The United States Pharmacopoeial Convention (USP) has  announced that Dr JaapVenema will take over as the chief science officer on April 15 and chair of USP’s standards-setting body, the Council of Experts, at the beginning of USP’s next five-year cycle on July 1, 2015.  He replaces Dr V Srini Srinivasan who retires on May 1, 2015.

Dr Venema will report to the CEO and serve as a member of USP’s executive team. He will provide overall leadership for USP’s scientific and standards-setting activities and will have management responsibility for more than 150 staff around the world.

He will work closely with scientific staff at USP’s global laboratory operations in Rockville, Maryland, US; Hyderabad, India; Shanghai, China and São Paulo, Brazil as well as USP locations in Ghana, Switzerland, Ethiopia and Indonesia.

Most  recently, Dr Venema was therapeutic area lead bio-therapeutics, global medical affairs, biologics strategy development, at Abbvie formerly Abbott Laboratories, where he provided scientific and medical leadership on key aspects across all therapeutic areas, including biosimilars and immunogenicity.

In this role, Venema had global oversight for Asia, Europe, Latin America and US.  His 15-year tenure at Abbott and Solvay (acquired by Abbott in 2010) included leadership roles in immunology medical affairs, international medical development, vaccines development and exploratory target biology. Dr Venema earned his Ph.D. at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He also served on the faculty of VrijeUniversiteit Amsterdam (Free University Amsterdam), Netherlands.

“I’m thrilled to be joining USP on the eve of the 2015 Convention and being part of the next USP cycle, leading to the USP bicentennial in 2020. USP’s mission to improve global health is one that aligns with my own values and aspirations and I’m looking forward to my first day at USP,” said Venema.

“As Chair of the Council of Experts, Dr Jaap will have an opportunity to help shape USP standards in the coming years,” stated Dr Ron Piervincenzi, chief executive officer, USP.