Aliso Viejo-based Ambry Genetics Corp. said late last month that its founder and chief executive, Charles Dunlop, would assume the roles of board chairman and president.
Ambry is a genetic testing company.
Aaron Elliott, Ambry’s chief operating officer and chief scientific officer, was named chief executive. He’s been with Ambry since 2008, starting off as a research and development scientist before progressing to roles of executive responsibility. He holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Lancaster, Pa.-based Franklin and Marshall College and received his doctorate degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Dunlop said in a statement that he “would not be resigning if it weren’t for having stage four prostate cancer, which is now in remission.
“The stress of the job coupled with my gene mutation leaves a high likelihood of bringing the cancer back. But I must say once the decision was made it occurred to me that Aaron Elliott would do a better job going forward. I don’t know if I could have made this decision without having Aaron around,” said Dunlop, who later described Elliott as his “wingman and only confidant” for eight years.
Ambry, which has more than 750 employees, recently opened what it describes as a “super lab” near its Aliso Viejo headquarters. The lab is expected to triple the number of patient samples the company processes on a daily basis, while improving on technical abilities and scientific quality.
Ultrasound in Pregnancy Study
Toshiba America Medical Systems Inc., a Tustin-based unit of Japan’s Toshiba Corp., said its Aplio 500 ultrasound devices are being used in a research project designed to improve pregnancy outcomes.
Toshiba America’s Aplio 500 Platinum device is being used by researchers at Eastern Virginia Medical School, led by Dr. Alfred Abuhamad, the school’s chairman of obstetrics and gynecology.
Eastern Virginia, Toshiba America and the University of Texas-Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas, shared a $2.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to participate in the study, which is part of the Human Placenta Project.
Toshiba America said in a news release that Aplio 500 will be used to study the microvascularization of the placenta, placental tissue elasticity, and placental calcification content.
“Through our research study, we hope to develop an algorithm that can potentially help predict late pregnancy complications in early gestation by using new, high-tech ultrasound software,” Abuhamad said.
The study intends to identify which ultrasound imaging devices “are best at determining women who will develop poor pregnancy outcomes and those who will not,” Abuhamad said, adding that if clinicians can identify potential problems through ultrasound, it can be addressed early with interventions and therapies.
Chief of Staff Named
St. Joseph Hospital-Orange said Dr. Michele Carpenter was elected last month as the facility’s chief of staff.
The board-certified general surgeon serves as breast program director at the Orange hospital’s Center for Cancer Prevention and Treatment. In her new position, she will lead a staff of more than 1,000 doctors.
She holds degrees from the University of Scranton and Georgetown University and completed her internship and residency at Naval Hospital, San Diego.
Device OK’d for More
Tustin-based BioPhotas Inc. said last month that the Food and Drug Administration cleared its Celluma medical device for treating facial wrinkles.
Celluma already has clearances for treating acne, muscle and joint pain, muscle and joint stiffness, muscle spasm, arthritis and compromised local blood circulation. The device uses three discrete wavelengths of light energy that are modulated with proprietary electronic algorithms to treat a variety of skin and muscle disorders.
BioPhotas said it launched a new website in support of the latest approval.
Bits & Pieces
Dallas-based Phynd Technologies Inc. signed a contract with UC Irvine Medical Center, an Orange teaching hospital. Phynd makes data management software designed to enable healthcare organizations to unify, manage, customize and securely share provider information across core information technologies to improve financial results, clinical outcomes and compliance. … Nihon Kohden America, an Irvine unit of Japan’s Nihon Kohden Corp., introduced Live View Panel, a device that allows for the simultaneous management of remote neuromonitored patients in real time from a centralized location. Hoag Memorial Presbyterian Hospital said it received two national awards for wound care from Jacksonville, Fla.-based Healogics Inc. … Altus Treatment opened an addiction treatment center in Aliso Viejo. The company said the center “returns the recovery process to its basics, [using] a therapeutic and medicinal approach.”
