who we are
We Are Defining the Future of Early Cancer Detection
Our seasoned scientists and industry leaders have unparalleled experience in the fields of DNA mutation detection and genomics.
We have innovated technologies adopted by renowned companies: Roche, Abbott Labs, ThermoFisher and Quest. At AcuamarkDX, we are shaping a new future in cancer diagnostics and making early cancer detection a standard of primary care.
Our Team
Advisory Team
Paul Brooke
Commercial Advisor
Managing Member of PMSV Holdings, a biotech, ESG and real estate investment firm. Executive Chairman of Caelum Bio, a pharmaceutical company focused on AL Amyloidosis. Board Member of Manning and Napier Mutual Funds, Cerus Endovascular and Pure Earth. Previously: Board of WebMD, Incyte, Viropharma and other public and private companies. Co-Founder and Managing Partner of venBio, a life sciences investment firm. Partner at Morgan Stanley, where he was Global Head of Health Care Research and Strategy. Managing Director at Tiger Management where he was responsible for health care investing, and Venture Partner at MPM Capital, a healthcare VC investor. As Chairman and CEO of Ithaka Acquisition Corp in 2008, he structured purchase of Alsius Corp and successfully sold its assets to Zoll Medical.
Haywood D. Cochrane
Commercial Advisor
Mr. Cochrane is the Chair of UNC’s Board of Trustees. Previously, Mr. Cochrane was CEO at CHD Meridian Corp (Walgreens), at Allied Clinical Labs and at Take Care Employer Solutions; EVP/CFO of LabCorp, COO at Biomedical Reference Labs, SVP North America Diagnostics and COO at Roche Biomedical Labs; Director at Tripath, American Esoteric Labs, Sonus Corp, Ameripath, Unilab.
J. William Efcavitch, PhD
Technology Advisor
Technology Officer (Consulting) Ohio University in 1978; Postdoctoral fellow University of Colorado, Boulder; Sr. Director R&D, Applied Biosystems Inc.; SVP Product Development & CTO, Helicos BioSciences Corp.; SVP R&D, Affymetrix; Independent Consultant.
Olivier Elemento, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Director of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine (EIPM), he is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine, Associate Director of the Institute for Computational Medicine, Director of the Laboratory of Cancer Systems Biology, Co-Leader of the Genetics, Epigenetics, and Systems Biology Program in the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, Assistant Dean for Scientific Computing and Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
Kerry J. Flom, PhD
Commercial Advisor
Previously, Dr. Flom was EVP and Chief Regulatory Officer at Cepheid (acquired by Danaher NYSE:DHR) where he had worldwide responsibility for development, implementation and management of Cepheid’s clinical and regulatory programs. Earlier, he served as Sr. Director, Clinical Affairs and Regulatory Submissions at Abbott Molecular Diagnostics, at Baxter as Director of Clinical Affairs, at Oncor and at Boehringer Mannheim. Throughout his career, Dr. Flom has led for over 30 products through regulatory filings and registration in the US and numerous international product registrations.
Paolo Fortina, MD PhD
Clinical Advisor
Professor of Cancer Biology and Medical Oncology at the Jefferson Medical College. Director of the NCI-funded and CLIA-certified Cancer Genomics Laboratory at the Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University.
David Gelfand, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Inventor of the real-time PCR (or “qPCR”) or "TaqMan" Assay. Previously, Vice President, Discovery Research Division and Director for the Program in Core Research at Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. CSO of WaferGen BioSystems, Inc., and currently, a consultant at the Centre National de Génotypage in France.
Howard Johnson, MBA
Commercial Advisor
Mr. Johnson is Chief Business Officer at Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA), an oncology company focused on developing innovative T cell therapies for solid tumors. Howard is a senior entrepreneurial executive with thirty-years of experience in operations, finance, business development, and investor relations at biotechnology companies. A founding investor and initial Board Member of Acorda Therapeutics.
Larry J. Kricka, PhD
Clinical Advisor
Emeritus Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Director of the General Chemistry and Critical Care Laboratory at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Steven M. Lipkin, MD PhD
Clinical Advisor
Professor - Weill Cornell Medicine. University of California San Diego in 1995, Board Certified. Internal Medicine Duke University, Board Certified. Clinical Genetics National Human Genome Research Institute, Recognized authority on colorectal cancer genetics.
Christopher Mason, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Associate Professor Computational Genomics in Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine Institute for Computational Biomedicine with appointments at Department of Physiology,Biophysics and System Biology,, Meyer Cancer Center, Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute. Director, WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction and WorldQuant Foundation Research Scholar. Affiliate Fellow of Genomics, Ethics, and Law, ISP, Yale Law School.
Mark Pochapin, MD
Clinical Advisor
Sholtz/Leeds Professor] of Gastroenterology, , Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs, Department of Medicne, Director, division of gastro-enterology & hepatology, Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Advanced gastrointestinal endoscopy, and the prevention, early detection, and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.
Joseph Smith, Esq
Commercial Advisor
Previously, Executive VP BD and General Counsel of Cepheid (now Danaher), Sr. VP BD at Applied Biosystems (ABI), VP Intellectual Property at ABI and PE Biosystems (Perkin-Elmer). Responsible for building and designing ABI's IP acquisition strategy, expanding its IP estate in fields such as PCR thermal cyclers, PCR reagents and DNA sequencing.
Steven A. Soper, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Professor - The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Professor - Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology. The University of Kansas in 1989. Post-doc Los Alamos National Laboratory. Development of ultrasensitive detection methodologies and rare cell analysis tools for biological discovery.
Eugene Spier, PhD
Technology Advisor
Latvian Academy of Sciences in 1989, Postdoctoral fellow, Stanford University School of Medicine. Senior Director roles at Life Technologies and Fluidigm. Lead bioinformatics pipeline for Taqman assays, Applied Biosystems. Founded UniTaq Bio to commercialize novel methods for highly multiplexed qPCR for diagnostics.
David Weavil, CPA
Commercial Advisor
Previously, founder, CEO and President of Solstas Lab Partners (sold to Quest). Prior to that, CEO of Specialty Laboratories (sold to Quest), Chairman and CEO Unilab Corporation; Earlier, helped build Biomedical Reference Labs into Roche Biomedical Labs, which merged with National Health Labs to form LabCorp.
Paolo Fortina, MD PhD
Clinical Advisor
Professor of Cancer Biology and Medical Oncology at the Jefferson Medical College. Director of the NCI-funded and CLIA-certified Cancer Genomics Laboratory at the Kimmel Cancer Center, Thomas Jefferson University.
Larry J. Kricka, PhD
Clinical Advisor
Emeritus Professor of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. Previously, Director of the General Chemistry and Critical Care Laboratory at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.
Steven M. Lipkin, MD PhD
Clinical Advisor
Professor - Weill Cornell Medicine. University of California San Diego in 1995, Board Certified. Internal Medicine Duke University, Board Certified. Clinical Genetics National Human Genome Research Institute, Recognized authority on colorectal cancer genetics.
Kenneth Offit, MD
Clinical Advisor
Professor - Weill Cornell Medicine. University of California San Diego in 1995, Board Certified. Internal Medicine Duke University, Board Certified. Clinical Genetics National Human Genome Research Institute, Recognized authority on colorectal cancer genetics..
Mark Pochapin, MD
Clinical Advisor
Sholtz/Leeds Professor] of Gastroenterology, , Vice Chair of Clinical Affairs, Department of Medicne, Director, division of gastro-enterology & hepatology, Department of Medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine. Advanced gastrointestinal endoscopy, and the prevention, early detection, and treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.
Paul Brooke
Commercial Advisor
Managing Member of PMSV Holdings, a biotech, ESG and real estate investment firm. Executive Chairman of Caelum Bio, a pharmaceutical company focused on AL Amyloidosis. Board Member of Manning and Napier Mutual Funds, Cerus Endovascular and Pure Earth. Previously: Board of WebMD, Incyte, Viropharma and other public and private companies. Co-Founder and Managing Partner of venBio, a life sciences investment firm. Partner at Morgan Stanley, where he was Global Head of Health Care Research and Strategy. Managing Director at Tiger Management where he was responsible for health care investing, and Venture Partner at MPM Capital, a healthcare VC investor. As Chairman and CEO of Ithaka Acquisition Corp in 2008, he structured purchase of Alsius Corp and successfully sold its assets to Zoll Medical.
Haywood D. Cochrane
Commercial Advisor
Mr. Cochrane is the Chair of UNC’s Board of Trustees. Previously, Mr. Cochrane was CEO at CHD Meridian Corp (Walgreens), at Allied Clinical Labs and at Take Care Employer Solutions; EVP/CFO of LabCorp, COO at Biomedical Reference Labs, SVP North America Diagnostics and COO at Roche Biomedical Labs; Director at Tripath, American Esoteric Labs, Sonus Corp, Ameripath, Unilab.
Kerry J. Flom, PhD
Commercial Advisor
Previously, Dr. Flom was EVP and Chief Regulatory Officer at Cepheid (acquired by Danaher NYSE:DHR) where he had worldwide responsibility for development, implementation and management of Cepheid’s clinical and regulatory programs. Earlier, he served as Sr. Director, Clinical Affairs and Regulatory Submissions at Abbott Molecular Diagnostics, at Baxter as Director of Clinical Affairs, at Oncor and at Boehringer Mannheim. Throughout his career, Dr. Flom has led for over 30 products through regulatory filings and registration in the US and numerous international product registrations.
Howard Johnson, MBA
Commercial Advisor
Mr. Johnson is Chief Business Officer at Iovance Biotherapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:IOVA), an oncology company focused on developing innovative T cell therapies for solid tumors. Howard is a senior entrepreneurial executive with thirty-years of experience in operations, finance, business development, and investor relations at biotechnology companies. A founding investor and initial Board Member of Acorda Therapeutics.
Joseph Smith, Esq
Commercial Advisor
Previously, Executive VP BD and General Counsel of Cepheid (now Danaher), Sr. VP BD at Applied Biosystems (ABI), VP Intellectual Property at ABI and PE Biosystems (Perkin-Elmer). Responsible for building and designing ABI's IP acquisition strategy, expanding its IP estate in fields such as PCR thermal cyclers, PCR reagents and DNA sequencing.
David Weavil, CPA
Commercial Advisor
Previously, founder, CEO and President of Solstas Lab Partners (sold to Quest). Prior to that, CEO of Specialty Laboratories (sold to Quest), Chairman and CEO Unilab Corporation; Earlier, helped build Biomedical Reference Labs into Roche Biomedical Labs, which merged with National Health Labs to form LabCorp.
Olivier Elemento, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Director of the Englander Institute for Precision Medicine (EIPM), he is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine, Associate Director of the Institute for Computational Medicine, Director of the Laboratory of Cancer Systems Biology, Co-Leader of the Genetics, Epigenetics, and Systems Biology Program in the Meyer Cancer Center at Weill Cornell Medicine, Assistant Dean for Scientific Computing and Associate Professor in the Department of Physiology and Biophysics.
David Gelfand, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Inventor of the real-time PCR (or “qPCR”) or "TaqMan" Assay. Previously, Vice President, Discovery Research Division and Director for the Program in Core Research at Roche Molecular Systems, Inc. CSO of WaferGen BioSystems, Inc., and currently, a consultant at the Centre National de Génotypage in France.
Christopher Mason, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Associate Professor Computational Genomics in Computational Biomedicine at Weill Cornell Medicine Institute for Computational Biomedicine with appointments at Department of Physiology,Biophysics and System Biology,, Meyer Cancer Center, Feil Family Brain and Mind Research Institute. Director, WorldQuant Initiative for Quantitative Prediction and WorldQuant Foundation Research Scholar. Affiliate Fellow of Genomics, Ethics, and Law, ISP, Yale Law School.
Steven A. Soper, PhD
Scientific Advisor
Professor - The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Professor - Ulsan National Institute of Science & Technology. The University of Kansas in 1989. Post-doc Los Alamos National Laboratory. Development of ultrasensitive detection methodologies and rare cell analysis tools for biological discovery.
J. William Efcavitch, PhD
Technology Advisor
Technology Officer (Consulting) Ohio University in 1978; Postdoctoral fellow University of Colorado, Boulder; Sr. Director R&D, Applied Biosystems Inc.; SVP Product Development & CTO, Helicos BioSciences Corp.; SVP R&D, Affymetrix; Independent Consultant.
Eugene Spier, PhD
Technology Advisor
Latvian Academy of Sciences in 1989, Postdoctoral fellow, Stanford University School of Medicine. Senior Director roles at Life Technologies and Fluidigm. Lead bioinformatics pipeline for Taqman assays, Applied Biosystems. Founded UniTaq Bio to commercialize novel methods for highly multiplexed qPCR for diagnostics.
Board of Directors
William Gedale, JD MBA
Executive Chairman
Giulia Kennedy, PhD
Board Member
Claudio Del Vecchio, PhD
Board Member
Cedric Francois, MD, PhD
Board Member
Bernard Peperstraete, MD, MBA
President/CEO
Vanja Vuletic, MD, MBA
Board Member
