Halo Precision Diagnostics: John Craighead
Halo Precision Diagnostics has appointed John Craighead its chief operating officer and CFO. He has more than two decades of experience in the life sciences and financial services sectors and recently was CFO and head of corporate development at biopharmaceutical firm Elpiscience. Before that, Craighead was VP of strategy, corporate development, and investor relations at Grail, and he has held leadership posts at Sanofi, Atara Biotherapeutics, Lehman Brothers, and Human Genome Sciences. Menlo Park, California-based Halo Precision Diagnostics leverages advanced imaging and molecular diagnostic technologies for early disease detection. Disease areas of interest include prostate cancer, breast cancer, and cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.
Invitae: Robert Dickey, Christine Gorjanc
Invitae named Robert Dickey as interim CFO, effective immediately. Dickey previously worked at Lehman Brothers, conducting mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions. In addition to his new position at Invitae, he serves as a member of the board of directors at AngioGenex, SFA Therapeutics, and GSNO Therapeutics. Former interim CFO Christine Gorjanc will return to her prior role as chair of the audit committee and a member of the compensation committee of Invitae's board. Gorjanc and Dickey will both work with the executive leadership team to ensure a smooth transition, while Gorjanc continues to assist the company in searching for a permanent CFO.
Bionano Genomics: Gülsen Kama
Bionano Genomics has appointed Gülsen Kama as CFO effective Sept. 11, 2023. Christopher Stewart, the firm's current CFO since September 2020, will stay on during the transition and then move into an advisory role, the company said. Kama was most recently CFO at Northern Data, and prior to that he held the same role in the East Region and Healthcare IT divisions at Quest Diagnostics.
Element Biosciences: Tanja Gruber, Chuan He, Joseph Puglisi, Sarah Teichmann
Element Biosciences announced the formation of its scientific advisory board, appointing four initial members. Tanja Gruber is director of the Bass Center for Childhood Cancer at the Stanford Cancer Institute. Chuan He is a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Chicago. Joseph "Jody" Puglisi, an RNA biologist, is a professor at Stanford University School of Medicine. Sarah Teichmann is head of cellular genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and principal leader of the Human Cell Atlas consortium.
Circular Genomics: Ron Rocca
Ron Rocca has joined the board of directors of Circular Genomics, a company developing circular RNA biomarkers for precision medicine in psychiatry. Rocca currently serves as CEO of Mindera Health, an AI-based skin analytics company. He has also served in senior leadership roles with Prometheus and Exagen Diagnostics.
Foresight Diagnostics: John Truesdell
Foresight Diagnostics has appointed John Truesdell as its chief business officer. Truesdell most recently served as chief business officer at SeQure Dx and has held multiple leadership roles at Roche's Foundation Medicine, including VP of biopharma business development. He also held various commercial roles at Boston Scientific and Semprus Biosciences.
For additional recent items on executive appointments, promotions, and departures in the omics and molecular diagnostics space, please see the People in the News page on our website.