Damiani has over 25 years’ experience in senior executive roles in the aerospace, high-tech and biotech industries. Previously, he worked as chief digital and operational officer at Moderna. Prior to this, he was senior vice president and group CIO at bioMérieux from 2010 to 2015, working as executive director of IT Global Infrastructure Services from 2009.

Damiani said: “Technologies such as artificial intelligence offer huge promise to unlock complex biology and uncover new medicines for a broad range of debilitating diseases. I am delighted to work alongside BenevolentAI’s Board of Directors and leadership team to deliver on this promise and, in so doing, deliver a new generation of transformative medicines to patients.”

Dr François Nader, chairman of BenevolentAI, commented: “We are pleased to welcome Marcello to our Board as a non-executive director. Drawing from his senior executive leadership experience at global organisations such as Moderna and bioMérieux, Marcello offers a unique perspective and understanding of innovation in the technology and biotech sectors. His experience will further strengthen the existing diversity and knowledge of our Board as BenevolentAI continues to execute its ambitious growth strategy.”

Finally, Joanna Shields, CEO and board director of BenevolentAI, added: “BenevolentAI is, at its core, a technology development company with a mission to understand complex disease biology and enable scientists to make novel discoveries. Marcello’s expertise in driving innovation in biopharma will be an invaluable addition to our Board as we continue to scale the impact of our platform and AI tools.”