BRISBANE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sangamo Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: SGMO), a genomic medicine company, today announced the appointment of Dr. John Markels, an accomplished pharmaceutical executive with three decades of general management, manufacturing and technology experience at Merck, to the Sangamo Board of Directors.

"We are very pleased to welcome John to our Board," said Sandy Macrae, Chief Executive Officer of Sangamo. “John’s manufacturing expertise and global general management and therapeutic area leadership experience will greatly benefit Sangamo as we build out our own in-house gene and cell therapy manufacturing capabilities and advance our innovative pipeline of genomic medicine product candidates toward registration and eventual commercialization.”

Dr. Markels has over 30 years of leadership experience in the pharmaceutical industry. He currently serves as President of Global Vaccines at Merck, a role in which he leads an integrated team dedicated to discovery and development, supply and access, and global marketing and long-term strategy for the vaccines portfolio. Earlier roles at Merck included President, Latin America, as well as a long career in senior leadership positions in major regions worldwide in manufacturing technology, operations and strategy, business development, alliance management, and supply chain. Dr. Markels received his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley and his B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Delaware.

About Sangamo Therapeutics

Sangamo Therapeutics is committed to translating ground-breaking science into genomic medicines with the potential to transform patients’ lives using gene therapy, ex vivo gene-edited cell therapy, and in vivo genome editing and genome regulation. For more information about Sangamo, visit www.sangamo.com.