Chartwell Partners Works with Affinia Therapeutics to Appoint Diana Brainard, MD, and Carole Faig to its Board of Directors

Based in Waltham, MA, Affinia Therapeutics is an innovative gene therapy company with a proprietary platform for rationally-designed adeno-associated virus (AAV) gene therapies for rare and prevalent devastating conditions, including next-generation gene therapies for patients with neurologic and neuro-oncologic diseases. AlloVir Chief Executive Officer, Diana Brainard, MD, and retired EY Partner, Carole Faig, were appointed to the Board, and bring extensive industry experience across functional disciplines.

Dr. Brainard is an established executive leader and drug developer, beginning her industry career at Merck and more recently Gilead, where she led the virology therapeutic area and oversaw the development and launch of the hepatitis C treatments Sovaldi, Harvoni, and Epclusa and the HIV treatment Biktarvy. In 2020, she led the company-wide initiative at Gilead to rapidly advance Veklury (remdesivir), the first antiviral to receive regulatory approval for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Those efforts earned her global recognition as one of the most influential people in the fight against COVID-19. Dr. Brainard received an M.D. from Tulane University School of Medicine and a B.A. in comparative literature from Brown University. After completing her residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, she served on the faculty of Harvard Medical School where she conducted NIH-funded research focused on HIV immunology and T-cell trafficking.

Ms. Faig recently retired from Ernst & Young (EY) after almost 40 years of audit and public accounting experience. Most recently, she served as a leader of EY’s U.S. healthcare business, where she was responsible for developing and driving the firm’s strategy to grow its healthcare practice during a period of rapid change in the health industry. Additionally, Ms. Faig served as an audit partner for a wide range of companies in the healthcare industry, from large and complex health systems to private equity backed growth companies and SEC registrants. In that role, she assisted companies with public equity offerings, working closely with investment bankers, underwriters, and legal counsel, and advised clients on financial accounting and reporting matters.