Genocea Biosciences, Inc. (NASDAQ: GNCA), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing T cell-enabled vaccines and immunotherapies, today announced the appointment of Jonathan Poole to the position of chief financial officer. Mr. Poole joins Genocea from Shire plc (NASDAQ: SHPG).<br /><br />Genocea Appoints Jonathan Poole as Chief Financial Officer (photo: Business Wire)<br /><br />"Jonathan's broad experience in finance and strategic planning from Shire will prove invaluable as we pursue our aim to harness T cells to develop life-changing vaccines and immunotherapeutics," said Chip Clark, president and chief executive officer of Genocea. "We are pleased to welcome Jonathan to the management team and look forward to his leadership."<br /><br />Prior to joining Genocea, Mr. Poole was senior vice president of finance for pipeline and technical operations, leading finance support for Shire's global business development, R&D and technical operations activities. Mr. Poole previously served for three years as divisional CFO of Shire HGT, Shire's $1.5 billion rare disease division. He began his career in the UK in investment banking at UBS Warburg and ING Barings and also worked as an investment manager for Avanti Capital Plc, a UK private equity investment firm. Mr. Poole has a MBA from London Business School and a BSc in biological sciences from Durham University in the UK.<br /><br />"Genocea's unique and powerful ATLAS(TM) technology has the potential to dramatically change the discovery and development of vaccines and immunotherapies for patients suffering from or exposed to some of the most challenging diseases we face," said Jonathan Poole. "I am excited to join Genocea at such an exciting time and look forward to helping the company evolve and grow."<br /><br />About Genocea<br /><br />Genocea is harnessing the power of T cell immunity to develop the next generation of vaccines and immunotherapies. T cells are increasingly recognized as a critical element of protective immune responses to a wide range of diseases, but are difficult to target using traditional discovery methods. Genocea is able to identify protective T cell antigens in humans using ATLAS(TM), its proprietary technology platform, potentially enabling vaccines and immunotherapies to address critical patient needs. Genocea's pipeline of novel clinical stage T cell-enabled product candidates includes GEN-003 for HSV-2 therapy, GEN-004 to prevent infections caused by pneumococcus, and earlier-stage programs in chlamydia, HSV-2 prophylaxis, malaria and cancer immunotherapy.