NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The White House has appointed two scientists, Amy Gutman and James Wagner, to lead the new Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues. Gutman, who is currently president of the University of Pennsylvania, will chair the commission, and Wagner, who is president of Emory University, will be the commission's vice chair.
The commission will advise the president on bioethical issues raised by new biomedical and technological advances and will identify and promote policies to ensure that research, health care delivery, and technological innovation are conducted ethically.
"I am confident that Amy and Jim will use their decades of experience in both ethics and science to guide the new Commission in this work, and I look forward to listening to their recommendations in the coming months and years," President Barack Obama said in a statement.
Joseph Zakrzewski has been appointed executive chairman of Amarin's board of directors, replacing current chairman Thomas Lynch, who will continue to serve as a member of the board. Zakrzewski was COO of Reliant Pharmaceuticals, VP of corporate business development of Eli Lilly, and he currently is CEO of Xcellerex.
Pathway Genomics has tapped Sidney Stolz to serve in the position of chief growth officer, in which he will focus on strategic expansion of Pathway's direct-to-consumer genetic testing services. Stolz formerly was executive VP of Healthcare Solutions, and he served as CEO of UnitedHealth Group's Global Consulting division.
Exagen Diagnostics has named Scott Glenn to be its CEO and chairman of the board of directors. Glenn was managing partner of Windamere Venture Partners, and he started a number of biomedical companies, including Prometheus Laboratories, Santarus, Dexcom, Somaxon Pharmaceutical, and others. Glenn also was president and CEO of Quidel Corporation and before that he was division general manager with Allergan Pharmaceuticals, and he was director and founder of Evoke Pharmaceuticals and Planet Biopharmaceuticals.
The Society for Biological Engineering has given its 2009 Service Award to Innovators in Genomic Research to Wei-Shou Hu, a professor at the University of Minnesota, and Miranda Yap, director of the Bioprocessing Technology Institute in Singapore.
They have served on the SBE's consortium to develop genomic information for the Chinese Hamster Ovary cell line. Hu's research at Minnesota has focused on genomics and stem cell technology, and Yap has founded two biopharmaceutical companies in Singapore.
ShanghaiBio has appointed Michael Lutz as its advisor for global corporate development activities. Lutz formerly was senior VP of pharmacogenetics at Clinical Data's PGxHealth division and he was global general manager for the firm's Cogenics division.
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