Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced that Alan Sachs, who has served as chief scientific officer (CSO) since 2016, will assume the newly established role of chief medical officer (CMO) and will be succeeded by Karen E. Nelson, previously president of the J. Craig Venter Institute. Both will join the company leadership team in August 2021. Alan Sachs is a physician-scientist who earned his medical and Ph.D. degrees from Stanford Medical School and has decades of experience supporting product development and clinical research in both therapeutics and diagnostics. In his new role, he will help identify and promote adoption of new technologies that benefit customers in the clinical space, and he will lead the company's medical affairs program.