Foundation Medicine: Geoffrey Oxnard
Roche subsidiary Foundation Medicine announced Geoffrey Oxnard has been appointed vice president, global medical lead for the firm's liquid biopsy portfolio, effective immediately. In the role, he'll define research and a liquid biopsy-focused discovery roadmap while investigating novel applications of liquid biopsy approaches to improve cancer research and care.
Oxnard previously served as a thoracic oncologist and clinical investigator at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute at Harvard Medical School, and he'll continue seeing patients part-time at the institute. His recent research has focused on the clinical application of liquid biopsy technologies to understand drug resistance for selecting targeted therapies and detecting occult cancer.
Waters: Christopher O'Connell
Christopher O'Connell will step down as president, CEO, and a member of the board of directors of Waters, the firm announced this week. Waters said that it has hired an executive search firm to identify a new CEO and that O'Connell will serve as an advisor until the end of this year to support the transition. O'Connell has served as president and CEO of Waters for the past five years, succeeding the firm's long-time leader Doug Berthiaume. According to terms of O'Connell's separation agreement, he will receive a cash severance in the amount of $4,252,500, payable over a two-year period following termination of employment and a bonus for calendar year 2020 based on the company's performance.
T2 Biosystems: Thierry Bernard, Ninfa Saunders, Robin Toft
T2 Biosystems has appointed Thierry Bernard, Ninfa Saunders, and Robin Toft to its board of directors. Bernard currently serves as CEO of Qiagen, Saunders is president and CEO of Navicent Health, and Toft is founder and CEO of Toft Group and previously served as senior vice president of commercial operations at Roche Molecular Diagnostics. T2 Biosystems also announced that Michael Cima, Adrian Jones, and Stanley Lapidus will be leaving the firm's board of directors.
For additional 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.