In This Article:
Dr. Bumpus brings deep experience in scientific innovation and regulatory strategy, while Elaine Sun adds extensive leadership in life sciences finance and corporate strategy.
Salt Lake City, UT, March 18, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Recursion (NASDAQ: RXRX), a leading clinical stage TechBio company decoding biology to radically improve lives, today announced that Namandjé Bumpus, Ph.D, and Elaine Sun have been appointed to Recursion’s Board of Directors, effective as of March 15th.
“I am delighted to welcome Elaine and Namandjé to Recursion’s Board,” said Chris Gibson, Ph.D., Recursion Co-Founder and CEO. “As the company continues to grow its clinical pipeline and enhance its platform, our new Board members’ scientific, clinical, business and financial expertise will be an incredible resource in support of our continued success.”
Dr. Namandjé N. Bumpus served as the FDA’s Principal Deputy Commissioner until December 31, 2024, after joining the agency in August 2022 as Chief Scientist. As Principal Deputy Commissioner she played a pivotal role in shaping the agency’s strategic direction and driving its day-to-day operations. She worked closely with the FDA Commissioner to spearhead key public health initiatives, strengthening regulatory frameworks, modernizing enterprise systems, and enhancing laboratory testing capabilities. She was also one of the foremost drivers of strategy for integration of AI into regulatory science at the agency. Prior to the FDA, Dr. Bumpus was an endowed professor and chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Molecular Sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where she also served as an associate dean. She earned a Ph.D. in pharmacology from the University of Michigan and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at The Scripps Research Institute. Her prior research has spanned across drug metabolism, drug-induced toxicity, mass spectrometry, and infectious disease pharmacology. Dr. Bumpus has received several honors, including the Presidential Early Career Award, the John J. Abel Award, and the Leon I. Goldberg Award, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a member of the National Academy of Medicine.
"I’m proud to join Recursion’s Board and contribute to its innovative approach to drug discovery and development,” said Dr. Bumpus, “I look forward to bringing the full scope of my experience as a scientist and a leader to help guide the company’s scientific approach and advance its impact on patients’ lives."
Elaine Sun is a 30-year life sciences and financial industry veteran with a track record of building and creating value for early- to late-stage biopharmaceutical companies. She is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer at Mammoth Biosciences, an in vivo gene editing therapeutics company co-founded by Nobel laureate and CRISPR pioneer Jennifer Doudna. She previously was SVP and CFO at Halozyme Therapeutics, a commercial-stage biotechnology company, and served as CFO and Chief Strategy Officer at SutroVax (now Vaxcyte), a developer of innovative vaccines. Earlier in her career, she advised pharmaceutical, biotechnology and medical device companies on M&A and financing transactions valued in excess of $50 billion, including as Managing Director at Evercore Partners and Merrill Lynch. Ms. Sun currently serves on the Board of Dynavax Technologies (NASDAQ:DVAX), a commercial-stage vaccines company as well as Asher Biotherapeutics, a clinical-stage precision oncology company, and holds a BA from Wellesley College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
"I am excited to support Recursion’s commitment to merging rigorous science with cutting-edge technology to accelerate drug discovery and development and reshape the industry,” said Ms. Sun, “It is truly inspiring, and I look forward to helping Recursion scale its impact and bring new, life-changing therapies to the market."
Rob Hershberg, MD/Ph.D., Recursion’s Chairman, added: “I am delighted to have such phenomenal additions to our Board at such an exciting time for Recursion. I speak for the entire Board when I say we are thrilled to strengthen the company's strategic leadership with these outstanding additions. Welcome Namandjé and Elaine!”
To learn more about Recursion’s Board of Directors, please visit: https://www.recursion.com/team