Former Deputy FDA Commissioner John Norris Appointed Chief Operating Officer at Health Discovery Corporation
SAVANNAH, Ga.--(Business Wire)--
Health Discovery Corporation (OTCBB:HDVY), a personalized medicine company
specializing in molecular diagnostics including gene-based testing, as well as
computer assisted diagnostics in digital pathology and radiology, announced that
former Deputy FDA Commissioner John A. Norris has been appointed as Chief
Operating Officer (COO) of the Company. He will be responsible for business
development, primarily creating new strategic partnerships, licenses and
contracts to complement the Company`s existing agreements with Quest
Diagnostics, Abbott Molecular, Pfizer, Bruker and Clarient.
"We are extremely fortunate to have attracted someone of John Norris` caliber,"
said Stephen D. Barnhill, M.D., chairman and CEO of Health Discovery Corporation
(HDC). "We expect that his extensive experience and vast relationships in the
healthcare space will make a very meaningful contribution to our growth
trajectory. John is a visionary leader who understands how the groundbreaking
analytics that we have developed and patented could change the face of
diagnostic testing for personalized medicine. His extensive knowledge of the
business of healthcare around the world will help us accelerate the
commercialization of HDC's new gene-based urine test for prostate cancer."
According to Mr. Norris, "Dr. Barnhill has assembled a world-class team of
researchers, investigators and advisors who have pioneered a bold new approach
to diagnostics that will vastly improve the speed and accuracy of testing in the
realm of gene-based testing, as well as in digital pathology and digital
radiology." HDC holds 72 critical patents that are central to the digital
convergence of diagnostics, pathology and radiology. "I am very pleased to be
part of this outstanding team," Mr. Norris added.
"Our patented Support Vector Machine and Recursive Feature Elimination pattern
recognition technologies have been independently validated by top researchers,
academics and business professionals around the world and published in dozens of
peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals and have broad applicability
wherever highly accurate conclusions must be drawn from vast amounts of complex
data," Dr. Barnhill said.
Dr. Barnhill continued, "In addition, we expect that John will be a huge asset
in promoting our gene-based test for clinically significant prostate cancer
recently licensed for commercialization to Abbott, Quest Diagnostics, and
Clarient. Right now, half a million men a year in the United States alone have
painful, expensive but unnecessary biopsies for prostate cancer based solely on
PSA findings, the current world standard for prostate cancer screening. The
previously-announced results of our forthcoming urine-based test for prostate
cancer could eliminate many of these unnecessary biopsies and unnecessary
treatments such as radical prostate surgery stemming from false positive
readings on the PSA test."
Mr. Norris brings more than 20 years of healthcare industry and consulting
expertise to HDC. He has advised the senior management of numerous global
businesses in the life sciences, healthcare, pharma, diagnostics and
healthcare-IT industries, among them Pfizer, Merck, Johnson & Johnson, Glaxo,
the AMA, The Adventist Healthcare System, The Caritas Christi Healthcare System,
and Partners Health Care System. He also has extensive management experience
including leading the team responsible for the billion dollar turn-around and
sale of laser-eye-surgery pioneer Summit Technology. He received a B.A. in
Economics from the University of Rochester, his M.B.A. and J.D. from Cornell
University and a Certificate in Government from Harvard University, where he
also taught for twelve years. He is the founder and faculty-editor-in-chief of
the American Journal of Law & Medicine, a leading healthcare policy, law, and
regulation journal.
About Health Discovery Corporation
Health Discovery Corporation is a molecular diagnostics company that uses
advanced mathematical techniques to analyze large amounts of data to uncover
patterns that might otherwise be undetectable. It operates primarily in the
emerging field of personalized medicine where such tools are critical to
scientific discovery. Its primary business consists of licensing its
intellectual property and developing its own product line of biomarker-based
diagnostic tests that include human genes and genetic variations, as well as
gene, protein, and metabolic expression differences and image analysis in
digital pathology and radiology.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, the accuracy of which is
necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation,
statements regarding future performance, opportunities and investments, and
anticipated results in general. From time to time the Company may make other
forward-looking statements relating to other matters, including without
limitation, commercialization plans and strategic partnerships. Actual results
may differ materially due to a variety of factors, including, among other
things, the acceptance of our approach to applying mathematics computer science
and physics into the disciplines of biology, organic chemistry and medicine and
our products and technologies associated with those approaches, the ability to
develop or commercialize new drugs, therapies or other products based on our
approaches, and other factors set forth from time to time in the Company`s
Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
All forward-looking statements and cautionary statements included in this
document are made as of the date hereof based on information available to the
Company as of the date hereof, and the Company assumes no obligation to update
any forward-looking statement or cautionary statement.