Saving Lives Through Early Cancer Detection

Victor is internationally known for his discoveries in genomics and cancer research. He and his colleagues performed the first genome-wide sequence analysis in human cancers, identifying key genes and pathways dysregulated in tumorigenesis. He developed methods for global gene-expression analyses and coined the word “transcriptome” to describe the patterns that could now be obtained in cancer and other cells. These analyses identified a variety of genes not previously known to be involved in neoplasia, including PIK3CA as one of the most highly mutated genes in human cancer. These efforts have led to new FDA-approved therapies and diagnostic tests widely used for patients with cancer. More recently, his group has developed noninvasive liquid biopsy approaches for early detection and monitoring of patients with cancer. These discoveries provide new paradigms for our understanding of human cancer that have benefited patients worldwide.

Nicholas brings more than 20 years of biotech and pharma experience to DELFI Diagnostics after having leadership roles at PGDx, Janssen, and Bristol-Myers Squibb in oncology translational science. Nic obtained his BSc and PhD degrees from the University of London and completed postdoctoral fellowships at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Subsequently, he served as Assistant Director at the Whitehead Institute/MIT Genome Center, and as a Section Chief at the National Center for Human Genome Research at the National Institutes of Health before moving to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. Nic has authored more than 75 scientific publications and has extensive experience in the fields of genomics, molecular biology, and cancer research.

Health policy and payment expert, pulmonary physician, and lung cancer epidemiologist, Peter has devoted his career to repairing defects in the healthcare delivery system that impede access to high-quality cancer care and working to ameliorate healthcare’s cost crisis. His work spans seminal studies including that identification of racial gaps in lung cancer care, the development of the first lung cancer risk prediction model (the “Bach model”), lead authorship on multiple lung screening guidelines, and definitional work on pharmaceutical pricing and value. Peter previously served as Senior Adviser at the US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and mentor on many National Institutes of Health K awards. He has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars.

Tobias has deep expertise and leadership experience in next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics, and regulated software development in support of clinical testing laboratories. Prior to joining DELFI, Tobias was Vice President of Software Engineering at Adaptive Biotechnologies, where he led teams developing software to support development and production implementation of immunosequencing assays to support a variety of clinical and research applications. Before Adaptive, Tobias held roles of increasing seniority at Progenity and Illumina, supporting development of products and applications of next-generation sequencing. Tobias is a passionate cook and forged his own chef’s knives after watching all too much “Forged in Fire.”

Dr. Ryan joins DELFI with 12 years of experience developing complex algorithms for genetic testing. She has developed and launched laboratory-developed tests in clinical applications including noninvasive prenatal testing, transplanted organ health, and oncology minimal residual disease testing, leading to more than 2 million reported test results. Allison is an author on more than 20 publications and 10 issued US patents. She was previously Vice President of Data Science at Natera, where she managed a team of 30 data scientists, biostatisticians, and bioinformaticians, as well as being a founding leader of the Women’s Resource Group. Allison completed her BS, MS and PhD in Mechanical Engineering at the University of California, Berkeley as well as performing with the Cal Marching Band.

In addition to his role at DELFI Diagnostics, Rob is Associate Professor of Oncology and Biostatistics at The Johns Hopkins University Schools of Medicine and Public Health. He received his PhD in biostatistics at Johns Hopkins and is an expert in developing statistical methods and software for high-throughput genomic data analysis, including machine-learning models for cancer detection and Bayesian approaches for modeling batch effects, data integration, and cancer risk. He was the recipient of the Director’s Award for Teaching from the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center in Philadelphia and the Margaret Merrell Award for Outstanding Research as a  PhD student. His publications have appeared in leading scientific, statistical, and epidemiologic  journals, including Nature and the Journal of the American Statistical Association.

Tim brings three decades of genomics research, product development, and diagnostics experience to DELFI Diagnostics. Prior to DELFI, as a senior vice president at TGen, he oversaw Ashion Analytics, a diagnostics laboratory, acquired by Exact Sciences in 2021. Before that he was at Illumina, where he led programs to develop the company’s core next-generation sequencing consumables, launching more than 25 products and helping to grow the company from a startup into the world’s leading genomic sequencing technology provider. A molecular biologist by training, Tim was a Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford and earned his PhD from the University of Maryland, Baltimore and BA from UC Santa Barbara.

Rob Guigley is an experienced executive leader in healthcare technology, digital health, and diagnostics, known for his innovative, strategic and collaborative approach to commercial and operational leadership. With extensive experience in executive-level sales, market access, revenue management, and product development, Rob has successfully grown and transformed organizations to achieve profitable growth. Recently serving as the Chief Commercial Officer at Invitae in San Francisco, Rob orchestrated a major commercial reorganization aimed at transitioning to a sustainable profit model. Prior to Invitae, Rob was the Chief Commercial Officer at Ambry Genetics and served in impactful leadership roles at Omada Health and Counsyl. Rob holds an MBA with honors from Boston University and a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from the University of Pittsburgh. He spends much of his free time supporting his daughter Brynn and son Emerson at their softball, baseball and soccer games.

Amoolya Singh, Ph.D. is Chief Technology Officer at DELFI Diagnostics. Previously, she was Senior Vice President of Research and Chief Scientific Officer at GRAIL, and prior to that, she was Head of Discovery at Calico Life Sciences, where she catalyzed multiple productive collaborations between computational groups and experimental groups. Amoolya earned a Ph.D. in computational biology and a MS in computer science at the University of California at Berkeley. She holds a BS degree in biology and computer science from Carnegie Mellon. Amoolya completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the European Molecular Biology Lab in Heidelberg, Germany in 2008 and a Computational and Life Sciences fellowship at Emory University in 2011 in comparative genomics and metagenomics, population genetics and experimental evolution.

Michaela is the Vice President of Quality, Regulatory, and Laboratory Operations at DELFI. She has been a corporate executive for more than 25 years, and has leveraged her management experience into that of leader, career coach, speaker, and author. Michaela has had a remarkable career in laboratory operations, quality, and regulatory roles at companies in the biotechnology, diagnostic, and pharmaceutical sectors, including Syntex, Veracyte, and Roche. She wrote, “Let Them Lead – how to command less and accomplish more”, a book on servant leadership.

Michaela shares her life with a number of close friends, is immensely proud of her two grown children, Kyle and Nikki, and loves to ride and show her Arabian horses.

Lee-Ann most recently served as Associate General Counsel at Twist Bioscience, handling intellectual property, commercial, marketing and procurement legal matters. Prior to that, she specialized in patent preparation, prosecution, and strategy in the biotech, biopharma, medical device, computer and chemical fields as a patent attorney at Sheppard, Mullin, Richeter & Hampton LLP and at Zilka-Kotab, PC. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of Southern California and her J.D. from the Santa Clara University School of Law.

Ally is DELFI’s Vice President of People. She joined DELFI in 2021 as Director of Talent Acquisition and in 2022 took on leading the People team and driving the people strategy. Ally has a proven track record of building high-performance, mission-driven cultures that enable everyone to be the best they can be.

Before joining DELFI, Ally led recruiting and managed HR Business Partnering at 23andMe. After kicking off her career in the nonprofit sector as a health educator, Ally moved into the tech and biotech industries at companies like Netflix and Coherus BioSciences.

Ally earned her Bachelor’s of Art in Community Studies from University of California at Santa Cruz.

Dave is DELFI’s Vice President of Clinical Development. He joined DELFI from Roche Diagnostics, where he spent more than a decade in clinical development roles focused on oncology screening and diagnostic products, most recently as Global Head of Clinical Development for Oncology and Genetics. Prior to Roche, Dave led Clinical Affairs at Endocyte, a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company acquired by Novartis in 2018, focusing on both therapeutic and companion diagnostic clinical evidence generation. Before that, he managed multiple clinical studies at Merck. He received a PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Indiana University.

Tom is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of DELFI. He has three decades of diverse industry experience, including in finance, operations, and commercialization for public biopharma companies, as well as in the investment community. Prior to DELFI, Tom was CFO of Icosavax, during a pivotal growth period from its initial public offering through its acquisition by AstraZeneca for up to $1.1 billion. At Icosavax and in his prior CFO role at Assembly Bio, he contributed to over $500 million of gross proceeds raised through the capital markets and non-dilutive sources of financing. Previously, Tom held roles across finance and commercial operations at Gilead Sciences, Inc., including serving as Vice President, Head of Commercial Finance. In that role, he supported a $20–30 billion revenue business across North America, Europe, Asia, and emerging markets. Prior to Gilead, Tom was Equity Research Senior Analyst covering biotechnology for Robert W. Baird & Co, where he earned WSJ Best on the Street recognition. Earlier in his career, he held roles of increasing responsibility at Merck & Co. Tom received a BS in biological sciences from the University of Notre Dame and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. He is a CFA charterholder.

Susan has extensive R&D and business leadership experience across the life sciences and technology industries. Adept at shaping and leading global commercial, sales and operational strategies, she most recently held a decade-long tenure at Illumina, Inc. where she served as Chief Commercial Officer for three years until joining DELFI in January 2024. Susan spearheaded the engineering and launch of several of Illumina’s most impactful and well-recognized products, and is adept at driving value and commercial success for organizations. Earlier at Illumina, she led the product development organization as Chief Product Officer, and drove the acquisitions of three companies to scale up Illumina’s software solutions. She also brings experience from leadership roles at Eastman Kodak’s Consumer Inkjet Systems as Corporate Vice President and General Manager, Phogenix Imaging LLC and Hewlett-Packard. Susan is a 2022 Forbes ‘50 over 50 Entrepreneurs’ honoree and was named one of the 50 Top Diverse Leaders for 2020 by the California Diversity Council. She is a member of the National Academy of Engineers and the International Women’s Forum, a global organization of preeminent women of significant and diverse achievement. Susan holds an MBA degree from UCLA and an Honors BS in Engineering Science and Mechanics from Pennsylvania State University.

Cindy brings over 15 years of finance experience. Most recently, Cindy oversaw the finance teams at Zogenix and played a key role in the company’s sale to UCB and post-sale integration efforts. Prior to that she held roles of increasing responsibility over her 8 years at BioMarin Pharmaceuticals with broad experience across pre-clinical, clinical and commercial stage programs. Earlier in her career, Cindy provided assurance and advisory services to private and public companies at PwC. Cindy earned an MS in Accounting from the University of South Florida and is a licensed CPA in California.