Adaptive Biotechnologies has appointed Dean Schorno as its CFO. Schorno joins Adaptive after 13 years at Genomic Health where he held various leadership positions, including serving most recently as CFO.
With Schorno on its executive leadership team, Adaptive hopes to more smoothly transition from a life sciences research company to a firm commercializing clinical diagnostics, such as clonoSEQ, a test for measuring minimal residual disease in blood cancers. At Adaptive, Schorno will be in charge of the firm's financial infrastructure, as well as lead the management of its investor relations, human resources, and facilities.
The American College of Medical Genetics & Genomics has announced the election of four new directors to the board of its Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine. The four directors are James Bartley, director of the California Children's Services Metabolic Specialty Care Clinic at Miller Children's Hospital in Long Beach; Evan Jones, co-founder and CEO of Digene Corporation; Matthew Rabinowitz, founder and president of Natera; and David Whiteman, senior medical director and global clinical sciences leader at Shire Human Genetics Therapies.
Michael Hayden, president of global R&D and CSO of Teva Pharmaceuticals, has received the Personalized Medicine World Conference's 2014 Luminary Award. He is being recognized for his work in advancing genetics research.
Hayden is credited with developing the first genetic test for Huntington disease and for the discovery of several genes associated with rare illnesses. His work to elucidate biological disease pathways has increased researchers' understanding of illnesses and led to new treatments, such as Glybera, the first gene therapy with regulatory approval.
Previous recipients of PMWC's Luminary Award, include Lee Hood, co-inventor of the first DNA sequencers; George Church, co-developer of the Human Genome Project; Brian Druker, co-inventor of the leukemia drug Gleevec; Janet Woodcock, director of the Center for Drug Evaluation & Research at the US Food and Drug Administration; Kim Popovits, CEO of Genomic Health; and Jay Flatley, CEO of Illumina.