French healthcare company Sanofi S.A. (Euronext Paris:SAN) (Nasdaq:SNY) announced on Monday the appointment of Paulo Fontoura, MD, PhD, FAAN, as executive vice president, global head of Research & Development Pharma, effective 1 September 2026.

Fontoura will be a member of Sanofi's executive committee, based in Paris, and will report to chief executive officer Belen Garijo.

As head of R&D Pharma, Fontoura will lead Sanofi's end-to-end innovation engine, spanning research, translational medicine, clinical development, and regulatory affairs, with responsibility for advancing a differentiated pipeline and accelerating the delivery of transformative medicines to patients. Fontoura succeeds Dr. Houman Ashrafian, who has decided to pursue an opportunity outside the company.

Fontoura has more than 25 years of experience spanning academic medicine, translational science, clinical development, and pharmaceutical innovation. Most recently, he served as chief medical officer of Xaira Therapeutics, an AI-native biotechnology company focused on transforming drug discovery and development through generative artificial intelligence. Prior to Xaira, he spent more than 15 years at Roche, holding a series of senior leadership positions culminating as senior vice president and global head of Clinical Development for Neuroscience, Immunology, Ophthalmology, Infectious and Rare Diseases.