On Oct 2 Jane Grogan will officially take over the position which has been without a permanent appointee for nearly two years. Grogan recently served as chief scientific officer at Graphite Bio a cell and gene therapy developer and as a scientific advisory board member for Bicycle Therapeutics a synthetic biology company. She also spent more than 15 years as a scientist at Genentech where she led research programs directed at cancer and disorders tied to the immune system. That experience proved attractive to Biogen leaders who have said they want to diversify research efforts that for much of the companys history have focused on diseases of the brain and central nervous system