HaemaLogiX announces appointment of Laurence Turka, M.D. as a Non-Executive Director

HaemaLogiX Ltd, a clinical stage biotech, is pleased to announce the appointment of Laurence Turka, M.D. to its board as a non-executive director.

Dr. Turka was Co-Director of the Center for Transplantation Sciences at Massachusetts General Hospital where he led a number of notable discoveries including novel approaches to transplantation tolerance, the role of Toll-like receptors in T-cells, and pathways required for the maintenance of regulatory T-cell function.

Dr. Turka was also an early contributor to the field of T cell co-stimulation including work that helped lead to the development of abatacept and belatacept for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and renal transplantation.  He was Deputy Director of the US NIH sponsored Immune Tolerance Network where he also led their translational medicine program.  Dr. Turka was the Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Rheos Medicines, the Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Translational Medicine at Rubius Therapeutics, and the Harold and Ellen Danser Professor at Harvard Medical School (currently emeritus).

HaemaLogiX Chair John Cullity said: “I am delighted to welcome Larry to the board. As a leader in the field of immunology research and Boston-based biotech entrepreneur, Larry brings a wealth of experience to HaemaLogiX. I very much look forward to working with him.”

He received his medical degree from the Yale University School of Medicine and trained in Internal Medicine at Yale-New Haven Hospital. Dr. Turka was a renal fellow at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and then joined the faculty of the University of Michigan. In 1994, he joined the faculty of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the C. Mahlon Kline Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Renal Division, before joining the Massachusetts General Hospital in 2009 where he led the Center for Transplantation Sciences.

Dr. Turka has served as President of the American Society of Transplantation, Chair of the NIAID Board of Scientific Counselors, Editor in Chief of The Journal of Clinical Investigation, and Deputy Director of the Immune Tolerance Network.  He was elected to membership in the American Society for Clinical Investigation in 1995, and the Association of American Physicians in 2003.