The former CEO of the molecular testing company Foundation Medicine, Troy Cox, has been named chairman of the Swiss big data firm Sophia Genetics after serving on its board of directors for less than a year.
First joining the company last July, Cox will now take over from Antoine Duchateau starting March 1. Duchateau, who has served as chairman since 2013, will stay on as a board member.
“This announcement signals how much of an asset Troy has been for SOPHiA GENETICS in this short amount of time,” co-founder and CEO Jurgi Camblong said in a statement.
“I am delighted that he will assume the chairmanship of the company’s board, as his impressive expertise will help us to further expand our community of partners and the scope of new clinical-grade applications to further the success of our mission,” Camblong added.
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That’s not the only personnel change. Just last week, Camblong and Sophia Genetics bid welcome to the company’s new chief medical officer, Philippe Menu. He joins from McKinsey & Company, where he co-led the firm’s McKinsey Cancer Center consultancy.
“I am incredibly inspired by what the SOPHiA team has already achieved by analyzing half a million patients’ genomic profiles across the world through its unique and growing global network of hospital partners,” Menu said. “Looking ahead, I am most impressed by the full potential to positively impact patients' lives that still lies ahead of us through the application of SOPHiA's multi-modal data approach.”
The Lausanne, Switzerland-based Sophia Genetics has been looking to expand internationally over the past year—following its $77 million series E round in January 2019—and bring its artificial intelligence-based platform to more hospital systems.
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The company’s analysis looks to wield genomic and radiomic data to help diagnose patients with cancer and rare hereditary disorders. Now, Sophia Genetics says it can leverage more multi-modal data, to help guide precision treatments.
Those ideas are nothing new for Cox, who, before serving as CEO of Foundation Medicine during its acquisition by Roche, held senior VP positions at Genetic and Sanofi.
“I’m proud to take a leadership role at this important time of expansion and to be part of SOPHiA GENETICS mission,” Cox said. “Thanks to its global and universal approach that already benefits more than 1,000 hospital partners, SOPHiA is uniquely positioned to lead and promote an important movement in the entire ecosystem.”