CARLSBAD, Calif., Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Genoptix, Inc. , a specialized laboratory services provider, announced the election of Karin Eastham and Laurence R. McCarthy, Ph.D. to its Board of Directors, effective as of July 30, 2008. Ms. Eastham has been elected to serve as a Class I director of Genoptix until the 2011 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and will also serve on the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors. Dr. McCarthy has been elected to serve as a Class II director of Genoptix until the 2009 Annual Meeting of Stockholders and will also serve on the Compliance Committee of the Board of Directors.
"We look forward to the contributions of Ms. Eastham and Dr. McCarthy as members of the Genoptix Board of Directors. Each bring their individual expertise in their fields and personal style of leadership, adding diversity of opinion and further strengthening the leadership of the company as we move forward," said Dr. Tina Nova Bennett, president and CEO of Genoptix.
Karin Eastham has served as the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and Trustee for the Burnham Institute for Medical Research since 2004. Prior to this, Ms. Eastham was the Senior Vice President of Finance and the Chief Financial Officer for Diversa Corporation. She has also served in similar senior level management roles at Combichem, Inc., Cytel Corporation and Boehringer Mannheim Diagnostics. She currently serves on the Boards of Directors for multiple life science companies including Illumina, Inc., and Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. She also serves on the boards of Tercica, Inc. and SGX Pharmaceuticals, Inc., which have entered into definitive merger agreements pursuant to which such companies will be acquired by Ipsen, S.A. and Eli Lilly and Company, respectively, subject to various conditions including stockholder approval. Ms. Eastham earned her MBA in Finance and B.S. in Accounting from Indiana University and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants. Ms. Eastham is also a Certified Director.
Laurence R. McCarthy, Ph.D., is a Venture Partner with Ampersand Ventures and President of Scientific Technologies and Solutions, LLC. Dr. McCarthy was President, CEO, Chairman and CTO of Focus Diagnostics and later served as its CTO following the company's acquisition by Quest Diagnostics. Prior to this, he was President for the U.S. Diagnostics Division of Boehringer Mannheim and Vice President and General Manager and Vice President R&D for Becton Dickinson & Co. Dr. McCarthy's academic experience includes faculty positions at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, and Cornell University School of Medicine, as well as serving as a Laboratory Director at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and at the North Carolina Memorial Hospital. Dr. McCarthy received his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire and his B.S. in Biology from St. Anselm College.
These additions bring the total number of members serving on the Genoptix, Inc. board to nine. They join Genoptix, Inc. president and CEO Tina Nova Bennett, Ph.D., board chairman Andrew Senyei, M.D., Robert Curry, Ph.D., Timothy Buono, Michael Henos, Arda Minocherhomjee, Ph.D., and Thomas Waltz, M.D.
About Genoptix, Inc.
Genoptix is a specialized laboratory service provider focused on delivering personalized and comprehensive diagnostic services to community- based hematologists and oncologists. Genoptix is headquartered in Carlsbad, California.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those set forth in the forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected. Genoptix disclaims, however, any intent or obligations to update these forward-looking statements.
