GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--OpGen, Inc., a genomics solutions company, announced today the appointment of industry veteran C. Douglas White as the company’s chief executive officer (CEO). This role had previously been held on an interim basis by Evan Jones, managing member of jVen Capital, LLC and previous co-founder, chairman and CEO of Digene Corporation. In conjunction with this appointment, Mr. Jones remains a member of OpGen’s board of directors, and Mr. White also joins the board. Mr. White brings more than two decades of global leadership experience in clinical diagnostics, including senior executive roles with BG Medicine, QIAGEN, Digene, Bayer Diagnostics and Chiron Diagnostics.
“We are very pleased to welcome Doug White as CEO of OpGen® while extending sincere thanks to Evan Jones for his superb leadership as interim CEO over the past six months,” stated Ronald Lennox, founding partner of CHL Medical Partners and chairman of the board for OpGen. “With the recent launch of our Argus™ Optical Mapping System, we continue to strategically transition to a product focused business and expect to see accelerating revenue growth. Doug’s deep experience with innovative molecular diagnostic companies is an essential asset as we expand the use of our breakthrough technology – capable of mapping an entire microorganism’s genome in less than a day – into the clinical setting.”
Evan Jones commented, “Doug was an integral part of our success at Digene, guiding strategy and maximizing the value of the company’s technology, and I am confident that his considerable experience will provide invaluable insights as we seek to maximize the potential of OpGen’s Optical Mapping technology.”
Prior to joining OpGen, Mr. White served as executive vice president and general manager for the diagnostics division of BG Medicine, a commercial-stage company focused on the discovery and application of novel biomarkers associated with cardiovascular disease, central nervous system and autoimmune disorders. During his tenure with BG Medicine, Mr. White helped establish galacetin-3, a novel biomarker, as an aid in identifying high-risk heart failure patients who may be candidates for earlier therapeutic interventions, leading to collaborations with Abbott Laboratories, Inverness Medical Innovations and others.
Preceding his role with BG Medicine, Mr. White served as chairman of the Americas Management Council and senior vice president of sales and marketing, Americas, for QIAGEN, N.V. He also served as senior vice president commercial operations, Americas and Asia Pacific, for Digene Corporation, prior to the company’s $1.6 billion acquisition by QIAGEN in July 2007. While at Digene, Mr. White had oversight of global product management, and built the commercial organization responsible for establishing the U.S. market for its flagship product; a DNA-based test for the detection of the human papillomavirus (HPV), the primary cause of cervical cancer.
Prior to Digene, Mr. White also held senior executive roles at Bayer Diagnostics and Chiron Diagnostics, as well as various sales, marketing and management roles with both Chiron Diagnostics and Abbott Diagnostics. Mr. White holds a B.A. in Political Science from Washington College.
“I am very enthusiastic to be joining the OpGen team, particularly at a time when the strength of the company’s proprietary technology is being further validated by the current launch of the Argus™ Optical Mapping System into the life sciences market,” Mr. White said. “As chief executive officer, I’ll continue to rely on the existing expertise of OpGen’s management team, board and advisors, as we determine how best to realize the full potential of the OpGen Optical Mapping Technology among the broad array of markets to which it is applicable, including research, bio-defense, food safety and medical.”
About OpGen, Inc.
OpGen, Inc. is a leading innovator of microbial genomic solutions. The company has developed a platform for its proprietary Optical Mapping Technology. Optical Mapping is the first technology that bridges strain typing and sequencing to correlate phenotype to genotype for generating advances in fields such as biodefense, outbreak management, agriculture, and clinical microbiology. The Argus™ Optical Mapping System and MapIt™ Optical Mapping Services deliver ordered, whole genome restriction maps from single DNA molecules. The platform provides automated, high resolution, whole genome analysis for strain typing, comparative genomics and sequence assembly of microbial genomes to the life sciences market. This de novo technology is free from the limitations of gel, PCR and sequencing-based methodologies and has broad molecular diagnostic applications that are currently in development. Our customers include biodefense organizations, leading genomic research centers, academic institutions, clinical research organizations and biotechnology companies. For more information, visit www.opgen.com.
Contact:
OpGen, Inc. Eric Winzer Chief Financial Officer 301-869-9683 ewinzer@opgen.com
