Apposite Capital: Healthcare investment firm Apposite Capital (London) has appointed Eric Shiozaki, Ph.D., as an associate director. He will be based in San Francisco and will support Apposite’s primary and secondary investment activities in North America. Shiozaki was previously with Burrill & Company, a life sciences venture capital firm. Before that, he worked in technology transfer at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he managed a portfolio of healthcare technologies. [November 2009]

AACC:Ann M. Gronowski, Ph.D. has been elected president of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC; Washington, D.C.). She is an associate professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis in the departments of pathology and immunology, and obstetrics and gynecology as well as associate medical director of the clinical chemistry, serology and immunology laboratories at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Gronowski will begin her term on January 1, 2010.

Pathology Inc.:Torrance, Calif.-based anatomic pathology and molecular diagnostic testing provider Pathology, Inc. has named Vicki DiFrancesco as CEO and Steve Pierce as CFO. DiFrancesco was most recently executive vice president of sales and marketing for Spectrum Laboratory Network, and Pierce was the former CFO of U.S. Pathology Labs, which was sold to LabCorp. The current Pathology Inc. CEO, Alfred Lui, M.D., will transition into the role of Chairman of the Board, as well as one of the company’s medical directors.

OraSure Technologies: Oral fluid diagnostics company OraSure Technologies (Bethlehem, Pa.) recently appointed Robert A. Gregg, Ph.D., to the position of vice president of regulatory affairs and quality assurance. Gregg was previously vice president of corporate regulatory affairs and quality systems at PerkinElmer and before that served as director of regulatory affairs at Roche Diagnostics. [October 2009]

The Carlyle Group: Gregory L. Summe has been appointed to the new position of vice chairman of global buyout at The Carlyle Group (Washington, D.C.). Summe, the former chairman and CEO of PerkinElmer, was most recently a senior adviser with Goldman Sachs Capital Partners. Summe led PerkinElmer from 1998 to 2009 and was previously with AlliedSignal, now Honeywell International. [October 2009]
Applied NeuroSolutions: Craig S. Taylor, Ph.D., has been appointed president and CEO of Applied NeuroSolutions (Vernon Hills, Ill.), a biotechnology company focused on developing diagnostics and therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease. He replaces Ellen R. Hoffing, who will remain chairman of the company's board of directors. Taylor was previously a partner at the private equity firm Adams Street Partners. He has also served in business development and research roles at G.D. Searle and Abbott Laboratories. [September 2009]

Vangent: Kerry Weems, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, will join the IT contractor Vangent (Arlington, Va.) as senior vice president of health strategy. Weems ended his 28-year career in the federal government in January. His has held a number of senior positions in the Department of Health and Human Services, including deputy chief of staff, chief financial officer, and chief budget officer. [September 2009]

Quanterix: David Okrongly, Ph.D., has been named CEO of Quanterix (Cambridge, Mass.), which is developing a novel molecular diagnostic platform. He replaces interim CEO Nicholas Naclerio, Ph.D., who will continue in his position of chairman of the board. Okrongly comes to Quanterix from Siemens Healthcare Diagnostics Division, where he most recently served as senior vice president in charge of molecular diagnostics.

Roche Diagnostics: Roche (Basel, Switzerland) has appointed Daniel O’Day chief operating officer of its diagnostics division. He will replace Juergen Schwiezer, who will retire at the end of 2009. O’Day is currently president and CEO of Roche Molecular Diagnostics, a position he he has held since 2006. He previously served in various managerial, corporate planning, marketing, and sales roles with Roche Pharma. O'Day's new appointment will be effective January 1, 2010.

Quidel: Larry Mimms, Ph.D., has joined Quidel (San Diego, Calif.) as vice president of research and development. He has held a number of senior executive positions with Gen-Probe and most recently headed his own company, VDx, which focused on the development of a rapid diagnostic test for HIV. [August 2009]

Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center: Thomas E. Sibert, M.D., has been named chief medical officer of Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center (Winston-Salem,N.C.), a position created as part of a reorganization that the integrated health care system began two years ago. Sibert will oversee all quality and patient safety issues across inpatient and outpatient arenas. Sibert was previously associate vice chancellor, president of the Faculty Practice Group, and adjunct professor of psychiatry at the University of California, Los Angeles. [August 2009]

Response Biomedical: Livleen Kaler has been appointed chief financial officer and vice president of finance and administration at Response Biomedical (Vancouver), which develops, manufactures, and markets rapid diagnostic tests for use at the point of care. She has been with Response since 2006 and previously served as the director of finance at Infosat Communications, a subsidiary of Bell Canada. [August 2009]

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Todd Park, has been appointed chief technology officer for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Reporting to Deputy Secretary of HHS William Corr, Park will be responsible for working with HHS leadership and agencies across the department on the innovative and creative use of information and technology to improve the health of Americans. Park is the co-founder of athenahealth, a provider of Internet-based business services for physician practices. [August 2009]

FDA: Michael R. Taylor, J.D., has been appointed senior advisor to the commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Taylor, an expert on food safety, is a research professor at George Washington University’s School of Public Health and Health Services. He is also a FDA veteran, having worked there as a litigating attorney and then as the FDA’s Deputy Commissioner for Policy (1991-1994), overseeing policy development and rulemaking. [July 2009

Imaging Dynamics Company: Swapan Kakumanu has been appointed executive vice president of Imaging Dynamics Company (IDC; Calgary, Alberta, Canada), a medical technology company focused on digital radiography. Kakumanu will take on new responsibilities for operational and geographic initiatives while remaining IDC's chief financial officer, a position he has held since 2006. [July 2009

ARUP Laboratories: Sherrie L. Perkins, MD, PhD, has been named chief medical officer ( CMO) and director of laboratories, effective July 1, 2009. Dr. Perkins will be taking over the responsibility from Edward R. Ashwood, MD, who will be transitioning into the role of president and chief executive officer. These transitions are coinciding with the retirement of the company’s founder and CEO, Carl R. Kjeldsberg, MD, on June 30, 2009. Dr. Perkins has been with ARUP Laboratories ( Salt Lake City, Utah) and the University of Utah for 19 years. During this time, she has served in numerous leadership roles including director of hematopathology, interim department chair, and, for the past three years, as a member of the ARUP Laboratories executive management team. She is a tenured professor at the University of Utah School of Medicine, is board certified in anatomic pathology and holds a special qualification in hematology. She received her PhD in biochemistry from the University of Miami, and earned her MD and completed her pathology residency at Washington University.

ARUP Laboratories: Edward R. Ashwood, M.D., director of laboratories and chief medical officer at ARUP Laboratories ( Salt Lake City, Utah), will assume the position of CEO on July 1, 2009. A 22-year veteran of ARUP, Ashwood is a tenured professor of pathology at the University of Utah School of Medicine and is board certified in clinical and chemical pathology. He replaces retiring CEO Carl R. Kjeldsberg, M.D., the ARUP co-founder who will continue to serve as chairman of the board.

Gen-Probe : Carl W. Hull has succeeded Henry L. Nordhoff as CEO of Gen-Probe ( San Diego, Calif.). Formerly Gen-Probe's president and chief operating officer, Hull also has joined the company's board of directors. Nordhoff, who had served as Gen-Probe's CEO since 1994, is now non-executive chairman following his re-election to the board at the company's annual meeting of stockholders. [June 2009]

Cowen Group: Jim Lilly has joined Cowen Group ( New York, N.Y.) as a managing director in the investment banking group and will lead the firm's health care services practice. Lilly was previously a managing director in Merrill Lynch's global health care group. Prior to joining Merrill in 2005, he was co-head of the health care group at Jefferies and began his health care career at Piper Jaffray. [June 2009]

Water Street Healthcare Partners : Robert B. Womsley has agreed to join Water Street Healthcare Partners (Chicago), a private equity firm focused exclusively on the health care industry. A senior partner with Citi Private Equity, Womsley will join Water Street Healthcare as a partner on July 1, 2009.

Pacific Biosciences : Eric Schadt , Ph.D., has been appointed chief scientific officer of Pacific Biosciences ( Menlo Park , Calif. ). He was previously executive scientific director of genetics at Rosetta Inpharmatics, a subsidiary of Merck & Co. [May 2009]

CIGNA : Annmarie Hagan has been appointed executive vice president and chief financial officer of CIGNA Corporation ( Philadelphia , Penn. ). Since joining CIGNA in 1987, Hagan has held numerous leadership positions, including chief accounting officer and controller. Hagan succeeds departing CFO Michael W. Bell, who is resigning from CIGNA after 25 years with the company. [May 2009]

U.S. Food and Drug Administration: On May 18, the Senate confirmed President Barack Obama's nomination of Margaret Hamburg, M.D., to lead the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Hamburg, who will be sworn in as the FDA's 21st commissioner, is a former New York City health commissioner and an expert in community health and bio-defense. During the Clinton administration, she served as secretary for policy and evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Since 2001, she has been vice president for biological programs at the Nuclear Threat Initiative.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention : President Barack Obama has selected Thomas Frieden, M.D., M.P.H., to head the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). He is expected to take office in June. Frieden has served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene since January 2002. A leading expert in tuberculosis control, Frieden previously spent five years in India assisting with national tuberculosis control efforts. Frieden began his career at the NYC Department of Health in 1990 as a CDC Epidemiologic Intelligence Service Officer working on a range of health issues. [May 2009]

Navigenics: Jonathan Lord, M.D., has been appointed president and CEO of consumer genomics company Navigenics (Foster City, Calif.). Lord, who most recently served as vice president and chief innovation officer at Humana, will assume his new roles on May 1. He replaces founding CEO Mari Baker, who departed in February to become CEO of PlayFirst, a video game company.

Signature Genomic Laboratories: Trilochan Sahoo, M.D. has joined Spokane, Washington-based Signature Genomics Laboratories as laboratory director. Prior to joining Signature, Sahoo spent six years as an assistant professor in the Department of Molecular and Human Genetics at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas. Sahoo received his M.D. in Clinical Microbiology from Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, India, and completed his post-doctoral training at the Government of India Department of Biotechnology and the Duke University Medical Center Departments of Microbiology and Genetics ( Durham, North Carolina). He is certified by the American Board of Medical Genetics in Clinical Cytogenetics and completed his training under Signature President and CEO Lisa G. Shaffer, Ph.D. during her tenure at Baylor.

Centerview Partners: Merrill Lynch veterans Alan Hartman, Richard Girling, and Mark Robinson have agreed to join Centerview Partners ( New York, N.Y.), an investment banking advisory and private equity firm, to build the firm's healthcare practice. Hartman, formerly head of Americas mergers and acquisitions at Merrill Lynch, will be based in New York while Girling and Robinson, who previously served as global co-heads of Merrill's healthcare investment banking group, will be senior partners in Centerview's new London and San Francisco offices, respectively. [April 2009]

Quidel: Thomas Foley, Ph.D. will retire from his position as chief technology officer of Quidel ( San Diego, Calif.) effective May 31. Foley will continue as an employee through December 31 and will serve as a special advisor to the company in the interim. Foley’s career of more than 35 years includes leading the research and development divisions of several diagnostics and life sciences instrumentation companies. [April 2009]

Water Street Healthcare Partners: Hank Struik has joined the private equity firm Water Street Healthcare Partners ( Chicago, Ill.) as a senior executive advisor. He will focus on investment opportunities in the medical products sector, for which Water Street has committed up to $100 million in equity capital. Struik was previously a president of Cardinal Health, where he also held executive positions in sales, marketing, business development, and operations. [April 2009]

CMS: Jonathan Blum has been named as the Director, Center for Medicare Management. Jonathan joins CMS from Avalere Health, where he served as Vice President of Medicaid and Long-Term Care Practice. Jonathan will also serve as the Acting Director, Center for Drug and Health Plan Choice ( CPC). Abby Block, who has led CPC since 2005, will serve as Senior Advisor to the Administrator. Tim Hill, currently the Director, Office of Financial Management (OFM), will assume responsibility as the Acting Deputy Director, CPC. Deb Taylor, currently the Deputy Director of OFM, will serve as Acting Director of OFM, and Wes Perich will serve as the Acting Deputy Director, OFM. In the Office of Legislation, Amy Hall has been named Director and will develop the legislative agenda for the entire scope of CMS’s programs. Amy has more than 11 years of experience working for the U.S. House of Representatives in various capacities, most recently as an advisor to the Committee on Energy and Commerce (March 2009).

GE Healthcare: Pascale Witz has been appointed president and chief executive officer of GE Healthcare, Medical Diagnostics. In her most recent assignment, Witz led GE Healthcare’s Healthcare Systems interventional global business, which researches and develops innovative medical technologies to help physicians diagnose and treat disease earlier, faster, and more accurately. [March 2009]

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: David Blumenthal, M.D. has been appointed national coordinator for health information technology. He replaces Robert Kolodner, M.D. Blumenthal most recently has been director of the Institute for Health Policy at the Massachusetts General Hospital/Partners HealthCare System and a professor at Harvard Medical School. [March 2009]

Critical Path Institute: Beatriz Rendon has joined the Critical Path Institute ( Tucson, Ariz.) as director of strategic alliances, a position in which she will develop partnerships and collaborations with other organizations, government, academia, philanthropic foundations, research institution, and corporations. She was formerly chief business officer at Tucson Unified School District. [March 2009]

Critical Path Institute: Steven Broadbent has joined the Critical Path Institute ( Tucson, Ariz.) as director of consortia operations, a position in which he will focus on helping the indepndent non-profit orgaization's several consortia execute their missions. He previously spent 26 years as an executive at IBM. [March 2009]

NeoGenomics: Cancer genetics testing provider NeoGenomics ( Ft. Myers, Fla.) has named Douglas M. VanOort executive chairman and interim chief executive officer (CEO) as part of a four-year contract. VanOort was the former executive vice president and chief financial officer of Corning Life Sciences, Inc. and then as senior vice president of operations at Quest Diagnostics. The testing company currently does not have a CEO, but its current board chairman and founder, Michael Dent, M.D. will step down, although he will remain on the board. As executive chairman, VanOort will spend approximately half of his working time on company affairs, as well as serving as interim CEO for the near future.

Quest Diagnostics: Jon R. Cohen, M.D. will join Quest Diagnostics ( Madison, N.J.) as senior vice president and chief medical officer on March 30, 2009. Cohen is the former chief policy advisor to New York Governor David Paterson and previously served as managing director of health industries services at PricewaterhouseCoopers. A 2006 candidate for lieutenant governor of New York, Cohen advised Senator John Kerry on healthcare policy during his presidential campaign in 2004.

Enzo Clinical Laboratories: Kevin Krenitsky, M.D. has been named president of New York City-based Enzo Clinical Labs, a subsidiary of Enzo Biochem. Krenitsky, who is replacing Shahram Rabbani, was most recently the CEO of Bioserve Biotechnologies Ltd, a global biotech company that validates, processes, and develops molecular diagnostics. Prior to Bioserve, he was Chief CEO of Parkway Clinical Laboratories ( Bensalem, Pa.), a clinical diagnostic lab providing comprehensive routine and esoteric testing, which was purchased by Rosetta Genomics ( Jersey City, New Jersey) in July 2008.

Mount Sinai Medical Center: Ira S. Nash, M.D. has been named senior vice president and chief medical officer of the Mount Sinai Medical Center ( New York, N.Y.). Since joining Mount Sinai in 1995, Nash has served as associate director of the Zena and Michael Wiener Cardiovascular Institute, chief of internal medicine at the affiliated James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center, and, most recently, interim chief medical officer. [March 2009]

Celerus Diagnostics: Jason Lusk has been appointed vice president of sales and marketing at Celerus Diagnostics ( Carpinteria, Calif.), maker of the Celerus Wave System for rapid immunohistochemistry in the anatomic pathology laboratory. Lusk was previously regional sales manager with Leica Microsystems, and his background includes positions in R&D, production, product development, and global product management. [March 2009]

White House Office for Health Reform: President Obama has named Nancy-Ann DeParle to be the director of the White Office for Health Reform. She will leave CCMP Capital, where she has been a manging director focusing on healthcare investments. Before joining CCMP, DeParle was administrator for what is now the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services during the Clinton administration. [March 2009]

Department of Health and Human Services: President Obama has officially nominated Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius as his secretary of health and human services. [March 2009]

LabCorp: Mark Elliott Brecher, M.D. has been appointed chief medical officer of LabCorp ( Burlington, N.C.). Brecher was previously vice chairman of the department of pathology and laboratory medicine at the McLendon Clinical Laboratories, University of North Carolina Hospitals. Myla Lai-Goldman, M.D., LabCorp's former chief scientific officer and medical director, left the company last December. [March 2009]

Xifin Inc.: Steve Zaniboni has been named chief financial officer of the San Diego-based Xifin Inc., a provider of revenue cycle management solutions for the lab industry. He was most recently chief financial officer of AviaraDX, which has been acquired by bioMerieux. In addition R. William (Bill) Taylor has been named vice president of marketing. Taylor comes to Xifin from Accelrys Inc., where he was vice president of marketing and corporate development.

Gen-Probe : Eric Lai has joined Gen-Probe ( San Diego , Calif. ) as senior vice president of research and development. He was previously vice president for pharmacogenetics experimental project coordination and analysis at GlaxoSmithKline. [Feb. 2009]

Artemis Health : Richard Rava has been appointed senior vice president of research and development at Artemis Health ( Menlo Park , Calif ), an early-stage company that develops prenatal diagnostic tests. Rava is the scientific co-founder of Affymetrix and was previously senior vice president of research and development there. [Feb. 2009]

Gen-Probe : Eric Tardif has joined Gen-Probe ( San Diego , Calif. ) as senior vice president, corporate strategy. Tardif was formerly a managing director in Morgan Stanley's healthcare investment banking group. [Jan. 2009]

Quidel : Douglas C. Bryant has been appointed president and CEO of Quidel ( San Diego , Calif. ). He will succeed retiring president and CEO Caren Mason on March 1. Bryant was previously executive vice president and COO of Luminex Corporation, where he managed its Bioscience Group, Luminex Molecular Diagnostics , manufacturing, R&D, technical operations, and commercial operations. [Jan. 2009]

3i : John Moore Jr. has joined the private equity firm 3i North America ( New York , N.Y. ) as a partner, with responsibility for the group’s healthcare strategy. Moore was formerly a managing director at Morgan Stanley and global head of healthcare investment banking there. [Jan. 2009]