CAMBRIDGE, Mass., July 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Editas Medicine, Inc. (NASDAQ:EDIT), a leading genome editing company, announced today the appointment of Akshay Vaishnaw, M.D., Ph.D., to its board of directors. Dr. Vaishnaw is Executive Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Medical Officer at Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

“I am delighted to welcome Akshay to our board of directors,” said Katrine Bosley, President and Chief Executive Officer of Editas Medicine. “He has extensive clinical development experience, a passion for scientific excellence, and achieved significant accomplishments as part of the leadership team that has built Alnylam, one of the most innovative and important companies in the biotechnology industry. We believe Akshay’s perspective and advice will be invaluable as we continue to advance the organization and drive innovative new medicines to treat genetic diseases.”

“Editas is at the forefront of the genome editing field, which is advancing at a tremendous pace and has the potential to help people with many different serious genetic diseases,” said Dr. Vaishnaw. “I am excited to join the board and to help guide Editas into the future.”

Dr. Vaishnaw has served as Alnylam’s Executive Vice President of Research and Development since December 2014 and has served as their Chief Medical Officer since June 2011. He has served Alnylam in a number of senior R&D roles of increasing responsibility since joining the company in 2006. From December 1998 through 2005, Dr. Vaishnaw held various positions at Biogen Inc., a biopharmaceutical company. Dr. Vaishnaw received his M.D. from the University of Wales College of Medicine, U.K., and his Ph.D. from the University of London, U.K., in molecular immunology. He is also a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, U.K. He serves on the board of directors of Visterra Inc., and the scientific advisory board of Scholar Rock Inc.

About Editas Medicine

Editas Medicine is a leading genome editing company dedicated to treating patients with genetically defined diseases by correcting their disease-causing genes. The company was founded by world leaders in genome editing, and its mission is to translate the promise of genome editing science into a broad class of transformative genomic medicines to benefit the greatest number of patients.