Catherine Friedman, Alex Aravanis
Grail has appointed Catherine Friedman as chair of the firm's board of directors. Friedman succeeds Bill Rastetter, who will continue to serve as a director of the firm's board. Friedman joined the board in July 2017. She has also held numerous executive positions during her investment banking career with Morgan Stanley, including as managing director and head of West Coast healthcare, and co-head of the biotechnology practice. Friedman is also a board member at Altaba, Radius Health, and Lyell Immunopharma.
Grail has also appointed Alex Aravanis as CSO and head of R&D. Aravanis is a cofounder of Grail. Prior to being CSO, Aravanis served as VP of research and development. He previously served as senior director of R&D for Illumina. In addition, Aravanis served as VP of development and CSO of Sapphire Energy and was a cofounder and VP of engineering of Pria Diagnostics.
Daniel O'Day, William Anderson
Daniel O'Day will leave his post as CEO and corporate executive committee member of Roche Pharmaceuticals at the end of December to become CEO and board chairman of Gilead Sciences, effective March 1, 2019.
In the interim period, he will provide support to Roche to ensure a smooth transition to his successor, William Anderson, who will become CEO of Roche Pharmaceuticals effective Jan. 1, 2019. Anderson currently serves as CEO of Roche-owned Genentech, which he joined in 2006. In previous roles, he led Genentech's immunology business unit, headed oncology sales and marketing, and led global product strategy.
Prahlad Singh
Prahlad Singh has been appointed president and chief operating officer of PerkinElmer, effective Jan. 1, 2019. Singh will be responsible for the Discovery and analytical solutions and the diagnostics operating divisions. He joined PerkinElmer in 2014 as president of the diagnostics business, was elected as an officer in 2016 and executive vice president in 2016. Prior to joining the firm, Singh served as general manager of GE Healthcare's women's health business. He has also held senior executive level positions in strategy, business development, and M&A at GE and at Philips Healthcare.
For more recent items on executive appointments and promotions in the omics and molecular diagnostics industries, please see the People in the News page on our website.