Press Releases

New Board members will provide expert insight into ADME-Tox, biomarker, assay, cell and gene therapy, and immuno-oncology advances

BioIVT, a leading provider of biospecimens, research models and services for drug and diagnostic development, today announced the launch of its new Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) comprised of experts in ADME-Tox, drug development, cell and gene therapy, immuno-oncology, and clinical diagnostics.

“I am proud to introduce BioIVT’s highly distinguished new SAB members. Our Board members were carefully chosen and are all eminent in their field. They have the skills and expertise that are important to our customers and will help guide BioIVT strategy for the next several years. They will be excellent advisors both for our internal teams and our customers,” said BioIVT CEO Jeff Gatz. 

“As medical research becomes increasingly personalized and specialized, researchers’ requirements become more precise. We need to continue to evolve our capabilities, products, and services in order to continue to delight our customers, with the high-quality support they expect. Our new SAB will help us to meet those goals,” he added.

New SAB Members

BioIVT’s new SAB Chair is Russell Weiner, PhD, FAAPS, Head of Oncology and Cell Therapy Clinical Biomarker Sciences and Operations at Takeda Pharmaceuticals. Dr. Weiner has more than 30 years’ experience in pharmaceutical and biologic drug discovery and development, clinical trial conduct, and biologics, biomarker, and companion diagnostic assay development, validation, and deployment.  Previously, Dr. Weiner was Head of Bioanalysis, Biomarker Development and Diagnostics at the Bill & Melinda Gates Medical Research Institute. He has been directly involved in the submission of more than 30 investigational new drug applications in oncology, autoimmune diseases, and Alzheimer’s disease during his tenure at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, and Daiichi Sankyo.

Ted Broering, MBA, is President and Executive Vice President of ICON Early Clinical & Bioanalytical (IEB) at ICON plc. and he has more than 30 years’ drug development experience in pharmaceutical and contract research organizations. Mr. Broering provides operational leadership and strategic guidance to small biotechnology, and emerging, and large pharmaceutical clients, helping them to advance their drug development programs. Prior to joining ICON, he held several senior leadership positions at PRA Health Sciences and Covance (now Labcorp Drug Development), culminating in his appointment as Vice President and Global Head of Early Development Services.

Shannon Eaker, PhD, is Chief Technology Officer for Xcell Biosciences and he has more than 20 years’ cell and gene therapy experience. His areas of expertise include T-cell and hematopoietic, embryonic, and induced pluripotent stem cell biology. Before joining Xcell Biosciences, Dr. Eaker was Cell and Gene Therapy FastTrak Leader at Cytiva (formerly GE Life Sciences). He is a member of the International Society for Cell Therapy Process Development and Manufacturing Committee and has authored many papers on cell biology and manufacturing.

Joseph W. Polli, PhD, FAAPS, is Director of Scientific Communications at ViiV Healthcare, a subsidiary of GlaxoSmithKline, plc., supporting the late-phase long-acting program for HIV treatment. Dr. Polli has more than 25 years’ experience supporting drug metabolism and pharmacokinetics research in drug development. Before joining ViiV Healthcare, he was Senior Director and Senior Fellow in the Mechanistic Safety and Disposition Department at GSK. His group provided in vitro support for the discovery and registration of clinical drug candidates, including ADME, safety, and drug-drug interaction studies.

Heather Baird Tomlinson, PhD, is President and Co-founder of Mount Baird Health, and she has 20 years’ experience in the clinical diagnostics market. Dr. Tomlinson’s most recent achievements pertain to microsatellite instability testing as a diagnostic tool for predicting patient outcomes to immuno-oncology drugs. Prior to founding Mount Baird, Dr. Tomlinson was Global Head of the Clinical Diagnostic Market Segment at Promega Corporation, leading sales, marketing, and product development. Dr. Tomlinson has presented scientific evidence of the importance of biomarkers in precision medicine in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

About BioIVT

BioIVT is a leading global provider of research models and value-added research services for drug discovery and development. We specialize in control and disease-state biospecimens including human and animal tissues, cell products, blood and other biofluids. Our unmatched portfolio of clinical specimens directly supports precision medicine research and the effort to improve patient outcomes by coupling comprehensive clinical data with donor samples. And as the premier supplier of hepatic products, including hepatocytes and subcellular fractions, BioIVT enables scientists to better understand the pharmacokinetics and drug metabolism of newly discovered compounds and their effects on disease processes. By combining our technical expertise, exceptional customer service, and unparalleled access to biological specimens, BioIVT serves the research community as a trusted partner in elevating science. For more information, please visit www.bioivt.com or follow the company on Twitter @BioIVT.