AURORA, Colo., Jan. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Summit Biolabs, a commercial-stage molecular diagnostics company harnessing the power of direct-to-PCR technology to transform the detection of infectious diseases, today announced the appointment of David Perez to its Board of Directors, assuming the role of Lead Independent Director. Mr. Perez has over 40 years of executive leadership experience in medical devices and health care services. He serves as an independent board member and advisor to several corporations and non-profit organizations. With the addition of Mr. Perez, Shi-Long Lu, MD, PhD, Founder, Chairman, Director and Chief Scientific Officer announced he would transition off the Board of Directors, while maintaining his role as Chief Scientific Officer.
"We are excited to welcome David Perez to our Board of Directors," said Bob Blomquist, CEO. "David is a strategic business leader with an impressive track record of building and growing businesses. David's leadership and extensive business experience in medical devices and health care services will be of immense value to Summit Biolabs. We are eager to benefit from his knowledge and experience, as we grow our molecular diagnostics business transforming the detection of infectious diseases."
Dr. Lu, Professor of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, founded Summit Biolabs based upon his pioneering work in saliva liquid biopsy for the early detection of head and neck cancer. Dr Lu's saliva stabilizing technology for host DNA and viral nucleic acid in saliva enabled Summit Biolabs' direct-to-PCR technology for the highly accurate, robust, rapid, and high-throughput detection of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases. "On behalf of the Board of Summit Biolabs, I would like to thank Dr. Lu for his hard work and contributions to the Board of Directors and look forward to continuing working with him in his role as Chief Scientific Officer," said Mr. Blomquist.
"The rapid growth of Summit summons the need for having a professional board with a wealth of experience in building and growing business", said Dr. Lu. "I am very excited to have David join Summit's Board of Directors. David is a well accomplished entrepreneur in medical devices and health care services. He holds an impressive track record in executive leadership and corporate governance and is highly regarded. I truly believe David joining the Board of Directors will guide Summit in its next phase of growth."
Mr. Perez currently serves on the Board and Audit Committee of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics; and the Board of 4 private equity companies all owned by Patricia Industries/Investor AB (INVE-B-ST) including Advanced Instruments (Chairman/Compensation Committee), Laborie (Compensation Committee), Sarnova (Audit Committee), and Molnlycke (Compensation Committee). His expertise encompasses growing highly regulated global businesses organically through R&D and innovation and inorganically through M&A, leading within a variety of foreign, public, and private equity ownership structures, strategic planning, culture and talent development, succession planning, enterprise risk management, operations, compliance, and corporate governance. Mr. Perez retired from his leadership role at Terumo BCT and the Terumo Corporation Board of Directors in March 2019 following a comprehensive 2-year succession and transition plan. During his more than 18 years serving as president and CEO, Terumo BCT grew from $160M in global revenue to $1B as an innovation-driven biomedical company focused on unlocking the potential of blood and cell-based therapies in the blood banking, transfusion medicine and cell therapy/regenerative medicine sectors. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors for Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network Colorado, Nurse Family Partnership, Book Trust, Fitzsimons Innovation Community, Blood Centers of America, Dept of Health & Human Services Advisory Committee for Blood & Tissue Safety & Availability, Centura Health St. Anthony Regional Board and Executives Partnering to Invest in Children.
"I am excited to be joining the Board of Directors of Summit Biolabs and helping the company grow and scale their direct-to-PCR innovation. This technology has the potential to help positively impact the lives of so many people and become a standard of care of the detection of infectious diseases," said Mr. Perez.
About Summit Biolabs
Summit Biolabs is a commercial-stage molecular diagnostics company harnessing the power of direct-to-PCR technology to transform the detection of infectious diseases like COVID-19, influenza A/B, and sexually transmitted infections.
Summit Biolabs was spun out of Dr. Shi-Long Lu's laboratory at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus. The company leveraged its competencies in viral detection in saliva and direct-to-PCR platform technology to help combat the pandemic. Summit developed and deployed two highly accurate, robust, rapid, and high-throughput PCR tests for COVID-19 diagnosis. These commercial laboratory-developed tests eliminate the time and cost of nucleic acid extraction, while significantly improving the turn-around-time for results. During 2021, Summit Biolabs' CLIA-certified laboratory performed over 410,000 tests for COVID-19, with over 88% of those tests performed since August 1. A rapid testing pathway for high-priority samples returns results in < 3 hours from receipt of samples.
Summit Biolabs has ongoing test development projects capitalizing on our direct-to-PCR platform technology for other indications. The company's high-complexity, molecular diagnostics CLIA-certified laboratory is located at Bioscience 3 on the Fitzsimons Innovation Campus in Aurora, Colorado.
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SOURCE Summit Biolabs
