At COO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United States based COO’ operating in the Genetics space. If you think a COO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Tomer Jackman
Co-founder and COO of Variantyx
Tomer serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Variantyx and is responsible for delivering services to customers. This includes day-to-day operations such as supply chain management, customer care, and above all, productivity. Prior to co-founding Variantyx, Tomer was responsible for hardware development operations in Pivotal/Greenplum division of EMC2 where he helped develop server clusters for “Massive Parallel Processing” databases. This followed a decade with EMC2 in several hardware engineering roles, and work in R&D with HP/Indigo. He holds a high-tech MBA from Northeastern University in Boston, and a BSc in Electrical Engineering from Tel-Aviv University.
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About Variantyx: Variantyx offers a comprehensive set of advanced genomic diagnostic products and services with a focus on whole genome sequencing.
Jason Cole
Chief Operating and Legal Officer of Bluebird Bio
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About Bluebird Bio: Bluebird Bio offers products based on the transformative potential of gene therapy for patients with genetic and orphan diseases.
Guy Snir
Co-Founder & COO of Clear Genetics
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About Clear Genetics, Invitae: Clear Genetics is a digital health company dedicated to the thoughtful integration of genetics into routine patient care.
Pad (Padmanabh) Chivukula
Founder, CSO & COO of Arcturus Therapeutics
Padmanabh (Pad) Chivukula Ph.D., is Founder, Chief Scientific Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Director of Arcturus Therapeutics. He is responsible for Arcturus’ research and development activities, including clinical and non-clinical development and regulatory affairs for all of Arcturus drug products. Dr. Chivukula has an exceptional and technically solid foundation in nanoparticle technology. Prior to Arcturus, from 2008 until February 2013, Dr. Chivukula was employed by Nitto Denko Technical Corporation, a pharmaceutical company, where his titles included Group Leader and Chief Scientist. Dr. Chivukula brings over 15 years of experience in drug delivery and therapeutic drug development, including leading the polymeric RNAi research department at Nitto Denko.
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About Arcturus Therapeutics: Arcturus Therapeutics focuses on developing novel RNA therapeutics for the treatment of various diseases aiming at Rare Diseases.
Nico Anthony
Chief Operating Officer of ADM Labs
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About ADM Labs: ADM Labs’ specific focus is on extraction, manufacturing/processing and wholesale of extract-based products from industrial hemp & CBD.
Frank Thomas
President & Chief Operating Officer of Orchard Therapeutics
Frank brings nearly 20 years of experience in the biopharmaceutical industry as an accomplished financial and business executive. Frank has a background developing and executing capital markets strategies for private and public companies as well as experience in operations management, and corporate and business development. Until recently Frank served as president and chief operating officer of AMAG Pharmaceuticals where he helped develop the business from a single product company in 2011 to one with a portfolio of commercial and development-stage products that generated more than $600 million in sales in 2017. During that time, Frank raised more than $1.8 billion in new capital to support the significant growth of AMAG. Before joining AMAG, he served as chief operating officer and chief financial officer for Molecular Biometrics, Inc. Earlier in his career, Frank also served as chief financial officer for Critical Therapeutics and Esperion Therapeutics. Each completed its initial public offering in the United States during his tenure. Frank currently serves on the board of directors of Zafgen (Nasdaq: ZFGN) and Spero Therapeutics (Nasdaq: SPRO). Frank received a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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About Orchard Therapeutics: Orchard Therapeutics is a biotechnology company dedicated to transforming the lives of patients through innovative gene therapies.
Qingsong Zhu
COO of Insilico Medicine
Qingsong Zhu, Ph.D. is the Chief Operating Officer of Insilico Medicine, Inc., a company that utilizes advances in genomics, big data analysis, and deep learning for in silico drug discovery and biomarker development for aging and age-related diseases. Dr. Zhu received his Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Kansas State University. Prior to joining Insilico Medicine, he had his postdoctoral training at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
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About Insilico Medicine: Insilico Medicine develops an AI platform for drug development to treat cancer and age-related diseases.
Nathan Dowden
Chief Operating Officer of Entrada Therapeutics
Nathan Dowden is the Chief Operating Officer at Entrada Therapeutics.
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About Entrada Therapeutics: Entrada Therapeutics is a developer of novel therapeutics intended to treat devastating diseases.
Greg Williams
Chief Operating Officer of Eloxx
Gregory Williams has served as our Chief Operating Officer since June 2018. Gregory Williams has over 30 years of pharmaceutical and biotechnology experience leading regulatory affairs, compliance, quality, manufacturing, commercial and product development programs. Gregory Williams is an accomplished scientist and seasoned pharmaceutical executive with a solid track record of successful achievement of business, medical, scientific and regulatory goals. His focus is on driving innovation to improve patient care by developing and commercializing new products to address unmet patient and health system needs. While at The Medicines Company, Gregory Williams led development and successful approval of the antihypertensive drug, Cleviprex®. Gregory Williams also worked on the orphan drug programs at NPS Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Most recently, while at Radius Health, Inc., Gregory Williams led the successful first cycle approval by the FDA of TYMLOS™. Gregory Williams brings established relationships with global health authority reviewers, having led the development and/or initial and expanded approvals of several global brands, as well as expertise across a wide range of therapeutic categories, molecule types, dosage forms and technologies. Gregory Williams holds a Ph.D. in Biopharmaceutics from Rutgers University and an M.B.A. from Cornell University.
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About Eloxx: Eloxx Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing novel RNA-modulating drug candidates.
David Doyle
Co-Founder and COO of DNA SEQ
David is a Co-Founder of a Los Angeles based technology group developing proprietary IP in three areas of digital technology that were designed to increase the efficiencies of the server side hardware infrastructure, enrich the user experience through client side software, and enhance search methodologies by implementing cognitive resources to the management of data.
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About DNA SEQ: DNA SEQ offers reports that match a patient’s genomic profile to targeted therapies using crystallography-based filtering methodology.
Michon Pinnix
Chief Operating Officer of Chimera Bioengineering
Michon Pinnix is the Chief Operating Officer at Chimera Bioengineering.
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About Chief, Chimera Bioengineering: Chimera solves the challenges of CARs with drug-responsive gene regulators, which allow us to re-program of the immune system.
Michael McElhaugh
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Arbutus Biopharma
Mr. Michael J. McElhaugh, also known as Mike, co-founded Arbutus Biopharma Inc. in 2012 and serves as its Chief Operating Officer. Mr. McElhaugh has over 15 years of combined scientific and business experience. Prior to co-founding OnCore Biopharma, Inc., he was most recently Director of Hepatitis C Worldwide Commercialization at Bristol Myers Squibb where he was responsible for global hepatitis C commercialization. Prior to Bristol Myers Squibb, he was Director, Business Development and Market Analytics at Pharmasset, Inc., where he was an integral contributor to corporate strategy, strategic marketing and business development efforts. He played a key role in the sale of Pharmasset to Gilead Sciences, leading all diligence efforts and commercial analyses. Prior to joining Pharmasset, he held roles of increasing responsibility in Market Research at Viropharma, Inc., and at Merck and Co, Inc. and Thomas Jefferson University as a bench scientist. He holds a B.S. in Psychology from the Saint Joseph’s University, a M.S. in Microbiology from Thomas Jefferson University and an MBA from Cornell University.
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About Arbutus Biopharma: Arbutus Biopharma Corporation is a publicly-traded biopharmaceutical company.
Josh Stahl
COO & CSO of ArcherDX
Joshua Stahl is the Chief Scientific Officer and GM at ArcherDX.
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About ArcherDX: ArcherDX is a biotechnology firm specializing in cancer research.
G. Bradley Cole
COO of Genomic Health
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About Genomic Health: Genomic Health is a provider of genomic-based diagnostic tests that address overtreatment and optimal treatment of early-stage cancer.
Neeraj Rao
Co-Founder & COO of Insitome
Neeraj has over seventeen years of experience in the biotechnology and healthcare industry. He has held business development roles at life science companies including Illumina, Luminex, RainTree Oncology (acquired by Cardinal Health), and Insight Genetics. At Illumina, he was on the founding team that developed and launched BaseSpace, the first cloud based app-store for next generation sequencing research. He also helped develop Illumina’s first direct-to-consumer whole genome sequencing offering. Neeraj previously held a variety of biotech R&D roles at ag-bio, drug discovery, and oncology diagnostic companies. He graduated with a B.S. in Biochemistry from UC San Diego and received his MBA from the Vanderbilt Owen Graduate School of Management. He lives in Austin, Texas, where he is co-founder and COO of consumer genomics startup Insitome.
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About Insitome: Insitome uncovers your personal genomic story.
David Howton
Chief Operating Officer & General Counsel of AavantiBio
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About AavantiBio: AavantiBio is a biopharmaceutical company that provides gene transfer and gene editing therapies to treat genetic diseases.
Dave Messina
Chief Operating Officer of Cofactor Genomics
Dr. David Messina has spent the last 20 years in computational biology and genetics. He worked on the Human Genome Project at Washington University in Saint Louis, mapped disease genes at the University of Chicago, and co-developed the first comprehensive atlas of human transcription factor genes. As COO of Cofactor Genomics, Dr. Messina is pioneering the use of RNA-based diagnostics, enabling personalized treatment for patients.
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About Cofactor Genomics, Pioneer Fund: Cofactor Genomics builds multidimensional models of disease to deliver true precision medicine.
William F. Schreck
COO of Lannett Company
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About Lannett Company: Lannett develops, manufactures, and distributes generic prescription pharmaceutical products in tablet.
Alexander Schuth
COO & Head of Corporate Development of Denali Therapeutics
Alexander Schuth is the COO at Denali Therapeutics
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About Denali Therapeutics: Denali Therapeutics is dedicated to defeating neurodegenerative diseases to deliver safe and effective medicines to patients and families.
Mark Hazeltine
Chief Operating Officer of Exagen
Mark Hazeltine has served as our Chief Operating Officer since March 2021 and served in multiple key leadership roles including General Manager, Senior Vice President of Finance and Corporate Development, VP of Finance, and Sr. Director of Financial Planning & Analysis since 2015. Prior to joining Exagen, Mr. Hazeltine served as Director of Financial Planning and Analysis and Director of Financial Business Processes at CareFusion, a medical technology corporation. Mr. Hazeltine also worked in multiple management roles at multinational organizations including Kyocera and Qualcomm. Mr. Hazeltine received his Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of San Diego and Master of Business Administration degree from the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California.
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About Exagen: Exagen is a patient focused, discovery-driven life science company serving patients affected by autoimmune rheumatic diseases.
Laurie Huard
Chief Operating Officer of Clinical Genomics Technologies
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About Clinical Genomics Technologies: Clinical Genomics develops innovative products for colorectal cancer diagnosis.
Michael Fero
President and COO of TeselaGen
Michael Fero is the Founder and President at TeselaGen Biotechnology.
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About TeselaGen: TeselaGen Biotechnology develops DNA design and assembly tools for biology.
Vaughn Ostland
VP/COO of Intrinsic LifeSciences
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About Intrinsic LifeSciences: Intrinsic LifeSciences LLC, a life sciences company, develops in vitro diagnostic devices for clinical medicine applications
David Steinmiller
Co-founder and COO of Claros Diagnostics
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About Claros Diagnostics: Claros Diagnostics develop blood testing devices for use in homes and doctors offices for tests typically performed in a laboratory.
Jarryd Campbell
Co-founder, President and Chief Operating Officer of Lifengine Technologies
Jarryd Campbell is the co-founder, president and chief operating officer of Lifengine Technologies.
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About Lifengine Technologies: Lifengine Technologies is a biotechnology company that develops genome engineering solutions and advancing life science technologies.
Deb Knoerzer
COO of SAGE Labs
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About SAGE Labs: Welcome to SAGE® Labs, your source for unique, next-generation animal research models featuring specific gene deletions
Deb Knoerzer
COO of SAGE Labs
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About SAGE Labs: Welcome to SAGE® Labs, your source for unique, next-generation animal research models featuring specific gene deletions