Gentris Corporation Appoints Michael Murphy and Dr. Howard McLeod to Board of Directors

MORRISVILLE, N.C., Oct. 4, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Gentris Corporation (www.gentris.com), a global leader in pharmacogenomics and biorepository solutions, announced today that Gentris founder, Michael Murphy, and leading cancer pharmacogenomics expert, Dr. Howard McLeod, have joined the Board of Directors.

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"I am excited to welcome Michael Murphy and Dr. Howard McLeod to the Board of Directors," said Tim Gupton, Gentris Chairman. "They bring a tremendous wealth of scientific, industry, and regulatory experience to Gentris and will provide invaluable guidance on strategic opportunities as we drive a new phase of company growth. The Board looks forward to working with Gentris' senior management to build upon our 12-year history of success in pharmacogenomics and biobanking and to develop cutting-edge solutions that enable clients to capitalize on the promise of personalized medicine."

Michael P. Murphy, M.Sc. is the President and founder of Conatus Consulting LLC, a medical device regulatory consulting firm located in Raleigh, NC. Michael is an industry pioneer and thought leader in the field of pharmacogenomics, with more than 30 years of scientific and business experience.  He is a serial entrepreneur in the personalized medicine space and in 1997 was founder of Intek Labs, the first international pharmacogenomics company.  Following the successful acquisition of Intek Labs by PPD (PPGx), Michael was the co-founder, President and CEO of Gentris Corporation.  In 2007, Gentris spun off its diagnostic group and Michael served as the President and CEO of ParagonDx, one of the first companies to win FDA approval of a Rapid Genotyping Kit for patients taking the anticoagulant, Warfarin.

Michael is a frequent lecturer and author on pharmacogenomic topics and currently sits on the editorial review board of the journal, Pharmacogenomics.  He has expertise in FDA Regulations and Quality Systems for medical device focused companies, and has been responsible for oversight in 7 successful 510(k) submissions and FDA audits and inspections.  He has established CLIA-regulated laboratories at four start-up companies, and he serves as an ad hoc advisor to the FDA, CDC (GetRM), EU (EuroGentest), the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) and the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP). Michael received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from San Diego State University and was trained in molecular biology at the Salk Institute.Dr.

Howard McLeod, PharmD, is the Medical Director of the DeBartolo Family Personalized Medicine Institute and Senior Member in the Department of Cancer Epidemiology at Moffitt Cancer Center. Dr. McLeod leads an oncology-focused pharmacogenomics research program and will be a key part of Moffitt's Total Cancer Care® Study to create and share targeted cancer treatments that will improve outcomes, cure disease, extend survivorship and improve quality of life for patients. Dr. Howard McLeod was a Fred N. Eshelman Distinguished Professor and Director of the UNC Institute for Pharmacogenomics and Individualized Therapy at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.  Dr. McLeod holds appointments in the Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine, the Carolina Center for Genome Sciences, and the Lineberger Cancer Center.  He is Chair of the NHGRI eMERGE network external scientific panel and is a member of the FDA committee on Clinical Pharmacology.

Dr. McLeod also directs the Pharmacogenetics for Every Nation Initiative, which aims to help developing countries use genetic information to improve National Drug Formulary decisions.  He has published over 380 peer reviewed papers on pharmacogenomics, applied therapeutics, or clinical pharmacology and continues to work to integrate genetics principles into clinical practice to advance individualized medicine.

Related Links: www.gentris.com, www.linkedin.com/company/gentris

About Gentris Corporation:
Founded in 2001, Gentris is located in Research Triangle Park, NC, where it provides pharmacogenomics and biorepository support for all phases of clinical studies and genomic biomarker programs.  The Company works with academic and industry leaders to translate innovations in pharmacogenomics into safer, more effective medicines, which can lead to accelerated drug development and improvement in patient care globally.

SOURCE Gentris Corporation