Biodesix appoints Robert Georgantas senior VP

Wednesday August 14, 2019 Tags: Boulder, Biodesix, Robert Georgantas, Scott Hutton, Heinrich Roder

BOULDER -- Biodesix, Inc. announced the appointment of Robert W. Georgantas III, Ph.D., as the company’s senior vice president of research and translational science.

Georgantas’ research career in genetic, epigenetic, and transcriptomic immunology and oncology clinical biomarkers expands on the company’s expertise in personalized health care and supports the corporate mission of improving every patient’s lung cancer care, Biodesix said.

Georgantas is recognized as a leader of immunology translational science and strategy, joining Biodesix from AbbVie where he served as director of immunology programs, genomics, and the Genetics Research Center of Excellence.

The Genomics Research Center of Excellence consisted of scientific subject matter experts tasked with applying genetics, genomics, epigenetics, and metagenomics to inform the product pipeline primarily regarding new target discovery, biomarkers/PHC discovery for clinical trials, and asset positioning.

Prior to AbbVie, Georgantas was a senior scientist in the Department of Translational Sciences at Medimmune working on pharmacogenomics, pharmacogenetics, and biomarkers within the oncology and immunology space.

Georgantas completed his Ph.D. in pharmacology and molecular medicine at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, where he also completed a post-doctoral fellowship focused on stem cell biology and bioinformatics within the department of oncology.

He continued his academic career as a faculty member at John Hopkins in the departments of oncology, and hematology and immunology.

“Dr. Georgantas’ innovative approach to research and his track record of achievement are both critical to Biodesix as we are positioned for continued growth and new product discovery.” said Scott Hutton, Biodesix COO.

“His leadership in research and translational science efforts will allow us to be nimble in developing lung cancer solutions consistent with our mission. His continued interest in advancing the use of genomics and proteomics, and his extensive and valuable industry experience will be a major addition to our leadership team.”

“Advances in precision medicine are accelerating rapidly across multiple genomic fronts,” said Heinrich Roder, Biodesix founder and CTO.

“Dr. Georgantas brings deep expertise across genomics and biomarker development, particularly in stratifying patients for optimal therapy. This complements the proteomic advances that have been central to our approach at Biodesix.”

“I’m excited about working together to deepen our understanding of the underlying mechanisms of our artificial intelligence driven classifiers and to accelerate bringing them into the clinic.”