NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – David Rimoin, director of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Genetics Institute, has died from pancreatic cancer at the age of 75. For 18 years prior to founding the Medical Genetics Institute in 2004, Rimoin served as chair of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Pediatrics. He also previously served as chief of the Division of Medical Genetics at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center and was director of the Genetics Clinic at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
From 1979 to 1983, Rimoin served as founding president of the American Board of Medical Genetics. He was founding president of the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics from 1992 to 1998, and then served as president of the ACMG Foundation for Genetic and Genomic Medicine from 1998 to 2002. Additionally, he was a member of the Institute of Medicine, a master in the American College of Physicians and an Honorary Life member of Little People of America.
CLC Bio said this week that it has appointed Richard Lussier as director of business for the Americas region. He has worked in life sciences sales and commercial operations, most recently as VP of worldwide sales at RainDance Technologies. He formerly held leadership positions in sales, service, and support at Solexa, Fluidigm, Applied Biosystems, and Celera Genomics.
NanoString said this week that it has hired Bruce Seeley to lead a new diagnostics business unit. In his position as senior vice president and general manager of diagnostics, Seeley will oversee the marketing of NanoString's breast cancer test to pathologists and oncologists. Seeley previously was executive VP of Seattle Genetics' commercial operations, he was senior director of marketing at Genentech, and he worked at Aventis Pharma as senior director of new product commercialization and marketing. He also held sales and marketing titles at Rhone-Poulenc Rorer and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Nanosphere's shareholders this week re-elected six nominees to continue serving on the company's board of directors, including William Moffitt; Mark Slezak; André de Bruin; Chad Mirkin; Lorin Randall; and William White.
David Altshuler has been appointed to the board of directors at Vertex Pharmaceuticals. He is a professor of genetics and medicine at Harvard Medical School, where he has served on the faculty since 2000. He is also a founding member of the Broad Institute and is on the faculty of Massachusetts General Hospital in its Department of Molecular Biology, the Diabetes Unit of the Department of Medicine, and the Center for Human Genetic Research.
Response Genetics said in a recent SEC filing that VP and General Counsel Denise McNairn will resign from her positions at the company as of June 8.
Biomarker developer Critical Diagnostics has hired Richard Hughes to be VP of business development in Europe, a post he will operate out of Bristol, England. Hughes has spent over 15 years working in medical diagnostics, including terms at Alere, British Biocell, Oxford Immunotech, and Microvisk.
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