BETHLEHEM, Pa., July 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Saladax Biomedical, Inc., a privately held company developing and commercializing novel diagnostic assays to achieve the promise of personalized medicine for new and existing therapeutics, announced today that effective July 1, 2011, Gregory C. Critchfield, M.D., M.S. has been elected as chairman for the company's board of directors.
Dr. Critchfield, a board certified pathologist with more than 20 years experience in the diagnostic industry, previously served as president for Myriad Genetic Laboratories, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics, Inc., until March 2010. While president, Dr. Critchfield built Myriad Genetic Laboratories into one of the world's leading molecular diagnostic companies, launching seven novel molecular diagnostic products for cancer across a variety of technology platforms. Dr. Critchfield joined the board as an independent director of Saladax Biomedical in September of 2010.
Prior to Myriad, Dr. Critchfield served as chief medical and science officer at Corning Clinical Laboratories, Inc., which became Quest Diagnostics, Inc. He also served on the medical school faculties of the University of Minnesota, Wayne State University and Duke University and was the director of clinical pathology for Intermountain Health Care, a large integrated healthcare network.
Dr. Critchfield chaired the Governor's State Advisory Council on Science and Technology for the state of Utah in 2007 and served as a reviewer and study section chair for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for 15 years in biomedical computing programs for SBIR, STTR and R01 programs. He has also served as an independent director in industry associations and other life science diagnostic product and platform companies, including Integrated Diagnostics, Inc., Sera Prognostics, Inc., Metamark Genetics, Inc., Nodality, Inc., Biocius Life Sciences, Inc. and BioTrove, Inc.
"On behalf of Saladax, we are delighted that Dr. Critchfield has accepted the position of chairman of our board of directors," said Edward L. Erickson, president and CEO of Saladax. "Given his extensive experience in the diagnostics industry and medicine, we are confident Dr. Critchfield will provide the board leadership we need as we build our company and continue the commercialization of Saladax's novel diagnostic products globally."
"I am very pleased to be working with Ed Erickson and the entire Saladax Board to achieve the goal of personalizing the treatments patients receive through Saladax's innovative MyCare™ and companion diagnostic products," said Dr. Critchfield. "Commercializing these products will significantly improve medical care and improve the economics of healthcare delivery as we address very large and important markets worldwide. On behalf of the Saladax Board, I thank our former chairman, Kevin Harter, for his service and the excellent job he did in leading Saladax to its current position as an innovative developer of personalized medicine products."
Dr. Critchfield received a Bachelor's Degree in microbiology with a minor in chemistry from Brigham Young University in 1976, an M.D. degree from the University of Utah in 1980 and a master's degree in biophysical sciences at the University of Minnesota in 1985.
About Saladax Biomedical, Inc.
Saladax Biomedical develops and commercializes novel diagnostic assays to achieve the promise of personalized medicine through dose management and companion diagnostic products for existing and new therapeutics. The Company's dose management technology enables physicians to optimize drug dosing to meet individual patient needs, leading to improved response and quality of life. The Company's 15 MyCare™ dose management assays are comprised of proprietary, automated and cost-effective in vitro diagnostic tests, with a principal focus in oncology. The first MyCare assay available is for one of the most common anticancer drugs, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU). This assay is available in the United States from Myriad Genetics, sold by Saladax in Europe and will be distributed in Japan by FALCO biosystems. Saladax also works with pharmaceutical companies to develop companion diagnostics to provide important clinical information to assist in developing and administering new and existing compounds. For more information, visit www.saladax.com.
Saladax Biomedical, Inc.
Edward L. Erickson
President and Chief Executive Officer
[email protected]
Media Contact:
Tiberend Strategic Advisors, Inc.
212-827-0020
Andrew Mielach
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SOURCE Saladax Biomedical, Inc.