Schrödinger (Nasdaq: SDGR), whose physics-based software platform enables discovery of high-quality, novel molecules for therapeutics and materials, today announced the appointments of Jeffrey A. Chodakewitz, M.D., and Gary Ginsberg to its Board of Directors. Dr. Chodakewitz is a veteran in the biopharmaceutical industry who previously held leadership roles at Vertex Pharmaceuticals and Merck & Co., and Mr. Ginsberg is an experienced global communications strategist who has managed communications for Time Warner and Softbank Group Corp.
“Dr. Chodakewitz and Mr. Ginsberg are impressive leaders in their respective fields, with insightful perspectives on global business strategy,” said Michael Lynton, Chairman of Schrödinger’s Board of Directors. “Both will be important additions to our board as we continue to grow our software business and drug discovery collaborations around the world, while also advancing our internal pipeline.”
Dr. Chodakewitz brings over 30 years of experience in biopharmaceutical leadership. Most recently, he served as Executive Vice President, Clinical Medicine and External Innovation, at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. Prior to that role, he held the positions of Chief Medical Officer and Executive Vice President, Global Medicines Development and Medical Affairs at Vertex and was a member of the Vertex Executive Committee. Before his time at Vertex, Dr. Chodakewitz spent over 20 years at Merck & Co., where he served in a number of leadership positions including Head of Infectious Diseases and Vaccines Global Development, Senior Vice President of Global Scientific Strategy (Infectious Disease, Respiratory & Immunology), Vice President of Early Stage Development and Senior Vice President of Late Stage Development. Dr. Chodakewitz currently serves on the boards of Tetraphase Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: TTPH), resTORbio (Nasdaq: TORC) and Freeline Therapeutics. He holds a B.S. in biochemistry cum laude from Yale University and an M.D. from the Yale University School of Medicine.
“Schrödinger’s computational platform is driving innovation across the industry at a time when we are all more focused than ever on the need to accelerate discovery of high-quality novel therapeutics. I am looking forward to working with the team as they continue to serve and collaborate with their biopharma clients as well as to advance their promising partnered and internal preclinical discovery programs,” Dr. Chodakewitz said.
Mr. Ginsberg is Senior Vice President and Global Head of Communications at SoftBank Group Corp., where he is responsible for leading corporate communications strategy, as well as overseeing global communications functions and collaborating with SoftBank’s global portfolio of companies. Previously, Mr. Ginsberg served as Executive Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Communications at Time Warner. Prior to that, he spent 11 years at News Corporation, serving most recently as Executive Vice President of Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs and a member of the Office of the Chairman. He also served as a Senior Editor and Counsel of George magazine; served in the Clinton administration at both the White House Counsel’s office and the U.S. Department of Justice; and began his career at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. Mr. Ginsberg is Chairman of the Board of Directors of New Visions for Public Schools and serves on the boards of Malaria No More and The City, an online news service in New York City. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the Columbia Business School and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Mr. Ginsberg holds an A.B. from Brown University and a J.D. from Columbia University School of Law.
“Schrödinger’s strong growth has been exciting to watch — and a testament to the value of their computational platform to researchers around the world,” Mr. Ginsberg said. “I am proud to be joining a team that is committed to investing in research and improving their already successful platform so they can continue to lead the way in scientific innovation.”
About Schrödinger
Schrödinger’s industry-leading computational platform to accelerate drug discovery and materials design is deployed by leading biopharmaceutical and industrial companies, academic institutions and government laboratories worldwide. Schrödinger is also applying its computational platform to a diverse and extensive pipeline of drug discovery programs in collaboration with pharmaceutical companies and has co-founded leading biotech companies. In addition, Schrödinger is using its platform to advance a pipeline of internal, wholly-owned drug discovery programs.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 including, but not limited to those regarding our expectations about the speed and capacity of our computational platform, our plans to continue to invest in research and our strategic plans to accelerate the growth of our software business and advance our collaborative and internal drug discovery programs. Statements including words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and statements in the future tense are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect our current views about our plans, intentions, expectations, strategies and prospects, which are based on the information currently available to us and on assumptions we have made. Actual results may differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements and are subject to a variety of assumptions, uncertainties, risks and factors that are beyond our control, including the demand for our software solutions, our ability to further develop our computational platform, our reliance upon third-party providers of cloud-based infrastructure to host our software solutions, our reliance upon our third-party drug discovery collaborators, the ability to retain and hire key personnel and the direct and indirect impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic on our business and other risks detailed under the caption “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 16, 2020, as well as future filings and reports by us. Any forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, we undertake no duty or obligation to update any forward-looking statements contained in this press release as a result of new information, future events, changes in expectations or otherwise.
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