US Food and Drug Administration: Jeff Shuren, Michelle Tarver
Jeff Shuren, director of the FDA's Center for Devices and Radiological Health (CDRH), said this week that he will leave the agency later this year. On July 28, he will move to the commissioner's office as center director emeritus, and Michelle Tarver, the current deputy center director for transformation, will become CDRH acting director. Shuren will officially leave the agency later this year.
Shuren joined the FDA in 1998 and has been CDRH director since 2009. Prior to 2009, he held a variety of policy and planning positions within the Office of the Commissioner.
Tarver joined the FDA in 2009 as a staff fellow in CDRH's Office of Surveillance and Biometrics. She was previously an assistant professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
Nashville Biosciences: Dan Benetz, Geoff Nilsen, Curt Allen, Wacey Richards
Nashville Biosciences (NashBio), a wholly owned subsidiary of Vanderbilt University Medical Center, has appointed Dan Benetz as CFO and Geoff Nilsen as VP and head of omics. The company has also promoted Curt Allen to VP of sales and Wacey Richards to VP of engineering.
Benetz has served as a partner at TechCXO. Previously he held CFO positions at Xsolis, The Tugboat Group, and NuGen Technologies, and other leadership positions at Affymetrix and Intel. He received a B.S. in mathematics/applied sciences from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Nilsen previously held various leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Illumina, Apton Biosystems, Invitae, Complete Genomics, and Perlegen Sciences. He holds a B.S. in biological sciences and symbolic systems from Stanford University.
Allen joined NashBio in 2022 as director of sales for imaging. He has previously served as director of international sales and business development at Subtle Medical; general manager of North America, magnetic resonance (MR), at Esaote; and MR regional director at GE Healthcare. He received an MBA from Southeastern Louisiana University and a B.S. from the University of Southern Mississippi.
Richards joined NashBio in 2022 as director of engineering, and previously held leadership positions at Swell, DeepSee, and Lingotek. He also founded IT services company Secure Cloud. He received a B.S. in cloud and systems administration from Western Governors University in Salt Lake City.
10x Genomics: Sarah Teichmann
10x Genomics has appointed Sarah Teichmann to its board of directors, with a term expiring in 2027.
Teichmann is chair of stem cell medicine at the University of Cambridge's Stem Cell Institute and Department of Medicine; VP for translational research, respiratory and immunology at Glaxo Smith Kline; and a cofounder, CSO, and board member of EnsoCell Therapeutics. From 2016 to 2023, she was head of cellular genetics at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where she was a member of the executive board. Teichmann cofounded the Human Cell Atlas and was co-chair of its organizing committee, as well as co-chair of the board of directors of the nonprofit organization that supported the HCA since April 2020. She holds a doctorate in computational genomics from the University of Cambridge.
Arima Genomics: Raees Ebrahim
Arima Genomics has appointed Raees Ebrahim as VP of sales, where he will be responsible for sales of the company's 3D genomics products. Ebrahim joins Arima from ChromaCode, where he was also VP of sales. He previously held senior leadership roles at Preferred Medicine, BioReference Laboratories, Sound Physicians, and Natera. He holds an MBA in finance from the University of Rochester and a B.S. from the University of California, Riverside.
Renew Biotechnologies: Steven Abbott
Renew Biotechnologies, a company specializing in next-generation sequencing-based diagnostics, has appointed Steven Abbott as chief operating officer. Abbott will head Renew subsidiary Wasatch BioLabs as it transitions from its current R&D phase into full-scale commercial operations. Abbott most recently served as VP of lab operations at Flagship Biosciences. He has also held leadership positions at Q² Solutions, including director of genomics business development and director of global genomics lab operations.
Exai Bio: Dave Daly
Exai Bio has appointed Dave Daly as CEO. Daly holds more than 30 years of cancer diagnostics and executive leadership experience. Most recently, Daly was president and chief operating officer at Singular Genomics. Prior to that, he was CEO at Thrive Earlier Detection (acquired by Exact Sciences). He has also served in key leadership roles at Illumina, Foundation Medicine, Life Technologies, and Clarient.
Seer: Elona Kogan
Seer said that Elona Kogan has resigned her position as chief legal officer and corporate secretary effective July 26.
For additional recent items on executive appointments, promotions, and departures in the omics and molecular diagnostics space, please see the People in the News page on our website.