NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – The New York Genome Center has named Carol Ashe its new chief business officer. She previously served as VP of corporate development for pharmaceutical firm Endo International, and prior to that was a partner at GlaxoSmithKline's venture capital fund, SR One. Ashe also led GSK's US corporate legal group, which supported M&A transactions and the business development legal transactions team.
She holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Pennsylvania State University and a law degree from the Villanova University School of Law.
Tim O'Brien has joined DNAnexus as VP of sales. He was previously with Oracle's Health Sciences Global Business Unit, where he led the Americas healthcare sales team. In the new post, he will be responsible for building and managing the DNAnexus sales organization and developing its market sales strategy.
At Oracle, O'Brien led sales of the company's Healthcare Analytics and Translational Research platform, which enables secondary use of clinical, research, administrative, and financial data. He also previously worked on commercial operations and sales management for InforMax, a provider of data management, gene expression, and genomic analysis solutions.
David Thiel has joined Lucigen as senior VP and CFO. Thiel most recently worked as an interim CFO consultant, and prior to that held financial positions at Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Psychiatric Genomics, and IGEN International.
Vermillion has named David Jansen its VP of marketing, a new position at the firm. Jansen joins Vermillion from Myriad Genetics, where he held senior marketing roles for the past seven years.
Vermillion also said that Chief Commercial Officer Marian Sacco will be leaving the company as part of a reorganization and restructuring. Sacco had joined the firm just last December.
GenMark Diagnostics has appointed James Fox as chairman of the board, the company said this week.
Fox has served on the company's board since September 2010. He participated in establishing Australian CRO firm Invetech, helping to transform the company into the Vision Systems Group and its in vitro diagnostics subsidiary Vision Biosystems, both of which were acquired by Danaher in 2006. He currently serves as chairman of the board of Biota Pharmaceuticals, a director of TTP Group, and a director of MS Research Australia.
Fox replaces Christopher Gleeson, who is retiring from the board to attend to personal health matters.
PDI announced that Heiner Dreismann has joined its board of directors. Dreismann is the former president and CEO of Roche Molecular Systems. He sits on the boards of several other firms including GeneNews, Stratos Genomics, Magellan Diagnostics, and Myriad Genetics, among others.
SQI Diagnostics has appointed Allan Pronovost to its board of directors. He will also act as a strategic advisor to Toronto-based SQI, assisting the company in its efforts to secure strategic partnerships and additional capital, SQI said.
Pronovost is currently the president and chief scientific officer of Red Lion Chem Tech, a San Diego-based consortium of health-related companies. He is also CEO of Stone Investments, an investment holding company. Pronovost held other top-level management positions at Quest Diagnostics, BioAlliances Group, and Quidel.
He replaces Peter Lea who has resigned from SQI's board. Lea, who founded SQI 15 years ago and invented its multiplex array technology, will continue as an active, non-voting senior advisor to the board, SQI said.
Signal Genetics said this week it has appointed Michael Cerio as senior VP of commercial strategy and business development.
Cerio recently was an independent consultant with the life science venture capital firm MPM Capital, and before that he was consulting CEO for Modulation Therapies, and president and CEO of Oncolome Diagnostics. He also led licensing, commercial strategy, and merger and acquisition teams within Genzyme's Genetics unit, and held senior roles at BG Medicine and Genaissance Pharmaceuticals.
Peter Hirth has joined Trovagene's scientific advisory board, the company said this week.
Hirth co-founded Plexxikon and served as its CEO until 2013. Prior to that, he was president of Sugen. He also was a vice president of research with Boehringer Mannheim and had served as a research scientist with the Max Planck Institute following the completion of his postdoctoral work at the University of California, San Diego.
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