NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – David Goldstein will join Columbia University as director of a new Institute for Genomic Medicine, which will be a partnership with New York-Presbyterian, and as a professor of genetics and development in the College of Physicians and Surgeons at the beginning of 2015, Columbia said this week.
He will be responsible for building a program that integrates genetics and genomics into research, patient care, and education at Columbia University Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian, and developing programs to prepare students for careers in genomics and personalized medicine. Goldstein also will have a faculty appointment at the New York Genome Center and an appointment in neurology at Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons.
Goldstein joins Columbia from Duke University, where he has been director of the Center for Human Genome Variation and a professor with appointments in molecular genetics and microbiology. His research has focused on identifying relationships between human genetic variations and a range of diseases.
DNA Electronics said this week it has finalized its leadership team with the appointments of Kevin Stearn as operational director and David Edington as VP of R&D. The company is developing and plans to commercialize its semiconductor DNA sequencing technology, which will be aimed at the infectious disease diagnostics market.
Stearn has held a range of senior operational and commercial roles in the diagnostics sector, including as business development director for KICTeam, and as managing director for Alere's UK and Chinese pregnancy test production facilities and for Diomed.
Edington spent 12 years leading development and commercialization of medical devices at PA Consulting Group's labs, and he was a founding member of the point-of-care diagnostics firm Exacsys, a spinout of PA Consulting Group.
RainDance Technologies has named Frederick Eibel as senior vice president of strategic marketing. He most recently served as head of genetic analysis commercial operations at Agena Bioscience, which was previously the genetic analysis division of Sequenom. Prior to his time at Sequenom, he held similar leadership positions at Gen-Probe, Life Technologies, and Roche Diagnostics. He also serves on the board of directors of MolecularMD.
Exagen Diagnostics has appointed Frank Witney and John Radak as independent directors, effective Sept. 18. Witney is president and CEO of Affymetrix and Radak is CFO of the biotech product development firm ArborGen. Simultaneously, Exagen also announced that Samuel Riccitelli and Michael Walsh will no longer serve on its board.
Genetic Technologies has named David Carter and Lindsay Wakefield non-executive directors.
Carter is a corporate lawyer and adviser, and currently is a director of Thorn Group Limited, Glutagen, and In:Capital.
Wakefield started Safetech and served as its CEO until it became STS (Safetech Tieman Solutions), a manufacturer and supplier of dock equipment, freight hoists, and custom lifting solutions. He also has been a biotech investor for 20 years.
Codexis has appointed Kathleen Glaub to its board of directors. She recently was named CEO of Afferent Pharmaceuticals, and she has 30 years of experience in leadership positions with drug development and technology firms.
Before joining Afferent, Glaub was president of Plexxicon, where she co-led the company for 12 years and oversaw its sale to Daiichi Sankyo in 2011. She also formerly was CFO for Cell Genesys, treasurer at Genentech, and she held various financial and treasury posts at Intel.
Biodesix said this week it has added Richard Hockett and Jasmine Gruia-Gray to its leadership team.
Hockett will serve as chief medical officer, and will oversee regulatory, medical, and clinical strategy. He formerly was CMO at CombiMatrix and before that was at Affymetrix, and he developed Eli Lilly's pharmacogenomic program.
Gruia-Gray was appointed VP of strategic marketing. She previously held marketing leadership jobs at Affymetrix and Thermo Fisher Scientific, and she helped develop the proteomics portfolio at GE Healthcare? (formerly Amersham Biosciences). She also spent five years as a post-doctoral fellow at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
DiaDexus said this week that Kenneth Fang will join the company as chief medical officer and that Michael Richey will leave his post as chief business officer as of Sept. 30.
Fang has more than 25 years of experience as a physician scientist with experience in biomarker discovery and applications for diagnostic development. Previously, he was CMO at Integrated Diagnostics, where he headed a range of clinical development and operations activities, and he was responsible for clinical development at XDx, where he supported the commercial launch and reimbursement-related activities for the AlloMap molecular diagnostic test.
DiaDexus said it has begun a search for a chief commercial officer to replace Richey. Paul Manners, who previously was VP of global finance and marketing at Novartis Diagnostics, will oversee the firm's commercial operations until the CCO role is filled.
Silicon Biosystems has appointed Farideh Bischoff executive director of scientific affairs. In the role, she will be responsible for all scientific collaborations and helping to define and drive the company's clinical strategy.
Bischoff formerly was VP of translational research and clinical development at BioCept, where she was responsible for overseeing clinical studies, assay development, and academic collaborations.
Pathway Genomics has tapped Jennifer Skeen to serve as VP of clinical operations. Skeen recently was the laboratory director at Asuragen, and she has more than 20 years of experience in the diagnostics and biotech industries in the US and abroad.
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