Personalis Appoints Christopher Hall as Chief Executive Officer
March 02 2023 - 04:05PM
Business Wire
New Leadership Structure Supports Strategic
Objectives to Drive New Paradigm in Cancer Management and Lead in
Minimal Residual Disease Testing
Aaron Tachibana Promoted to COO and Dr. Richard
Chen to EVP, R&D
Personalis, Inc. (Nasdaq: PSNL), a leader in advanced genomics
for precision oncology, today announced that its Board of Directors
has appointed Christopher Hall as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and
a member of the Board, effective immediately, in addition to his
role as President. Hall will lead the Company’s efforts to drive a
new paradigm for the active management of cancer with the aim of
guiding care from biopsy throughout the life of the patient. Hall
joined Personalis in October 2022 and became President at the end
of December 2022.
The Board also promoted Aaron Tachibana to the extended
leadership position of Chief Operating Officer (COO), effectively
immediately, in addition to his role as Chief Financial Officer
(CFO). Tachibana served as Interim CEO since the end of December
2022, and has served as CFO since joining Personalis in 2019, when
he led the Company through its initial public offering. In
addition, Dr. Richard Chen has been promoted to the position of
Executive Vice President, R&D, effective immediately, in
addition to his role as Chief Medical Officer (CMO). Dr. Chen, who
joined Personalis in 2011 as Chief Scientific Officer, was
previously Senior Vice President, R&D and CMO.
“This is a momentous time for Personalis, and we are confident
that with this leadership team, we can deliver on our potential to
create a new paradigm for the way cancer is actively managed,” said
Karin Eastham, Board Chair of Personalis. “The Board thanks Aaron
for his role as Interim CEO for the past two months. He, Chris, and
Rich led a strategic overhaul to focus on three core areas: winning
in the minimal residual disease (MRD) space, enabling customers to
develop personalized cancer vaccines, and supporting
biopharmaceutical customers with their clinical trials. They have
also taken prudent steps to reduce our cash burn, focus on
improving margins, and work toward future profitability.”
Added Eastham, “We are thrilled to welcome Chris, Aaron, and
Rich into their new roles, building upon a strong foundation as
Personalis evolves into a diagnostic product company and as a
critical partner in cancer recurrence detection and therapy
monitoring.”
“Since its founding, Personalis has emerged as a genomics
technology leader, a sequencing powerhouse, and as a trusted
partner to many of the world’s leading pharmaceutical companies,”
said Hall, Personalis’ President and CEO. “I’m excited about the
future of this company and honored to be appointed as CEO to lead
us into our next chapter. We believe we have one of the most
discerning technologies to both characterize and monitor cancer,
setting us up to become the leader in MRD detection and,
ultimately, to help usher in a new standard of care in
oncology.”
Hall has several decades of experience in the diagnostic space,
previously serving as CEO of Naring Health, a multi-omics company;
President and COO of Veracyte; and as SVP and Chief Business
Officer of Celera’s cardiovascular testing business. Hall earned an
M.B.A. from Harvard University and a B.A. from DePauw
University.
Tachibana has served in CFO and operational leadership roles in
multiple public companies, focusing on improving gross margins and
profitability. Tachibana holds a B.S. in Business Administration
and Finance from San Jose State University.
Dr. Chen has decades of industry and academic experience in
clinical medicine and oncology, innovative diagnostic and
scientific product development, data science and genomics. He has
co-founded several companies in the life sciences, including
Ingenuity Systems, a pioneer in genomics and systems biology
analytics for biopharma. Dr. Chen received a B.S. in Computer
Science, an M.S. in Biomedical Informatics, and an M.D. from
Stanford University.
About Personalis
At Personalis, we are transforming the active management of
cancer through breakthrough personalized testing. We aim to drive a
new paradigm for cancer management, guiding care from biopsy
through the life of the patient. Our highly sensitive assays
combine tumor-and-normal profiling with proprietary algorithms to
deliver advanced insights even as cancer evolves over time. Our
products are designed to detect minimal residual disease (MRD) and
recurrence at the earliest timepoints, enable selection of targeted
therapies based on ultra-comprehensive genomic profiling, and
enhance biomarker strategy for drug development. For more
information, visit the Personalis website and follow us on LinkedIn
and Twitter.
Personalis Forward-Looking Statements
All statements in this press release that are not historical are
“forward-looking statements” within the meaning of U.S. securities
laws, including statements relating to Personalis’ expectations to
become a leader in MRD detection, enable customers to develop
personalized cancer vaccines and support biopharmaceutical
customers in their clinical trials, the effects of the Company’s
reduction in cash burn, the Company’s leadership performance, plans
or expectations, or other future events. This press release
contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results
may differ materially from any anticipated results or expectations
expressed or implied by such statements. Forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause Personalis’ actual results, performance or
achievements to be materially different from any future results,
performance or achievements expressed or implied by the
forward-looking statements. These risks, uncertainties and other
factors relate to, among others: our dependence on our senior
management and current expectations regarding the Company’s
performance in current and future periods. These and other
potential risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from the results predicted in these
forward-looking statements are described under the captions “Risk
Factors” and “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial
Condition and Results of Operations” in Personalis’ Annual Report
on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission on February 23, 2023. All
information provided in this release is as of the date of this
press release, and any forward-looking statements contained herein
are based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable as of
this date. Undue reliance should not be placed on the
forward-looking statements in this press release, which are based
on information available to us on the date hereof. Personalis
undertakes no duty to update this information unless required by
law.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230302005831/en/
Investors: Caroline Corner investors@personalis.com
415-202-5678
Media: Jennifer Temple pr@personalis.com 650-752-1300
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