Akcea Therapeutics, a majority-owned affiliate of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, announced that Carla Poulson has joined the company as Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer. In these roles, Poulson will be a part of the executive leadership team and provide proactive, strategic leadership and consultation across all company functions. She will also develop and drive initiatives to continue to build company culture and to support the company's business strategy.

"Carla joins our team during an exciting time of tremendous growth at Akcea as we continue to strengthen our leadership team, advance our global commercialization strategies and make significant progress in expanding our pipeline," said Damien McDevitt, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Akcea. "This newly created position will bring significant value as we continue to focus on developing our teams. Carla's diverse range of experiences will be invaluable in providing strategic counsel and will allow us to build on our achievements as we plan for many important successful developments."

Poulson has 20 years of experience in human resources in the U.S. and Europe and has held a variety of roles, including providing innovative business solutions and strategic counsel, building and managing company talent, and delivering customized programs and services to support overall business strategy.

Before joining Akcea, she was with Vertex Pharmaceuticals where she most recently served as Vice President, senior human resources business partner. Poulson has also worked at Ahold Corporation, Pepsi Bottling Group and ExxonMobil Corporation in human resources.

"Akcea has accomplished so much in the last few years including launching two new commercial products for patients in a short period of time. I am honored to join a company that is positioned to continue to make a meaningful difference in the lives of many patients around the world and look forward to working with the executive leadership team in these efforts in the years ahead," said Poulson.