five human proof-of-concept studies and multiple pivotal or registration study readouts expected in the next two years. While inevitably some technologies will not advance to commercialisation, PureTech's approach mitigates risk as most of the cash resides on a PureTech parent company level, allowing PureTech to build value and divert cash to its most successful programmes as milestones are achieved. PureTech has over 220 patents and patent applications. PureTech's leading team and board, along with an advisory network of more than 60 expert founder-scientists and advisors across multiple disciplines, gives PureTech access to potentially ground-breaking science and technological innovation. With healthcare undergoing major transformation, PureTech believes it is well positioned to develop and launch medicines for the 21st century.