The Company is led by a capable and seasoned management team with a broad
background in the medical products industry. The team brings a broad array
of relevant and necessary experience to the Company, both in terms of
developing and bringing new products to market as well as managing
successful established businesses.
Mr. Lousararian began working with Verax as a consultant in the fall of 2005
and was named Chief Executive Officer in February 2006. Prior to joining
Verax, James was a consultant for Medtronic Vascular following Medtronic’s
acquisition of Angiolink Corporation in November 2004. Mr. Lousararian was
the President and CEO, as well as a Director and co-Founder of AngioLink, a
life sciences start-up in the fields of wound management and interventional
cardiology. Prior to the founding of AngioLink in late 1999, Mr. Lousararian
was Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of STD Manufacturing
Inc., a medical device OEM manufacturer. Prior to joining STD, Mr.
Lousararian was Vice President of Thermo ReTec Corp., an American Stock
Exchange company and part of the Thermo Electron family of companies, where
Mr. Lousararian was President of two major subsidiaries and responsible for
business development. Mr. Lousararian began his career at Hale and Dorr, a
Boston law firm. Mr. Lousararian received his J.D. from the University of
Chicago and his B.B.A. (Accounting) from the University of Massachusetts.
Mr. Lousararian is also a co-founder of ArthroSurface Incorporated, a
start-up orthopedics company and Spirus Medical, Inc., a start-up medical
device company in the gastroenterology and urology fields.
Mr. Sanders co-founded the Company in May 1999 and was appointed Vice
President, Marketing & Business Development. Prior to joining Verax, Mr.
Sanders served as the Vice President of Marketing and Sales for ZymeQuest
from 1997 to mid 1999. From November 1983 through 1997, Mr. Sanders was
employed by the Diagnostics Division of Abbott Laboratories, where he held a
variety of positions in sales, product management, strategic planning and
marketing management. From 1983 through mid 1987 he held sales and product
specialist positions in central Texas. From mid 1987 through mid 1997 he
worked at the company’s corporate headquarters in Abbott Park Illinois,
first as a product manager, then as a senior strategic planner and finally
as a marketing manager for both new products and established product lines
representing over $1 billion in annual revenues. Mr. Sanders earned his BBA
in 1981 and MBA in 1983 from the University of Houston.
Dr. Mintz joined Verax in February 2016 and is a specialist in transfusion
medicine and blood banking. He was a member of the faculty of the University
of Virginia School of Medicine from 1979 until 2011 where he was a tenured
Professor of Pathology and Internal Medicine. He also served as Vice-Chair
of Pathology and Chief of the Division of Clinical Pathology and Medical
Director of the Clinical Laboratories and Transfusion Medicine Services at
the University of Virginia Health System. In addition, Dr. Mintz was
Co-Medical Director of Virginia Blood Services from 2008 until 2011. A
recipient of a Transfusion Medicine Academic Award from the National Heart,
Lung and Blood Institute, Dr. Mintz is also an NBF Scholar and was an
inaugural inductee into the NBF Hall of Fame. He also served as a member of
the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee of the Centers for Medicare and
Medicaid Services. Dr. Mintz has designed and served as principal
investigator for numerous clinical and medical device trials. He is widely
published and has been a member of the editorial board of several medical
journals. Dr. Mintz is the sole editor of all three editions of Transfusion
Therapy: Clinical Principles and Practice (AABB Press). He is a former
President of the AABB, served on the AABB’s Board of Directors for nine
years, and chaired and was a member of many AABB committees. Recently Dr.
Mintz served as Director of the Division of Hematology Clinical Review in
the Office of Blood Research and Review at the FDA’s Center for Biologics
Evaluation and Research. Dr. Mintz received a BA with High Distinction in
Philosophy and an MD with Honors both from the University of Rochester.
Mr. Blair was named the Chief Commercial Officer for Verax Biomedical in
2019. He came to Verax from Fresenius Kabi which operated as Verax’s
commercial partner from 2009 to 2019. Through-out his career Mr. Blair has
focused on guiding businesses through transformation. He consulted on the
spin-off of the Fenwal division from Baxter Healthcare in 2007, and once it
was operationally independent, worked to re-position Fenwal for its
acquisition by Fresenius Kabi in 2012. Mr. Blair held a variety of executive
positions at Cardinal Health, Allegiance and Baxter Healthcare. He created
and led the Integrated Supply Solution division at Cardinal Health as its
VP/GM until 2007. Mr. Blair worked on the spin-off of Allegiance from Baxter
Healthcare in 1996 and supported the repositioning of Allegiance for
acquisition by Cardinal Health in 1999. He has held leadership roles in many
functional areas including strategy, marketing, sales, finance and
operations. Mr. Blair received his B.S. in Quantitative Business Analysis
from Indiana University Kelley School of Business.
Dr. Vallejo joined Verax in July 2014. He has 37 years’ experience in the
development of various analytical methods and commercial products, the great
portion of which involve immunoassay technology. His doctoral thesis covered
multi-step organic syntheses leading to pioneering work on the application
of immunoassays to pesticide and environmental and food toxicant detection.
Dr. Vallejo devoted many years in the medical diagnostics industry as a
scientist, manager, director or vice president in such companies as Terumo
Medical Corporation, Becton Dickinson, Orasure, American Bio Medica
Corporation, and Ensys Environmental, which merged with Newark-based SDI to
become SDIX. He has developed many immunoassay-based products in various
formats, including many lateral flow tests, for thyroid and other endocrine
functions, fertility, infectious diseases, tumor markers, therapeutic drugs,
drugs of abuse, allergy, and industrial toxins. For the last 9 years, he
worked at ANP Technologies, Inc., becoming its senior vice president for
R&D, leading the development of various lateral flow assays for
biowarfare agents for the US Department of Defense and Department of
Homeland Security, cardiac markers, immunogenicity testing of biotherapeutic
drugs, and allergy diagnostics. While at ANP, he invented a rapid test for
chemical warfare agents, currently in advanced development for the US Army
under a Phase III SBIR grant. Dr. Vallejo is a lead inventor or co-inventor
on 5 issued patents and 4 pending applications. He obtained his doctorate in
Organic Chemistry from the Pennsylvania State University.
Mr. McKenzie joined the Company in January 2007 and serves as Senior Vice
President of Operations. Prior to joining Verax, he was site director of the
Abbott Diagnostics immunoassay manufacturing facility in Longford, Ireland,
where he took the site from green field to operational status in 19 months
and supervised the hiring and training of 340 employees. Previously, he was
divisional vice president of Abbott Diagnostics/ Abbott Molecular and vice
president for Vysis, Inc., both of Downer’s Grove, Ill. Earlier, McKenzie
held posts with ATC Diagnostics, Inc. and GENE-TRAK Systems, both of
Framingham, Mass. and SCOTT Laboratories, Inc. of West Warwick, R.I. He
began his career at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Woods Hole,
Mass. and earned a B.S. from MIT and an M.S. from the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst.
Ms. Hornbaker was appointed Vice President Regulatory Affairs in October of
2006 after serving as responsible head of Regulatory Affairs for Verax since
2002. Prior to joining the Company she held the position of Director of
Regulatory and Clinical Affairs at Bayer Diagnostics. From 1993 through 1998
she served as Director of Regulatory Affairs at Chiron Diagnostics and from
1986 through early 1993 she held the position of Director of Regulatory
Affairs at Baxter Diagnostics. Previously she held positions in regulatory
affairs and QA at Abbott Laboratories and Searle Pharmaceuticals. Ms.
Hornbaker has extensive experience coordinating clinical trials and
performing regulatory submissions for diagnostic testing products. She also
has direct experience with tests intended to detect infectious contamination
in the blood supply. Ms. Hornbaker received her BA from Kalamazoo College
and her MBA from the University of Chicago.
Mr. Ragusa joined the Company in March 2007 and serves as Vice President of
Finance and Administration. Prior to joining Verax, he was a consultant with
Boston Equity Advisors where he assisted early stage medical device
companies with the process of raising investment capital. Mr. Ragusa has
held a variety of executive level financial positions within early stage,
venture backed organizations. In addition to the medical device industry, he
has expertise in the telecom, internet, and software space. Mr. Ragusa began
his career in public accounting which included service with a Big-Five
accounting firm. He is a graduate of Northeastern University where he earned
a B.S. in finance, and is a certified public accountant.
The Company's first product is the Platelet PGD Test – a rapid test for the detection of bacterial contamination in platelets.