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People in the News: New Appointments at Oncocyte, Ontera, Agilent, More

Oncocyte: Medical Advisory Board

Oncocyte said it has formed a new medical advisory board to advise the company on the development and clinical advancement of its portfolio of tests, including its immuno-oncology and blood-based monitoring tests.

Chairing the MAB is David Gandara, professor of medicine emeritus at the UC Davis School of Medicine. Gandara is a recognized authority in biomarker research and drug development in oncology, with extensive experience in translational research in lung cancer. Other board members include Daniel Hayes, professor at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center; Fred Hirsch, executive director at the Center of Thoracic Oncology in the Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai and professor of medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine; Heinz-Josef Lenz, co-leader of the gastrointestinal cancers program at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center; and Ignacio Wistuba, chair of the department of translational molecular pathology at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.


Ontera: Paul Marr, John Sperzel

Nanopore sensing and diagnostics company Ontera has appointed Paul Marr as its chief commercial officer and John Sperzel to its board of directors.

Marr has more than 22 years of in vitro diagnostics sales leadership experience that will be critical to the commercialization strategy for Ontera's NanoDetector device, the firm said. Prior to Ontera, he led the US laboratory sales team in providing high-throughput molecular diagnostic testing solutions at Hologic. Previously, he held various sales leadership roles at Beckman Coulter, Leica Biosystems, Siemens, and Ventana Medical Systems.

Sperzel, the president and CEO of T2 Biosystems, was previously president and CEO of Chembio Diagnostics. He was also president and CEO of ITC Medical and held executive leadership positions at Axis-Shield, Bayer Diagnostics, Instrumentation Laboratory, and Boehringer Mannheim.


Agilent: Katharine Knobil

Agilent has appointed Katharine Knobil as the firm's first chief medical officer. Prior to Agilent, Knobil served as CMO and head of research and development at Kaleido Biosciences. Knobil has also served in a variety of leadership positions at GlaxoSmithKline. She currently serves on the board of directors of Arena Pharmaceuticals.


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.