Leerink hires Liang, Sawyer, Hill and Hochstetler for expanded equity research

By E. Janene Geiss

Philadelphia, Oct. 21- Leerink, Swann & Co. announced Friday the expansion of its equity research department with the recent additions of three senior analysts, Howard Liang, William F. Sawyer and George Hill plus Mark Hochstetler as a senior research associate.

In a company news release, the Boston-based investment banking firm said the new analysts bring with them the following credentials:

* Howard Liang, Ph.D., director of biotechnology, joined Leerink Swann's biotechnology team to focus on oncology. He was formerly a biotech analyst at A.G. Edwards. Before that he worked at JMP Securities in San Francisco and Prudential Securities, where he was an associate on an Institutional Investor ranked biotech team. Liang earned his undergraduate degree in chemistry from the University of Beijing and holds an MBA and Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Chicago. Prior to working on Wall Street, he worked as a senior scientist in structure-based drug discovery at Abbott Laboratories;

* William F. Sawyer, director, specialty pharmaceuticals, will focus his research efforts on the generic manufacturers. He joined Leerink Swann from Merrill Lynch, where he worked on an Institutional Investor-ranked specialty pharmaceutical research team. Before that, he spent three years on Lehman Brothers' specialty pharmaceuticals team. Sawyer holds an MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business and a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy from Rutgers University. Before moving to Wall Street, Sawyer worked as a pharmacist;

* George Hill, vice president, health care technology, joined Leerink Swann to add coverage of Health Care Information Technology. Prior to joining the firm, he was a member of Thomas Weisel's team of health care, IT and pharmaceutical service companies. Before that he spent two years at Citicorp Asset Management. Hill holds a bachelor of arts in political science from Rutgers University and he has done additional course work in accounting and corporate finance at the University of Connecticut; and

* Mark Hochstetler, senior associate, biotechnology, holds an MBA in health sector management from Duke University and a bachelor of arts from Stanford University. He came to Leerink Swann after four years in research at Robertson Stephens.

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