Fulcrum Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: FULC) appointed Josh Lehrer as an independent director to its board of directors, according to a company statement.

Lehrer serves as chief executive officer and board member of Marea Therapeutics. He previously held the position of president and chief executive officer at Graphite Bio Inc. from April 2020 to September 2023. Prior to that role, he worked as chief medical officer at Global Blood Therapeutics, where he oversaw the development and approval of Oxbryta for sickle cell disease treatment.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based biopharmaceutical company focuses on developing small molecules for rare hematological disorders. Fulcrum's lead clinical program involves pociredir, a small molecule designed to increase fetal hemoglobin expression for sickle cell disease treatment.

"Josh brings deep expertise in rare disease drug development and a strong track record advancing transformative therapies," said Alex Sapir, Fulcrum's president and chief executive officer.

Lehrer holds degrees from Harvard University, the University of Cambridge, and the University of California, San Francisco. He completed his residency in internal medicine at UCSF and a postdoctoral fellowship in cardiovascular medicine at Stanford University.

The appointment comes as Fulcrum continues advancing its benign hematology pipeline, with pociredir supported by results from the PIONEER trial.