Steve Xanthoudakis has been appointed chief business development officer for CQDM, a non-profit biopharmaceutical research consortium and an industrial research cluster with a mission to fund projects which accelerate the development of drugs. Xanthoudakis has more than 25 years of biopharma experience including senior research scientist and director of global business development & licensing for Merck Research Laboratories — positions he held since 1996. At CQDM, he will be responsible for evolving its business development strategy with an emphasis on consolidating global pharma support for technology sourced across the continuum of both Canadian academic and biotech research. Xanthoudakis holds a PhD in microbiology and immunology from McGill Univ and has received post-doctoral training at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology in New Jersey.