Senior management
Martin Verhoef
Vladimir Slepnev, PhD
Louis Hlousek
Elizabeth Garcia, PhD
Darren Lee M.S.
Martin Verhoef, President & CEO
Martin Verhoef joined PrimeraDx with over 20 years of experience in the Life Sciences industry working for both Fortune 500 companies and Start ups. Martin has held various senior management positions at Hewlett-Packard/Agilent in Germany and US and was with Ciphergen Biosystems, first as Vice President of Sales and Marketing and later President of the Ciphergen Biosystems Division. Martin began his career at the Dijkzigt Academic Hospital and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands followed by Pharmacia Biotechnologies in Uppsala, Sweden. He received a BS in Medical Chemistry and a BS in Chemistry from the van ‘t Hoff Institute in Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Vladimir Slepnev, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Slepnev, a Founder of PrimeraDx has fifteen years experience in biochemistry and molecular biology. During his tenure as a Director of Molecular Biology at Sention, Dr. Slepnev invented the STAR technology for multiplex gene expression analysis. Prior to Sention, Dr. Slepnev completed post-doctoral studies at Institute Pasteur (France) and Yale University and worked as a junior faculty at Yale. He received fellowship awards from CNRS (France) and Muscular Dystrophy Association and co-authored more than 30 scientific papers. He holds an MS degree in Chemistry from Moscow State University and Ph.D. in Biochemistry form Russian Research Center of Molecular Diagnostics and Therapy (Moscow, Russia).
Louis Hlousek, Vice President, Systems Development
Louis joined PrimeraDx in 2008 with 25 years’ experience leading interdisciplinary teams in the development of commercial scientific and medical instrumentation systems. Most recently he was VP of Product Development at Ciphergen Biosystems, where he led a team of about 40 scientists and engineers in the development of a high-throughput SELDI mass spectrometry platform employed in proteomic translational medicine research. His experience spans that range of small start-ups to senior positions at large enterprises such as Thermo Instruments and Hewlett Packard, where he led the development of a variety of instruments and systems for research and clinical applications. A physicist by training, he’s a hands-on leader that favours elegant and simple solutions focused on exceeding customer expectation while streamlining development and manufacturing.
Elizabeth Garcia, PhD, Senior Director of Assay Development
Dr. Garcia joins PrimeraDx from Sention where she led the development of STAR technology upon which Primera BioSystems is founded. Prior to joining Sention, Dr. Garcia contributed to original research in the areas of neurotransmitter release and resulting cellular signaling as a Research Assistant Professor at Brown University from 1996 -- 2001 and during her post-doctoral work at Yale University from 1993 - 1995. Dr. Garcia received her Ph.D. from the University of Maryland in Molecular and Cellular Biology in 1992.
Darren Lee, M.S., Senior Vice President, Marketing & Sales
Darren Lee brings to PrimeraDx over 15 years experience in marketing management, business development and engineering in the life sciences and clinical diagnostics industries. Darren joins Primera from Decision Biomarkers, where as VP of Sales & Marketing, he developed the business strategy for multiplexed protein biomarker immunoassays and helped secure $7.5M in venture funding. Prior to his work at Decision Biomarkers, Darren served as Business Unit Director of the BioPharmaceutical Division at PerkinElmer. Prior to its acquisition by PerkinElmer, Mr. Lee was Director of Marketing for Detection Systems at Packard Biosciences. Darren has also held several positions in Perkin-Elmer Analytical Instruments, Applied Biosystems, and Olympus Instruments, Diagnostics Division. Mr. Lee has a BS in Biomedical Engineering Technology from Temple University and a MS in Technology Management from Pepperdine University.