NEW YORK, Jan. 03, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OWKIN, a startup building machine learning technologies to augment medical research and enable scientific discoveries, today announced the appointment of Dr. Bruno Strigini as Chairman of the Board of Directors, effective immediately. Dr. Strigini brings deep experience in developing and launching innovative patient treatments, as well as leading and growing sustainable global businesses. As Chairman of OWKIN’s Board of Directors, Dr. Strigini will help the company usher in its next phase of growth and expand partnerships in the pharmaceutical and medical research industries.

“Bruno has been at the center of important, innovative work in groundbreaking therapies and cutting-edge treatments,” said Thomas Clozel, M.D., co-founder and CEO of OWKIN. “He will be instrumental in helping us expand our efforts to empower researchers in clinical medicine and the pharmaceutical industry to improve knowledge-sharing and build collective intelligence to fuel medical breakthroughs.”

Prior to joining OWKIN’s board, Dr. Strigini served as CEO of Novartis Oncology, where he oversaw more than 10,000 associates in 85 countries. Before joining Novartis in 2014, Dr. Strigini was president of MSD for Europe and Canada (Merck & Co. Inc. in the United States and Canada). Past experience includes executive positions at Schering-Plough, UCB Celltech, and SmithKline Beecham. He holds a Doctor of Pharmacy from the University of Montpellier in France, a Master of Business Administration from IMD in Switzerland, and a Master of Microbiology from Heriot-Watt University in the UK.

“OWKIN was founded on the powerful combination of machine learning expertise and clinical research experience. That gives the company a unique understanding of how artificial intelligence can help solve the medical research community’s most pressing needs,” said Dr. Bruno Strigini. “This is what originally drew me to the company. I know firsthand how critical it is to fix the knowledge-sharing problem in medical research with secure, collaborative technologies. OWKIN’s federated learning approach enables medical breakthroughs in a way that allows for mutually beneficial participation for both research hospitals and pharmaceutical institutions.”

Dr. Strigini’s arrival comes on the heels of significant company growth and momentum in 2018, including the close of a $16 million Series A funding round, led by Otium Venture and joined by GV (formerly Google Ventures), Cathay Innovation, and NJF Capital.

About OWKIN
OWKIN builds machine learning technologies to augment medical research and enable scientific discoveries. OWKIN empowers researchers to turn real-world patient data into predictive models. This AI boosts research capabilities for physicians and the pharmaceutical industry, improving patient treatment, drug discovery, and development. OWKIN is pioneering federated and transfer learning technologies in healthcare to build collective intelligence from distributed data at scale while preserving privacy and security. OWKIN partners with leading institutions in Europe and the US, and has raised $18M from top-tier investors including GV (formerly Google Ventures), Otium Venture, Cathay Innovation, and NJF Capital. For more information, visit www.owkin.com and follow @OWKINscience on Twitter.

Contact: owkin@launchsquad.com | (415) 625-8555