NeoGenomics: Chris Smith, Tony Zook
NeoGenomics CEO Chris Smith will retire from his role and his position as a board member effective April 1, 2025, at which time Tony Zook, an independent board member since 2023, will assume the role of CEO. Zook is a partner with Lucius Partners, a specialized healthcare consultancy providing financial, strategic, product development, and operational insights to emerging biopharmaceutical and medical device companies. Prior to his consulting work and role as CEO of Innocoll Pharmaceuticals, Zook was executive VP of global commercial operations at AstraZeneca. He was also president of MedImmune, AstraZeneca's wholly owned global biologics division, and chaired the firm's commercial investment board.
Smith will remain with the company as an adviser throughout the transition to ensure knowledge transfer and continuity.
Cofactor Genomics: Chris Parker, Jarret Glasscock
Cofactor Genomics has appointed Chris Parker as CEO and a member of the company's board of directors, replacing former CEO Jarret Glasscock, a Cofactor Genomics founder who will transition into the role of president, chief technology officer, and board member. Most recently, Parker was chief business officer at Adela, a developer of blood tests for cancer. Prior to that, he worked for Exact Sciences, where he served as VP of business development and, earlier, VP of integrations. He has also previously held executive leadership roles at Cellular Dynamics and Affymetrix and has served as a board member for several companies. Cofactor said that it made the transition in preparation for accelerated commercial growth and increased patient access for its OncoPrism molecular test for checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy response, which received Medicare coverage in October.
LGC: Joydeep Goswami
Global life science tools provider LGC has appointed Joydeep Goswami as president and CEO and a member of the board of directors. He succeeds Euan O'Sullivan, who stepped down from the role in early 2024 after 14 years with the company. Goswami most recently served as CFO and chief strategy and corporate development officer at Illumina. Prior to that, he held a variety of global and business unit leadership roles with Thermo Fisher Scientific, culminating in his leadership of Thermo Fisher's clinical next-generation sequencing and oncology division. Goswami also serves on the board of Biolife Solutions. He holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in chemical engineering and an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and a bachelor's degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai.
Becton Dickinson: Pamela Spikner
Becton Dickinson has named Pamela Spikner as senior VP, chief accounting officer, and controller, effective Jan. 20, 2025. A certified public accountant and certified internal auditor, Spikner will be responsible for all accounting policy and financial reporting for the company. Spikner most recently served as chief accounting officer for R1 RCM, a provider of healthcare revenue cycle management solutions. She previously held leadership roles at utility company Exelon and medical device firm Hill-Rom Holdings.
Exact Sciences: Kim Popovits
Exact Sciences' board of directors has expanded from nine to 10 members with the appointment of Kim Popovits as a class I member with a term ending at the company's 2025 annual meeting of shareholders. Popovits holds 40 years of experience in the healthcare industry, serving in various leadership roles at Genomic Health, Genentech, and American Critical Care. She served as president and CEO of Genomic Health from 2009 until it was acquired by Exact in 2019. Prior to that, she was Genomic Health's chief operating officer.
Popovits has served on the board of directors of Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals, 10x Genomics, and Talis Biomedical, where she was also interim CEO from August 2021 to November 2021. She holds a B.A. in business from Michigan State University.
Oncocyte: Paul Billings
Oncocyte has appointed Paul Billings as its consulting chief medical officer, a part-time role in which he will support a range of strategic and clinical goals for the company. Billings is a pioneer in genomics and precision medicine with over 40 years of experience spanning academia, government, and the biotechnology industry. He joins Oncocyte from Biological Dynamics, where he served as CEO and chairman. Prior to that, he served as chief medical officer at Natera. He has also been an adviser or a physician leader with Laboratory Corporation of America, Quest Diagnostics, Life Technologies, Johnson & Johnson, and Thermo Fisher Scientific. Billings holds an M.D. and Ph.D. in immunology from Harvard University, with postgraduate training at the University of Washington.
PrecisionLife: Bill Keating
UK bioinformatics firm PrecisionLife has appointed Bill Keating as its chief commercial officer, diagnostics and healthcare. He has more than two decades of experience in senior corporate and business development roles for firms such as Philips Healthcare, Foundation Medicine (now part of Roche), and Zephyr AI. PrecisionLife is developing noninvasive genotypic tests to identify disease risk factors and biological causes of complex diseases. About a year ago, it and Metrodora Institute announced a joint investment in the development of diagnostics and treatments for complex chronic diseases.
PrognomiQ: Joel Kaufman
Multiomics data firm PrognomiQ has appointed Joel Kaufman as its CFO. Most recently, he was CFO of Haystack Oncology. Before that, he was VP of financing and corporate development at Sema4, and before that he was chief business officer at Navidea Biopharmaceuticals and a research analyst at Goldman Sachs. PrognomiQ plans to launch an early cancer detection test in the first half of this year as a laboratory-developed test, it said. In November, the company raised $34 million in a Series D financing round.
Genomics: Jose-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos
Genomics Ltd. has appointed José-Carlos Gutiérrez-Ramos to its board of directors. Gutiérrez-Ramos currently serves as CSO at Danaher. He previously served as CEO and president of Synlogic and as founding CEO and president at Repertoire Immune Medicine. Additionally, he was previously head of drug discovery at AbbVie and group senior VP and global head of BioTherapeutics Research & Development at Pfizer. Prior to his work at Pfizer, Gutiérrez-Ramos served as senior VP and head of the Immunoinflammation Center for Drug Discovery at GlaxoSmithKline.
4basebio: Gabe Longoria
Gabe Longoria has been appointed as chief commercial officer of 4basebio. He joins the Cambridge, UK-based synthetic DNA and nanoparticle delivery company from Astrea Bioseparations, where he was also chief commercial officer.
Centogene: Peter Bauer
Peter Bauer will resign as a member of Centogene's management board, effective June 30, 2025. According to the company, his resignation was not the result of any dispute with Centogene. Bauer joined the firm's management board in 2023 after serving as Centogene's chief medical officer since 2022 and in several other roles, including CSO and chief genomic officer, before that.
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.