Surface Oncology, an immuno-oncology company in Cambridge, Massachusetts, has appointed a new chief medical officer as it amps up its antibody product.

Robert W. Ross, MD, assumed his duties last week and will be responsible for advancing Surface Oncology’s development programs, including SRF231, a CD47 antibody.

“The addition of such a well-respected and experienced professional to our team positions us well as we continue to expand our pipeline and advance novel programs into the clinic,” said Detlev Biniszkiewicz, PhD, president and CEO of Surface Oncology, in a statement. “Rob has extensive experience building strong teams and leading early stage development programs into late stage clinical development. We are excited he will be applying these skills at Surface to help achieve our goal of bringing cures to patients.”

Ross had been with bluebird bio, where he was head of the company’s oncology franchise and senior vice president of clinical development and pharmacovigilance. He has clinical development and cancer patient care experience.

“Immune therapy is the future of oncology treatment. In the last five years, with the introduction of immune system modulation, the lives of patients have been fundamentally changed, but there is clearly more work to do to bring more cures to patients,” Ross said. “Surface Oncology’s strategy targeting the various components of the tumor microenvironment has an excellent chance of achieving that goal. I look forward to working closely with this outstanding team to move their programs to the clinic as rapidly as possible.”