Savara Inc., a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on rare respiratory diseases, has promoted Yasmine Wasfi, M.D., Ph.D., FCCP to CMO, effective immediately. She succeeds Ray Pratt, M.D., FACP who will transition from his current role to Senior Medical Advisor.

Wasfi will report directly to the Company’s Chair and Chief Executive Officer and will serve as a member of the executive leadership team. Previously, she was Executive Vice President, Head of Clinical Development and Clinical Operations at Savara.

“We are pleased to promote Dr. Wasfi to CMO,” said Matt Pauls, J.D., M.B.A., Chair and CEO, Savara. “Dr. Wasfi is a pulmonologist with more than two decades of healthcare experience, spanning both biotech and large pharma. She has a strong track record progressing and driving the development strategy for investigational therapies within the respiratory and immunology therapeutic areas and her leadership and relentless commitment to the autoimmune pulmonary alveolar proteinosis, or autoimmune PAP, patient community has been instrumental in helping advance the MOLBREEVI program. We appreciate Dr. Wasfi’s contributions to date and look forward to the insights and direction she will bring in her new role.”

Experience

Wasfi is a seasoned professional within clinical research and drug development of both large and small molecule novel therapeutics. Her clinical development work includes respiratory drug development and late-phase immunology clinical development. She has held roles of increasing responsibility within large pharmaceutical and smaller biotech companies, including Amicus Therapeutics, Johnson & Johnson, and Merck.

She received a B.A. in Biology from the University of Delaware, M.D. from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Ph.D. in Clinical Science from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. She completed her internship and residency in internal medicine at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and her fellowship in Pulmonary and Critical Care at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.