Steven J. Potts, Ph.D., MBA. CEO and Chairman
Dr. Potts joined Flagship from Aperio, where he was Vice President of Life Sciences. He managed worldwide sales and marketing in the biopharma segment, where his team achieved global adoption by nearly all of the largest pharmaceutical companies. He defined and led the GLP product development and validation services for the use of whole slide images in regulated preclinical and clinical trials studies, as well as the development of image analysis techniques for angiogenesis. Prior to Aperio, he was Head of Bioinformatics and Biostatistics at Quest Diagnostics Nichols Institute, where his team supported the development of In Vitro Diagnostics Multianalyte Assays (IVDMIA) in oncology and other therapeutic areas. He earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in Biological Engineering, and an MBA from the University of California at Davis, and a B.S. in Physics from Wheaton College, Illinois.
G. David Young, DVM, DACVP, DABT. President
Dr. Young was previously the Director of Pathology at OSI Pharmaceuticals, supporting both preclinical and clinical drug development programs in oncology. He has 25-plus years of broad and varied experience in biomedical research in the US Government, toxicology testing laboratories and the pharmaceutical industry. His experience includes oncology and biomarker research and development, digital pathology, image analysis, veterinary pathology, toxicological pathology, and toxicity testing. Management experience includes being the founding Director of the Directorate of Toxicology at the US Army Center for Health Promotion and Preventive Medicine; Director of Toxicology at Spring Valley Laboratory; Senior Vice President, Lab Services Division, TherImmune Research Corporation and Director of Pathology, OSI Pharmaceuticals, Inc. He is board certified by the American College of Veterinary Pathologists and the American Board of Toxicology.
John C. Bloom, VMD, Ph.D. Board Member
An academically-trained clinical/toxicologic pathologist with extensive experience in both preclinical and clinical risk assessment, Dr. Bloom has 29 years of experience in the pharmaceutical Industry with leadership roles in preclinical and clinical drug development, and is active in translational medicine consultation. He is regarded as an expert in three important areas of risk assessment: hematotoxicity, hepatotoxicity, and immunotoxicity/immunogenicity. He is an innovator in developing novel processes and partnerships for routine biomarker monitoring in clinical development: co-developed the central lab concept with SciCor while at Lilly; drove standardization that enabled the establishment of combined, longitudinal biomarker databases and improved signal detection; extended to ECG monitoring (first to establish fully-digitized collection in clinical trials), imaging and molecular profiling data. He is regarded as an expert in developing phase-appropriate biomarker strategies for drug development, with emphasis on tailoring to individual patients needs, defining technical probability of success and product differentiation. He established the Diagnostic and Experimental Medicine Division at Lilly which was the first centralized group in pharma industry that employed a staff of board-certified MD clinical pathologist/ biomarker subspecialists. He established nationally recognized clinical biomarker research unit at Lilly that develops and validates novel clinical markers, with emphasis on protein/ligand-binding, pharmacogenomic, immunohistochemistry, cell-based and immunogenicity assays. Developed several business partnerships to meet these specialized and business-critical needs. He holds a B.S. degree in biology from the Univ of Pittsburgh and doctorates in veterinary medicine and experimental hematology from the Univ of Pennsylvania. He completed his postdoctoral training at Lankenau Hospital (Jefferson Medical College) in hematology/oncology and served on the Faculty of the Univ of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Med as Chief, Clinical Laboratory Medicine, before joining Smith Kline & French Labs in 1981 as Associate Dir of Pathology.
Robert S. Kellar, Ph.D. Board Member
Dr. Kellar is VP of Research and Development at Protein Genomics, a protein polymer medical device company. He has 14 years of experience in the development and regulatory approval of medical devices, cell-based products, and tissue engineered technology. He is also Founder and President of Development Engineering Sciences LLC, a biomedical consulting firm. Previously, Dr. Kellar was Vice President for Research and Development at Histogen, Inc. where he led multi-functional project teams for all aspects of product development. Prior to Histogen, Dr. Kellar was a product specialist for the first FDA-approved thoracic endograft at W.L. Gore and Associates where he served a lead role in development, regulatory, clinical trials, marketing, sales, and business for the thoracic device and the product portfolio. Previous to this position, Dr. Kellar was a product specialist for the Global Oral Health Business at W.L. Gore & Associates (both Gore-Tex® Regenerative Membranes and the entire resorbable membrane portfolio). Prior to Gore, at Advanced Tissue Sciences, Inc. he led cardiovascular research programs and managed the AngineraTM program. Dr. Kellar serves on the Scientific Advisory Board for Theregen, and holds an Adjunct Professor Faculty position in Mechanical Engineering. at Northern Arizona University. Dr. Kellar serves on the Board of Directors for the Surfaces in Biomaterials Foundation. He earned his Ph.D. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Arizona.