Acucela Inc. announced that it has hired Dr. Lukas Scheibler as executive vice president of Translational Medicine. Dr. Scheibler joins Acucela after a 13-year career in research and development, business development and clinical trial management at Novartis. He most recently was a vice president in charge of Alcon's Ideation and Technology Evaluation Center, the company's center of excellence in charge of identifying novel technologies that address unmet needs in ophthalmology.

Before that, he served as Alcon's vice president and global head of Clinical Trial Management. At Acucela, Dr. Scheibler will manage the translation of pre-clinical research into clinical development. He will play a key role in the company's business development team, manage the company's new projects before proof of concept to provide key dimensions of study protocols and oversee the company's relationships with major academic sites and research institutions.

The company board of directors appointed Dr. Scheibler as executive vice president of Translational Medicine, effective Aug. 17, 2015, at its Aug. 4, 2015 meeting in Seattle.